Classic interview Question whata your weaknesses

someday2010

When asked the classic interview question - what are your weaknesses what are you supposed to say?

syklops

The best advice I was given was to try and turn it into a positive question, so what I usually say is something like:

While I have a good attention to detail, and high work standards, I can sometimes focus too much on the quality of the work, which means I end up working extra hours to complete projects.

At the very least the interviewer either knows you are smart enough to dodge the question, which is half the battle really.

Do not say any of the following(all of which I have heard in Interviews):

What are your weaknesses?

"Er, I dont really have any. Hahahahha!(unprofessional-ism)
"Lateness and absenteeism"(there is such a thing as too honest)
"I dont work well with other people"(For a job on a team where there would be much collaboration required)
"Er... I dunno...."(Didnt prepare for interview)

While my line may sound a bit cheesy and a bit rehearsed, like I said, it shows you prepared for the interview, shows you correctly identified what might be asked, and was smart enough to dodge the question while remaining positive, AND managing to remind them you are a hard worker, a professional with a very fine standard of work.

Next question?

P.S. For me at least, the answer is also 100% true.

racso1975

I think it is one of the most stupid questions that can be asked by a panel.
The example given above by skylops proves that everybody will either lie or do the neg to positive piece.

syklops

racso1975 wrote: »

I think it is one of the most stupid questions that can be asked by a panel.
The example given above by skylops proves that everybody will either lie or do the neg to positive piece.

I think its done to weed out the people who, as per my example, didnt prepare for the interview, or who cant think on their feet enough to come out with a semi human answer.

When you are interviewing people, a couple of 'trick' questions like this are needed to filter out some of the really unsuitable people you see. Including people who dont understand the word weaknesses(I have had that one too).

CorkFenian

Heres a good example I found on line, I printed out a good few questions from similar site just to have handy

#03: What are your greatest weaknesses?
TRAPS: Beware - this is an eliminator question, designed to shorten the candidate list. Any admission of a weakness or fault will earn you an “A” for honesty, but an “F” for the interview.

PASSABLE ANSWER: Disguise a strength as a weakness.

Example: “I sometimes push my people too hard. I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”

Drawback: This strategy is better than admitting a flaw, but it's so widely used, it is transparent to any experienced interviewer.

BEST ANSWER: (and another reason it's so important to get a thorough description of your interviewer's needs before you answer questions): Assure the interviewer that you can think of nothing that would stand in the way of your performing in this position with excellence. Then, quickly review you strongest qualifications.

Example: “Nobody's perfect, but based on what you've told me about this position, I believe I' d make an outstanding match. I know that when I hire people, I look for two things most of all. Do they have the qualifications to do the job well, and the motivation to do it well? Everything in my background shows I have both the qualifications and a strong desire to achieve excellence in whatever I take on. So I can say in all honesty that I see nothing that would cause you even a small concern about my ability or my strong desire to perform this job with excellence.”

Alternate strategy (if you don't yet know enough about the position to talk about such a perfect fit):
Instead of confessing a weakness, describe what you like most and like least, making sure that what you like most matches up with the most important qualification for success in the position, and what you like least is not essential.

Example: Let's say you're applying for a teaching position. “If given a choice, I like to spend as much time as possible in front of my prospects selling, as opposed to shuffling paperwork back at the office. Of course, I long ago learned the importance of filing paperwork properly, and I do it conscientiously. But what I really love to do is sell (if your interviewer were a sales manager, this should be music to his ears.)

Bandana boy

I never reply using the term weakness I replace it with development need.

Recently I answered that the People Management side of the role did not come as easy as the technical side ,but I have identified this in previous reviews at current job and It is something I am aware of and addressing. I then gave example of a really well handled people management problem and expressed that I had to think long and hard about my actions before I came up with the solution.

It can also help if you state that the reason you are looking for the job is too address this " development need "

In Job interview many moons ago I gave
I have little experience in managing a large team ,then gave examples of me managing a project across multiple departments and a real large team.I explained I had to work hard at this. Then finished that what attracted me to this role was more exposure to this problem so I could turn it to a strength.(At the time I had a team of two people and was taking on a team of 14)

While in the interviewer chair a manager who had not identified his own development needs was immediately discounted for the postion.

RATM

As a recruiter and interviewer I still ask the 'What is your greatest weakness question'. However I do so to filter out the people with the prepared and generic answers such as 'I am too conscientious' or 'I'm a perfectionist'. Both of them ring alarm bells for me and the fact that I've heard them 1000 times makes the bells ring even louder.

If you're asked I'd take the advice other posters have left but personalise it- give an example of how you identified a weakness, outline the steps you made to addressing it and show how you reflected on it and put it to bed once it was resolved- employers don't mind that people have weaknesses, what they do mind is not having the foresight to address them.

greendom

racso1975 wrote: »

I think it is one of the most stupid questions that can be asked by a panel.
The example given above by skylops proves that everybody will either lie or do the neg to positive piece.

It's a good question as has already been mentioned. In the real World an employee might be asked a difficult question when representing the company - the employer is seeing how you handle yourself in such a situation.

Delancey

I always say my weak point is that I'm a Perfectionist

Oranage2

Research the company and see what some of their key values are.

If the Job requires a good team player say

"I found myself too much of a team player but while working for XXX I became a little competitive while holding my team player values and I found that my results increased signifigantly"

Eoin

Try and avoid the cheesy "I work too hard" lines. It's cringey for everyone in the room.

