Have you ever been asked at a job interview 'What is your greatest weakness'?

Question

Or Qs of that kind. How do you respond? I usually say I am a workholic. What would happen if you said you were lazy and incompetent?

Answer 1

I am the owner of a successful small company and have not had the pleasure of ever having a job interview. But we ask that question of all of our new employees.

Indeed, the idea is to gauge the reaction not the answer. Most interviewers, though, don't know how to follow up on the answer. Some interviewers would just laugh, giggle, fidget, and move to the next question. Not me.

If someone told me, "My weakness is laziness and incompetence", I would be encouraged and immediately gage that as a positive response. Then I would engage in a discussion to find out if it was really true. Most interviewers would take offense that you were wasting their time, but I for one would just think that you didn't like the question anymore than I would and were throwing down the gauntlet to get to a question with more relevance.

But for most people, when I ask the question to them I watch.

Do you fidget with uncomfortableness and give a pat answer? If yes, then:
1) You are a normal human being who dislikes probing personal questions. (Don't need an interview to know this about most people), and
2) You have not had enough job interviews to be over the sting of the question (again, that info can be found in a resume; no need for an interview.
3) Maybe, you are not the introspective type; you are not the kind of person who knows themselves better than anyone else...most of us fall into this category and is exactly the reason most people do not even try to buck the system and go for their real honest-to-goodness dreams. People who do not know their weaknesses will never be able to achieve their full potential. In a job interview, that means you are not ready to exhibit the entreprenurial drive to go all the way to the top.

If you were uncomfortable and fidgeted and then said, "My weakness is I am Lazy and mostly Incompetent", then you fall into 1 and 2 from above but you just MIGHT be a good bet and a good risk as a real flesh and blood contributor to a team that wants to grow.

But that is only one question I ask. I ask lots of questions that mean more than weaknesses. I try to find something that the person feels strongly about, something they like to talk about and believe in. Then I challenge their position on the subject. Not to offend them but to see if/how they stand up for what they think. I try to get the prospective employee to challenge me back. If they do it with energy and confidence, I usually hire them. You can teach anyone almost any task or job in the world. You can not make someone stand up for their opinion. If, in the interview, they concede their argument without a fight, I wish them well as the regional manager of McDonald's.

Of course this approach only works when you are looking for go-getters, competitors, people who like to win and people who will do anything to help their team win.

If I was looking to hire a burger flipper or a delivery boy, I would just make sure he was breathing. I wouldn't waste my breathe on silly psycho babble questions.

Answer 2

I think it's a rude question and as soon as it comes up my motivation for getting the job goes down. I may be wrong, though: there could be a good reason for asking that question but I just don't know what that might be. My guess is that the interviewer just read too many pop psychology magazines.

What I usually do is to make up some weaknesses that are not too fatal for the job in question (don't make this too obvious, though: if you say "my Swahili is not fluent" while applying for a job as a factory worker on Greenland the interviewer will be aware of your strategy). Also I would make up some weakness that I notice that the interviewer also has (familiarity makes sympathy), and something that I can pursuadingly say that I'm improving on.

On the other hand, if you have some serious problem that might make you unfit for the job and you sensirely want to know if that's the case, you should probably talk about that.

Answer 3

All the interview apart from my present job I was the above question and I just answered in a way that my greatest weakness in an advantegous way. If you happen to say you are lazy you will never get the job coz that does not benefit the organization in anyway.

Answer 4

maximum companies understand that the "surprising weak spot" concern is a loaded question. Interviewees are probable to tutor it around and point out yet another capability, merely notice so as that it ought to be construed as a accessible weak spot. I tell them that i'm not a mild-feelly, gentle-form-of-guy. if reality be told, I unquestionably have each and all the sensitivity of a water buffalo. So i don't care approximately excuses, I merely pick to appreciate as quickly as I can anticipate the completed product. Or tell them which you lack persistence. you pick outcomes right now. You respond to issues right now and you anticipate the comparable from others.

Answer 5

I do ask a similar question in the interviews I take, but right before or after the question 'what is your greatest strength'. This way I determine whether a person is able to look at themselves in an honest way, knowing themselves. People that cannot name one 'weakness' and or 'strength' are not self reflective at all and I don't need people that do not think for and about themselves. It's not to put them down and the answer is not to determine whether they are weak or so, just to let them be open and thinking.

Answer 6

You want to come up with a truth about yourself but what you are doing to overcome the weakness. Make it a statement not related to the job at hand. Remember there's a reason for that question. You don't want to say that you are a workaholic because the employer will think, "hmmm, wonder how much overtime I will have to pay." Rather I tell my employers (because I work in telephone customer service), "I have a fear of public speaking but I am working on it through Toastmasters, an organization that is helping me gain more experience in it." Don't use that unless you know what Toastmasters is and that it's true. But, for your situation, what would you like to work on and how are you working on it???

Answer 7

I've been asked this question or something like it in every interview. I'm sure it's in a book about how to interview lower management.

I allways pick something that's an admirable weakness like "Oh jeez.. well I guess I have some difficulty letting go of things. I get so invested in a proect sometimes that if something goes wrong I get stressed, I've had problems sleeping. You know I overanalize and get all caught up in it."

Answer 8

It's a trick question, of course. The "workaholic" answer may be a good one if there's at least a grain of truth to it. I have never known what to do with that question, but once got away with saying, after a considerable pause, "I think my greatest weakness is not knowing how to answer that question." It was like a zen to the interviewer, and she just laughed and agreed that was a good answer.

Answer 9

My greatest weakness is trying to find weakness and my most glaring testament to incompetence is the inability of being able to find incompetence.what am i supposed to be so stupid as to show how competent i am at finding incompetence and weakness .... get real ! No one could be entirely that stupid. I'm perfect w/ a flawless record now ask away.

Answer 10

That's a typical question in contemporary job interviews today. And it's just one of several questions asked where the answer really doesn't matter a whole lot. The interviewer is trained to gauge your reaction, not your response.