How NOT to Answer "What's Your Greatest Weakness?"

Alex Rudloff says: (10:19AM on Jul 10th 2009) Vote Up Vote DownReport2.5/3

My favorite answer of all time?

"Kryptonite"

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K says: (3:06PM on Jul 10th 2009) Vote Up Vote DownReport1/3

Nice article but there were too many mispelled words.

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K says: (4:12PM on Jul 10th 2009) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5

Not trying to be the bad person but this is an example located approx. in the 4th paragraph: "Instead of a cookie cutter answer that prevents your?" The word 'your' with the letter r deleted would make sense don't you agree?

Guess that is my perfectionism shining. Sorry, if I have insulted anyone. There are a few more if you look closely but then I notice these for some reason. I really do like the article or would not even be remarking to this at all. It will help many people. Smile!

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Stephen says: (4:26PM on Jul 10th 2009) Vote Up Vote DownReport2.5/3

Thanks K... I definitely notice the grammatical error now.. appreciate the help!

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K says: (5:36PM on Jul 10th 2009) Vote Up Vote DownReport1/3

You both are very welcome....keep up the great service. Am always available to help but of course we all do like to be paid for our hard efforts. I will take a look at your site. Have a wonderful weekend.

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Howard says: (6:02PM on Jul 10th 2009) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5

"My inability to stay focused."
"I tend to get really frustrated with authority."
"Booze"

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DW says: (2:59PM on Jul 20th 2009) Vote Up Vote DownReport2/5

