'what is your weakness' interview question

InsideInsurance

Linda_D wrote: »

As an interviewer I'd give you the job, it's refreshing to have an honest candidate instead of all the BS most candidates give.

Before the days of so many questions being banned I was trialling a new system to deskill and harmonise the interview process by having a simple scorecard to be used. One of the question clusters was on time off sick - how many times in the last year, how long for each time and what for.

One chap came in and said he'd had about 50 days off, 2 days once for a migrane, a couple of days off for a bad back and the rest were because he got to bladdered the night before and was too hanging in the morning to make it in.

Unfortunately the scorecard rated him well, especially for honesty.

mattcanary

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Before the days of so many questions being banned I was trialling a new system to deskill and harmonise the interview process by having a simple scorecard to be used. One of the question clusters was on time off sick - how many times in the last year, how long for each time and what for.

One chap came in and said he'd had about 50 days off, 2 days once for a migrane, a couple of days off for a bad back and the rest were because he got to bladdered the night before and was too hanging in the morning to make it in.

Unfortunately the scorecard rated him well, especially for honesty.

What's your point?
That you should lie in an interview?

paul2468

Whats your biggest weakness i was once asked on an interview...Honesty i said......i dont think thats a weakness said the lady interviewing me.......I dont give a flying f** what you think i said...:rotfl:

RobTang

Walcott wrote: »

I do sometimes wonder what people (or recruitment consultants advising) are thinking when they come up with a 'turn your weakness into a strength' or 'choose something not related to the job' type reply.


The point of the question is not to watch the interviewee squirm or to listen to cringeworthy answers. The interviewer is asking what their concerns should be if the employ you. This is one of the best opportunities in the interview to actually demonstrate your skillset and suitability for the role.

It's a lose/lose question in that you its damage limitation and the interviewer almost certainly gains nothing, which is why its not recommend to ask it or if you do ask it you should be much more specific.


Essentially your answers come down to: be honest, lie or avoid/misdirect.


Generally the best option for both parties is avoid/misdirect because its basically a no-score draw.

SeduLOUs

I work in finance and usually say I'm a perfectionist because it's true. It means I pay a lot of attention to what I'm doing, but sometimes I can get a bit OCD and happily lose hours looking for a missing penny in a bank reconciliation. I am working on accepting that some things don't have to be perfect and should just be let go so that I can focus on something else.

dandelionclock30

I'd say something like not being able to answer inane questions and having no tolerance for !!!!!!!!.

Sanne

Depending on the situation:

- I'm terrible remembering names! I always try to get a floor plan and put people's names on to help me in the first couple of weeks but luckily this isn't such a huge issues in this business (always been working in SMEs but in roles where you're dealing with everyone across the business)

- I can be direct and to the point, though my direct reports have always appreciated this type of feedback as they knew exactly where they stood and felt they could build on this.

From experience of interviewing people - and from what I've heard from colleagues as well - there's nothing worse than anyone who has memorised all their answers and who sound like an interview book.

Only vaguely related to the weakness question: My last interview ended with the "You've now got two minutes to sell yourself; what do you want me to remember after you've left?" question. I started off, then got stuck and just finished "And now you know why I don't work in sales..." The interviewers (HR interview with one Director and the HR manager) laughed and I got the job (though I don't think that was the deciding factor!).

System

RobTang wrote: »

It's a lose/lose question in that you its damage limitation and the interviewer almost certainly gains nothing, which is why its not recommend to ask it or if you do ask it you should be much more specific.

Essentially your answers come down to: be honest, lie or avoid/misdirect.

Generally the best option for both parties is avoid/misdirect because its basically a no-score draw.

I would have to disagree. Particularly with the attitude and approach taken towards this question.

I don't see how avoiding the question can be a good thing. The interviewer has just asked a question and not got an answer. The question has essentially asked the interviewee to provide a critique of him/herself. The interviewer already knows what is good because that is on the CV/application.

Everyone that is ambitious and applying for a role to gain progression in their career will have some aspect of their potential role that they do not fully have experience in doing. This is the perfect opportunity to discuss this and put across his/her enthusiasm for the role and ambition to progress into new areas while acknowledging that certain aspects are new.

People applying for the same role as they are currently doing can discuss differences in size of organisation/differences in clients/differences in working practices. If it genuinely is a like for like role then just state that there are no actual weaknesses based on past experience.

IMHO misdirecting/avoiding is a bad strategy. The interviewee needs to state a weakness or clearly state no weaknesses exist. Sticking to the job spec and to use this question as an opportunity to discuss the differences between the current and potential role would always be my strategy. This is a question that is usually loaded into the middle/back end of an interview. By this point the interviewer has already spoken about the role and the company and this question is very often the candidates opportunity to revisit the interviewers description of the role.