Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2016 9:02:31 GMT -5
What is a good answer for "what is your greatest weakness?"
What strange interview questions have you been asked and what was your response?
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Green Eyed Lady
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Look inna eye! Always look inna eye!
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Post by Green Eyed Lady on May 2, 2016 9:06:47 GMT -5
LOL!! Just don't answer that your greatest weakness is your lack of patience with stupid questions!
I'm honest when I'm asked that. My greatest weakness in when I'm in a position of "teaching". I have no patience with people who don't listen the first time. I get extremely irritated at having to tell someone 19 times how to do something. I know it's me and not them and it's a weakness. I'm honest.
There must be something you aren't as good at as other things.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on May 2, 2016 9:07:56 GMT -5
When I read the recent version of What Color is your Parachute he said that employers have wised up to the strategy of taking a "strength" and trying to make it into some sort of weakness like "I take too much pride in my work so I take what seems like too much time analyzing it before I turn it in".
They want to hear an actual weakness and how you handled it.
I use the lack of communication between me and my former boss. Most of the people I interview with understand that a Primary Investigator wears a lot of hats and isn't available for me to talk to on a regular basis. It's trusted that I can handle my job independently, it's part of being a good technician.
We got TOO FAR apart from each other and were operating on different pages which resulted in me making a mistake.
I brought it up during my review (one of the few times a year I had his undivided attention). We were never able to get our schedules to sync for regular lab meetings but I started shooting him an email once a week (or every other week) with updates. That kept us on the same page and resolved a lot of our issues.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2016 9:25:52 GMT -5
LOL!! Just don't answer that your greatest weakness is your lack of patience with stupid questions!
I'm honest when I'm asked that. My greatest weakness in when I'm in a position of "teaching". I have no patience with people who don't listen the first time. I get extremely irritated at having to tell someone 19 times how to do something. I know it's me and not them and it's a weakness. I'm honest.
There must be something you aren't as good at as other things. The "teaching" thing is a good answer.
One time I answered that I didn't like confrontation. The moment I said it I realized it was a bad answer. The position I was interviewing for would have been dealing with customers and vendors (accounts receivable/accounts payable). Chances are there would be confrontation in a position like that.
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Green Eyed Lady
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Look inna eye! Always look inna eye!
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Post by Green Eyed Lady on May 2, 2016 10:04:43 GMT -5
LOL!! Just don't answer that your greatest weakness is your lack of patience with stupid questions!
I'm honest when I'm asked that. My greatest weakness in when I'm in a position of "teaching". I have no patience with people who don't listen the first time. I get extremely irritated at having to tell someone 19 times how to do something. I know it's me and not them and it's a weakness. I'm honest.
There must be something you aren't as good at as other things. The "teaching" thing is a good answer.
One time I answered that I didn't like confrontation. The moment I said it I realized it was a bad answer. The position I was interviewing for would have been dealing with customers and vendors (accounts receivable/accounts payable). Chances are there would be confrontation in a position like that.
I'm in a position where I hire people quite often. I hate that question, but it's required here. I know when people are trying to come up with some bs answer. I'd much rather know a person's weakness going into it because usually, it's something they can learn (if they didn't have an impatient teacher like me). Honestly means a lot to me in the interviewing process. One person responded that their typing skills left a lot to be desired. Fortunately, that particular position didn't require speed - just accuracy. One person responded that their lack of creative skills was a weakness. Again, fortunately, that position required a logical person more than a creative person (yes...I know people can be both).
I've also had some really dumb answers like "My greatest weakness is that I'm a perfectionist." They are trying to say they really have no weaknesses. Some have said they couldn't come up with an answer. That tells me they don't have a good grasp on themselves because everybody has a weakness. Another person strung a long sentence filled with big words that didn't make a lick of sense.
Honestly? Since one of my weaknesses is being able to place a bunch of importance on the answer to that question, as long as nobody tries to bs me, it's USUALLY low on the list of things that would disqualify a person for a job.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2016 10:19:29 GMT -5
I've always heard make it a technical skill you could easily mitigate, like the typing thing, or need more practice with certain software, rather than a personality thing.