Rather than listing a character trait, I mention 4a particular skill that I've not had much exposure to (but could be picked up if needs be).

syklops wrote:

While my line may sound a bit cheesy and a bit rehearsed, like I said, it shows you prepared for the interview, shows you correctly identified what might be asked, and was smart enough to dodge the question while remaining positive, AND managing to remind them you are a hard worker, a professional with a very fine standard of work.

CorkFenian wrote:

PASSABLE ANSWER: Disguise a strength as a weakness.

Example: “I sometimes push my people too hard. I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”

Both of those answers could easily be seen as negatives, and not just because they're used so frequently.

1st one - can't manage their own time / too much attention to the minutiae might mean an inability to concentrate on the overall project.

2nd one - can't manage people / can't communicate.

dan_d

I have one or two ...

Time Management can be a weakness (partly due to the nature of my previous job but that's another story). I have learned to manage it through keeping a list in a diary and trying to make sure I review it every evening and ID the important items for the next day, etc, etc.

Managing people - back when I started my previous project X, I didn't have much experience of people management, but I learned a lot during that project of how to deal with people and how to get through the work while remaining professional, etc,etc (I rarely use that one).

On a slightly different note, I always sit down and write answers to some of the following questions before an interview, tailoring them to the job in question.

What are your weaknesses
Why should we employ you/what are your strengths
Why do you want this job
Describe a goal you reached and how
Describe a goal you didn't reach
What are your career goals
Tell us about yourself


But the worst I've EVER been asked is...
What's the most intelligent thing you've ever done.

I was prepared for the interview but that question threw me.

Forest Master

Agree with racso1975.

I think it's a retarded & clichéd question asked by amateur interviewers who think they 'should' ask it because it's on a list of stock questions they've seen or heard about. Proves nothing about the candidate, IMO. Even if they prepare for the question, the answer will always be a cringe-worthy cliché.

Croppy Bhoy

Can't you also talk about something that's not really relevant, by that I mean a weakness that isn't really going to impact your performance in this job. "I've terrible handwriting" or something.

Eoin

Forest Master wrote: »

I think it's a retarded & clichéd question asked by amateur interviewers who think they 'should' ask it because it's on a list of stock questions they've seen or heard about. Proves nothing about the candidate, IMO. Even if they prepare for the question, the answer will always be a cringe-worthy cliché.

The annoying thing is that if it was rephrased to something like "what areas or skills would you like to develop further?" and the interviewer treated it as a genuine question, and not something that they feel interviewers should ask - it could actually be a useful question to ask.

red menace

I once said "I lie and I steal" in a jokey way, pretty much killed the interview dead in the water. Young and stupid I was.
Good lesson in when not to be a smart ar$e

jamfer

I've been asked it twice. The first time I said I was a workaholic in a sarcastic manner and was hired. The second time, I said I could be too flippant and I wasn't hired. But then the second interview also asked me to describe happiness, to describe what success was and to tell what motivated me. I'm not sure how these reflected on the role they had though.

bcmf

Well sometimes the worst answer .... well will let you decide.
A friend of a friend* was informed that a person who just joined the dept gave this answer when asked the 'Whats your weakness' question .
When reading this read in a gay voice as the person who said it was serious and gay:
'Chocolate. Thats my weakness' :eek:
Yes they got the job.:eek::eek:

* Kept delibrately vague as I dont even wanna come close to identity pointing.

srsly78

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

On a beach with one of those silly umbrella drinks :cool:

phonejacker

i have an interview on monday for a summer job in a hotel. iv only worked once before last summer. what sort of questions will I be asked? will they be very difficult?

starlit

Thought for a second you were asking what is your weakness at interviews.

I do fine in interviews, perform as best I can, provide as much information and give answers as best as I can for each question. Though my one weakness is perhaps not giving strong enough answers or not providing enough information to interviewer, or not giving them what they want in terms of my answers that what I say is not what they are looking for which is annoying as one interviewer might want you to say what you say while another might not.

I be fairly honest with my answers as to what experience I have regarding my example from either college or previous jobs. I find employers prefer if you have done a lot of group projects rather than individual ones, I think a balance of them should be good enough for them if it shows off you got a skill and a qualification in it.

Another reason could be that my examples are not satisfactory. They aren't convinced of my skills and don't appreciate what I have to offer. There are probably other reasons why I am not a good enough candidate, not qualified enough or over qualified, not enough work experience, no major work experience in coding and so on, not enough research done in my field and so on.

Though if asked what my weakness is there is probably a few, I hesitate when making decisions, I delay until I make the right one, I don't decide on things on the spot though could have an answer already prepared anyway if asked to make a decision based on something I could predict being asked at some point.

I am a perfectionist and over analyse things. People think I am narrow minded but I am not I am a lot more open minded than people think I am I just think outside the box more.

Time management might be an issue for me though for the most part I am fine, I am good to meet deadlines and be on time for the most part but I do find time catches up with me sometimes. I can loose track of time very easily as I get so engrossed what I am doing and concentrate so hard that time flies so quickly or too slowly.

Walter Knight

I suppose the reply depends on a role you intend to execute.
i.e. for brainiaks :"My weakness is 17" arm which could be 18"
for really tough guys :"Well... I`m still afraid of The Large Hadron Collider"