They're often told to twist it and turn it and dance around it to show how great they are. You know the drill:
My biggest weakness is that I'm so hard on myself.
My biggest weakness is that I'm impatient. I just can't wait to get things done!
My biggest weakness is that I just care too much.
I noticed today that someone's telling job-seekers not to spin the famous "biggest weakness" question into an "I'm-so-great" response.
Finally.
Some logic:
a) People aren't perfect.
b) Job-seekers are people.
c) Therefore, job-seekers aren't perfect, and why would employers expect them to be?
1 point 16 hours ago
Fundamentally, interviewers need to establish just two things from a prospective candidate:
1) Can the candidate do the work we need them to do?
2) Do we feel comfortable working with the candidate for extended periods of time?
I'd be interested in the best 5-10 questions in each category to determine these criteria.
Cheers,
Keith
1 point 19 hours ago
Great post, Todd. Finally is right! The tactic is understandable, but (1) it's dishonest and (2) it's so transparent. Not all employers and recruiters would agree, of course. Many would argue that the ability to "twist" the answer shows the candidate's ability to sell or to look at the bright side of a situation. However, I'm of the mindset that an honest answer shows self-awareness, particularly if that honest answer includes an idea or two of how the candidate tries not to let that weakness impact his or her performance. It also lets the potential future boss start to form a more well-rounded idea how to best manage the person. Thank you for posting this!
1 point 19 hours ago
Yeah, when employers measure performance, imperfect people (which are all people) still get the job done. Take baseball, for instance, where everything gets measured right down to an employee's batting average on night games with runners on base after the sixth inning. In baseball, the best power hitters tend to strike out a lot; or the great fielders can make quite a few errors (because they get to balls others might not even touch); great pitchers can throw wildly (because you can lose some control when chucking an object 100 miles an hour); and great pitchers can simply, like all of us, just have really bad days, where they just don't have it.
0 points 17 hours ago
Great post Todd and I agree 100% with you. I think "interviewers" are trained to use basic interview questions and not ask questions that really pertain to finding the successes or positive qualities in applicants.
Personally, this question ranks right up there with weird and odd interview questions people are put through!