This is long so doing start reading if you are short of time. I never can answer or comment without the rationale behind it. Interesting comments regarding the article. I see we have a few teachers out there who focus on the words instead of the article, always critiquing the paper. Of course if one cannot write without making grammatical errors, misspelled words, etc. a reader would tend to discredit the article as not being factual and assume the author knew little of the subject matter.
For myself I am a horrible speller. This occurred through multiple years in college taking notes and developing my own language in order to keep up with the instructor. Lecture and note taking was a great detriment to my spelling. Do I mind, no I have two master degrees and a computer with spell check, and multiple accomplishments behind me, to include 2 languages (conservational), now that confuses ones spelling a great deal. Our language is American and made of many different countries (words that have been adapted from Germany, Sweden, etc.) many of our words are a combination of our ancestors and there is no logical way to spell them, therefore cat should be spelled Kat and is spelled as such if you ask a country man of Germany to spell it.
Now back to the article, I think it is good advice to be prepared for this question, why, because all the prewritten questionnaires’ from each HR will include this question and one must play the game. With some of the answers listed above, it would spark interest if I received one of those answers, and I would have to laugh in humor out loud, I would not be able to contain myself, not a professional response I realize and most of those reading this would be aghast at that action. I wouldn't hire the person but I would get a good laugh, and suggest a good counselor or support group.
Now for the article. I know the pain of answering this question. I find it a useless question and the intention is to put the person seeking the job, on the hot seat. Most ordinary workers don't sit around pondering their weakness. I am much too busy to engage in such trivial tasks, even though I know I have weakness, they most are to do with personal issues and not professional. The person who has been fired multiple times for the same thing should do some self reflection with what has been determined as his or her weakness. I usually respond to that question two fold. I answer somewhat the same as suggested, but I add a light hearted response with a straight face and say "well really I don't have any weakness, I am perfect, (my way of saying "what a stupid question, and you want an honest answer? Does HR expect an answer”? And don’t tell me your buying into this hype?), then I would chuckle letting them know I was light hearted and "just teasing" answer the question by saying "my greatest weakness is also by best aptitude and my strongest suite, I am a perfectionist, I am structured and tend to work the task until it is done, I also expect my team to work as hard as I do. So my answer is my weakness is my strongest aptitude/quality, you will respond by giving the employer what they want to hear. They want someone to work long hours, and devote all their waking moment to "The Company", not have a life and make sure your life centers around your job. Mind you this is all on salary. The attitude changes if the person is paid hourly, they still want you to do the same work, but do they care how many hours it takes you to accomplish a task, why because it is money and all aspects of all jobs and companies the bottom line is the dollar, it’s always about the money. How to do it quicker, better and of course cost less to produce the same product or result. One saying goes "on your tombstone, he worked long and hard hours and his family never knew him, or I wish I had taken more time to live”. I know I butchered that one up, but you get the point. As you get older you realize, like the late Tug McGraw, "Live like you are dying", don't sweat the small stuff, love your family and actually enjoy and spend time with them. Work is not your most important aspect in life, as long as you can pay your bills, provide for your family, take a vacation now and again, that's all one needs. Some feel they need the power and adreline rush of being the boss and climbing the ladder. While they climb the ladder, their family grows up without them, their wife is lonely and their aging parents die without him or her ever knowing them as people not just mom and dad. One day this person looks around and sees that his kids are grown, his wife has left and his parents have passed, he has been forced into retirement and sits alone in a big house that he worked all those long hours for. He does not have the respect of his employer nor his co-workers, why, because he had to be tough and made no friends along the way. Now he or she has time to reflect on weakness and strengths. Ask him/her now what their weakness is or their strength. You will get a different response and it will be honest.
I hate those cookie cutter questionnaires’ that HR is forced to execute and prospective employees are forced to answer as they squirm with an answer that is expected by the interviewer. I usual develop my own questions that are relevant to the job itself, I know in 10 min if I want this person on my team. I have went with the questions HR has set forth and found that I now have a team member who said the appropriate response and now I have to deal with an employee that is less desirable than I had in mind. Experience tells me, my way is the best way, and when I am asked this question, I will mess with the interviewer because they have such a lack of creativity and I don't care if I get the job or not, but I sure love messing with them and see their reaction. If they are any good at what they do, they see through this illogical dance and ask the right questions. Ask a new college grad to be brave and answer truefull and they would cringe in their shoes, they will go with the stat response, boring. I for one do not want a molded employee, who will be seeking to brown nose and Kiss B___. I do not like to work with those types and I avoid them as much as possible. Thing is I know my job so well, they can't bull their way to the boss to ever discredit me. That is the most important thing, know your craft whatever it may be, know it well and be the best at it. You don't have to be an egoistical smart A__; one can be kind and generous with their knowledge, for there is a whole generation behind us who can benefit from what we have already learned be a mentor and a leader. Mean what you say and say what you mean, never lie, and stand by your ethics and morals, it is hard but you will be the better person for it. A man or woman is only as good as their word or their promise. If you say you will do something, do it. You make a promise to a customer, get it done. In the long run you will have more customers, and the respect of the ones you do business with. Live by the golden rule, don’t conduct business like the snake business has turned into, shall we say Enron and retirement packages.
Enough said, the article is interesting but to "thyne own self be true", answer truthful and if you need the job that bad, give them the answer they seek as being acceptable. Most don't listen or want to know the truth anyway, just that you can give the standard answer.
Another good question on the cookie cutter HR questionnaire is "why do you want this position", or "what makes you the better candidate for this position"? I have been known to allow them to answer the question, then lean forward look them in the eye and ask them, “now tell me the real reason you want this job and why do you think you will be good at it”. If they can tell me the truth, they get hired. If not they are not honest with me or themselves and I would put them in the pile of non trustworthy and not up to my standards. HR has a dread of me in an interview most of the time, but I ask nothing that is illegal or against any act of congress. I have even thrown in a question in that is off the wall at an odd moment of the interview, this is only if I suspect the person to be a recreational drug user, in the middle of all the questions, I ask, "when was the last time you indulged in marijuana? Most of the time their mouth flies open, they stutter and I look at them like I already know their history, if they can answer truthful, good for them, if they deny any such occurrence, what is one to do. I just want their response not their real answer. Responses mean a great deal to a person who watches reactions. Reactions to off the wall questions, will give a great insight to that person. Would I answer truthful to that question, of course I would, they can take it or leave it. Not like Bill Clinton "But I didn't inhale". How many of you believe that? Just like "I never touched that woman". That was a good one. When Hillary's campaign manger asked me to vote for Hillary for president, my standard response was I haven't decided yet on who I want to vote for, why because I hadn't heard anyone answer any questions nor do any candidates have a plan, only THAT THERE IS GOING TO BE CHANGE. But into rural America comes Hillary and many along with many of past presidents or the want to be presidents, I still haven’t figured out why our community is so important to them, we are a make it or break it state in some cases, but our community? I had a good time with the campaign manager for a little while anyway, then I became serious and asked the campaign manager in regards to Bill's behavior and Hillary's tolerance of said behavior for 25 plus years and the public embarrassment to his behavior and lies she endured and tolerated, I told her, “If this woman/person can't control or run her own house, how can I depend and expect her to run my country". How one conducts ones self personally is a reflection on how they will perform in a position of an employer, or in her case the representative for the entire United States of America. I would have had more respect for her if she had booted him to the door, but she had her own agenda then and now. The question in my mind was “Will she roll over accept the behavior of the terrorist and sleep in another bedroom for a given amount of time because they bombed another ship, or took down a dam of hydroelectric energy, how will she conduct herself and will she stand up for us and say no more, buddy we are coming after you? No man would ever publicly embarrass me in such a manner, that was/is a private matter but sadly it was one that was not private. When the people of the United States own you and you are supposed to answer to the public you have no privacy, there was a day when journalist had respect for the president and would not report private matters of indiscretion. Today it is reported because we want to hear it, we want to hear that our official are corrupt and full of promises and yes lies too. They speak with a great many words, they say quite a bit, but they never say anything, you leave the interview wondering later just what did they say? True politicians to the end, they learned to play the game. The people, we the people own you our politicians, congress, senators and the president; they just seem to forget that. So did I vote for Hillary, maybe, maybe not, again that is a private matter? I believe she is smart, smarter than Bill, she ran the Whitehouse anyway, she had the experience, but I had that element of non trust with her abilities to do the right thing for our country, could she be tough enough and not accept the behavior of our enemies. Same applies in business; trust is the new key to effective productivity. A good book to read is Business by the Book by John Maxwell. Anyone wanting answers for an interview should take the time to read this book, it applies to every business and every job. I will not reveal its contents but maybe elicit enough curiosity to make you want to read it.

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