How to Answer "What Are Your Strengths?"

Andrea Barger |
Andrea (she/her) is our head of PR at Snagajob, where she’s focused on telling the world how we help hourly workers and employers. Her first hourly job was as a lifeguard.

We've been going over some tips on how to answer interview questions if you are trying to get your first job. It's a little intimidating, but if you come prepared and practice your answers to these questions, you'll go into your interview with confidence that you have what it takes to get hired.

So, you're in your first job interview and they start asking questions like, "What are your strengths?" Now, this is a very common job interview question. It may feel weird to answer this question because you may not know what your strengths are on the job because, well, you've never held a job before.

Avoid bringing up this concern with the interviewer. Stay away from answers like:

“Uhhhh my mom tells me I have an awesome smile. Does that count?”

“I'm not really sure. Since this will be my first job how about we find out together?”

“This one time I ran a seven minute mile. It was amazing. People cheered.”

Also, avoid the most common answers to this question employers hear:

“I'm a hard worker.”

“I'm a people person. I loooooove people.”

Everyone says they're a hard worker, so set yourself apart by picking something more specific to what you will bring to the job. Instead of just talking about how you are a people person, talk about how you are able to resolve conflicts or easily start conversations with strangers. These are the type of answers that will more accurately show who you are and set you apart in an interview.

Your best bet is to pick a strength of yours that can make you sound professional and will show off the strengths you do have that will work for the position you are interviewing for.

“I really do consider myself a people person. I love assisting people and making them happy. I really have no problem with going up to a stranger and starting up a conversation. That's one of the things that really drew me to this position. I know how much you value customer service here and I think I can really add to you team.”

An answer like that really shows the interviewer that you have done your research on the position and the strengths you need to have to succeed in that role. It will also prove that you are taking your job search seriously and will make a great fit on their team.