Infographic: 8 Worst Answers to "What's Your Biggest Weakness?"

What's your biggest weakness?

It's among the most common question interviewers love to ask in order to gauge a few different professional qualities.

First of all: Being able to articulate something you know you need help on shows that you are self aware. You're humble. And, well, you're not a rookie deluded into believing that you have no real weaknesses.

Because trying to spin your biggest weakness into a positive quality is among the biggest, classic rookie job interview mistake.

The right way to answer: Be honest and sincere. Most employers are looking for self-awareness, proactiveness and authenticity in their answers. Nobody's perfect, so your answer should reflect your understanding of this and the steps you're taking to improve on your weakness. More specifically, use the STAR method to answer this question:

Situation: Describe a situation that you were in that was tough for you, like finding a huge bug just a few days away from deployment. Task: Alternatively, you can also describe a task you had to do that was really tough, like public speaking. Action: Then, talk about what you did to improve on that struggle. Results:  Explain how far you've come in managing your weakness.

If this sounds pretty basic to you, you're in good shape. Take solace in the fact that you've never had a total interview fail by saying one of these worst answers: