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How you answer 'what is your weakness' in an interview comes down to naming what you learned, not a strength dressed up as a flaw. The person across the table has heard the safe answer already, so a real weakness paired with real growth stands out far more.
Jenn Huber spent more than 20 years in advertising, including as Senior Director of Brand Marketing at Rocket and, most recently, EVP at AmeriSave. I asked her on because she has sat on both sides of the interview table, and she still remembers exactly how the weakness question trips people up.
How Do You Answer 'What Is Your Weakness' in an Interview?
The overused answer still shows up constantly, and Jenn has heard it from the hiring side too many times. "Saying your weakness is you work too hard kind of gets looked at funny by the person interviewing you," she told me, because it dodges the question instead of answering it.
Her fix is a real answer, prepared ahead of time. The ask is simple: name what you learned and how you responded to it, not a strength masquerading as a flaw.
You don't want to sound canned, and you don't want a canned weakness either. You have to say the answer out loud before you walk in for that to happen.
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How Do You Prepare for a Marketing Interview?
Jenn breaks down her prep into three distinct phases. "Research, I call it the looking the part, the practice," she said, and each one covers a different kind of readiness.
Before the interview, you should research the role, the company, and the person interviewing you on LinkedIn. Looking professional covers the logistics side. Clean background, working mic, and showing up five minutes before you need to.
You need to say your answers out loud when you practice, not just read them silently. Her bonus step is managing nerves before you walk in: a hype song and a power pose, to show up with real energy instead of nervous energy.
How Do You Know When You're Ready to Lead a Team?
Jenn's answer starts before any title changes. "You should be leading from your seat wherever you are," she said, whether that's a small project or a task nobody's watching yet.
When she was deciding who on her team was ready for management, she looked for the same traits every time: are they coachable, do they hold themselves accountable, and do they have a team mentality instead of a me-first one.
She was also clear that you can stay an individual contributor and that's a real answer, not a lesser path. Leading from your current seat matters even if you never get promoted to the role.
How Do You Make a Strong First Impression Networking?
What Jenn does best is skip the small talk and go straight to a real question. Instead of complaining about the drive over, she asks, "I like to listen to podcasts in my car. What do you do then while you're stuck in traffic?"
That single swap takes a throwaway exchange and makes it stick as a real conversation. That's what gets you remembered before you have a title to show for it.
Before anything else, students need to actually show up to the industry events. That's how you meet people and start having the conversations that open doors.
Watch the full conversation
Watch the full episode with Jenn Huber on YouTube for her path from BBDO to EVP at AmeriSave, including the mortifying story from her very first interview.
Watch next: Stop Blending In: Advice For Your First Marketing Job
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