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on May 2, 2016 10:31:24 GMT -5
As a hiring manager, I don't ask that question when I get to write the questions (most of the time I do, but sometimes I don't). However, when that question gets asked. I do write off candidates who try the "I'll present a strength as a weakness". Actually, the fact that you are a perfectionist IS a weakness, because sometimes the margins don't matter and the report just needs to be turned in on time, but the fact that you probably don't recognize that makes you not someone I want on my team.
When asked that question, I do try and relate it to the job, but I also have some standard answers: 1) I have a forest for the trees problem - I can get so caught up in the details that I miss the big picture. I deal with this by talking with colleagues and my boss about it, so that they can pull me out of the trees and show me the forest. 1a) Kind of in reverse, I deal with big picture change really well, but small changes can really throw me off, especially if I get them last minute. (This was a bigger deal when I was an analyst.) Revamping an entire process works for me, but telling me I need to change one aspect of a report, the day the report is due, can throw off my entire work flow. 2) I trust those around me to do their jobs, which is for the most part a strength. However, as a people manager, when I come in assuming that the people in the positions I am going to be supervising (if they are already in their jobs) know what they are doing, it can take me a while to realize that someone isn't as competent as they pretend to be. Since I overall prefer to be the person who trusts those I work with to do their jobs (vs a micro-manager), the main way I combat this is to solicit feedback from my team's "customers" to make sure all needs are being met. I can be a micro-manager if a staff member needs it, but it is not my preferred way of operating. 2a) If I have to be a micromanager, either I am not going to last long in the position, or the people who need micromanaging aren't going to last long in their positions. I can do it, and don't mind doing it short term to get someone up to speed, but if it remains a constant, one of us will be gone.
Now, I will say, that while I don't ask this exact question, I ask one that is spiritually related. Generally, one of the last questions I ask in an interview is "Given your understanding of the position, what do you think your greatest challenge will be?" And I will say, don't try to give me a BS answer to this. This is the question that lets me know what areas I, as your boss, am going to need to focus on at the start to get you fully up to speed. It helps set your first day/week/month/quarter trainings and will focus our meetings. And then the really sucky part for the interviewees - I like to hire people who do not share my strengths and weaknesses. If you are weak where I am strong, I can train you, I can help out and we can make sure things are covered. In one job I just hired for, I specifically needed someone in that role with a strength I do NOT have. I know I don't have it. So if you answered that question with your weakness being the same as mine, I wasn't going to hire you.
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on May 2, 2016 10:42:03 GMT -5
I've always heard make it a technical skill you could easily mitigate, like the typing thing, or need more practice with certain software, rather than a personality thing. It really depends on the job. For example, the two most recent positions I have posted - Events and Outreach Manager and Assistant to the Chair. If you try and pass of "typing speed" as your weakness for my Events and Outreach Manager, I am probably not going to consider you for the position. This is because either you don't understand what the job is, or you are not seriously considering the question I asked you as it relates to what we are discussing. Being able to make your answer relevant to our conversation matters. For the Assistant to the Chair position, I might consider it a valid answer (though it's not like that person takes dictation or does a lot of transcription, but that can vary by Chair, so...).
Truth be told, my greatest weakness is probably my terrible hand eye coordination and depth perception. But I don't work jobs where that matters, and if I tried to pass that off as my answer when interviewing for a Director of Finance and Administration position, I would expect to have my application thrown out as soon as the interview was over.
But, here's the thing - if you use a technical skill as your greatest weakness, I'll wonder why, if it is your greatest weakness, you have not already taken steps to be better. You'll notice that one of the key components to the answer to that question (even though it's not directly asked) is to talk about how you mitigate or counter your weakness. However, this is a valid tactic for the version of the question I ask, because again, that feeds the training. If you are new to the University and answer you think your greatest challenge will be learning all the University systems, that works for me, and I'll make sure you get the training you need. However, if you've been a U employee for a few years and you give that same answer, I am not hiring you.
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