How To Answer The 'Greatest Weakness' Question

The interview question “What’s your greatest weakness?” is one of most pointless and offensive questions you can ask a job applicant, but interviewers still ask it every day.

They don’t realize that well-brought-up people do not ask perfect strangers about their weaknesses.

They don’t realize that asking the question “What’s your greatest weakness?” marks them as just another clueless, by-the-book HR or Recruiting drone. We have to feel sorry for them!



The obnoxious question “What’s your greatest weakness?” should have been retired from the corporate and institutional recruiting playbook at least twenty years ago.

Here are five reasons this is one of the worst interview questions ever asked of a job-seeker:

You are an interviewer, not a therapist. It is none of your business what someone’s weaknesses are.
It is cowardly to ask a personal question about someone’s weaknesses without sharing your own weakness at the same time. Doing so conveys the message “I will happily ask you questions I wouldn’t answer myself. I’m in the power position. You aren’t!”
It is only a cultural construct that people have weaknesses at all. Some people subscribe to that view. It is a popular view in the United States but many people living elsewhere believe that people are perfectly equipped for their missions here on earth.
If a weakness is something you wish you could do better than you can, then there will always be millions more things that you can’t do than things you can do. What makes some of these things weaknesses? If you’re interested in them, you’ll get better at them over time and if you’re not, you won’t.


“What’s your greatest weakness?” is a miserable interview question if only because it is so trite. An interviewer who relies on lame, done-to-death interview questions tells the world he or she doesn’t have the insight or creativity to improve on the Mad Men-era traditional interview script — and that is sad!
If you are asked the “weakness” question on a job interview, you have two choices. You can get up and leave the interview — and there are certainly situations where that may be the best course of action — but if you want to stick around, you have to answer the question.

Most of us have heard that the best answer to “What’s your greatest weakness?” is to share a “weakness” that is really a strength, like a tendency to work too hard or be too demanding of yourself.

Those lame, done-to-death answers are just as bad as the original lame, done-to-death question!

Here is another way to answer the question “What’s your greatest weakness?”



Interviewer: So Andy, what would you say is your greatest weakness?

Andy: I used to stress about a number of things that I thought I should be better at than I was. In my first job out of college, I worried that I should be better at creating spreadsheets. I took classes in Excel and I learned a lot, but over time I realized that I didn’t really care about spreadsheets.

I moved closer and closer to creative work with every job I took after that. My initial concern that I wasn’t good enough at spreadsheets was really just my fear of stepping into my power.

Nowadays I don’t think of myself as a person with weaknesses. There are lots of things I’m never going to be good at, and that’s okay. It would be a bad use of my time to try to get better at those things. My job is to get better at the things I love to do — things I’m already good at, like art direction and design.

End of Script

Andy shifted the frame when he answered the “weakness” question in a non-traditional way. He made the interviewer think, and that is the best thing you can do on a job interview.

If the interviewer is not actively thinking, you can be sure that he or she is miles away in their mind, thinking about other things. In that case, they will forget you two minutes after the interview is concluded.



Andy took the conversation to a higher level when he questioned the notion of weaknesses rather than saying ”My weakness is that I’m too conscientious about my work!” like one more submissive job seeker in the endless stream of them.

Will Andy’s interviewer like his answer to the “weakness” question?

Andy doesn’t really care whether the interviewer loves him or hates him.

He only wants to work with people who like his brand of jazz. He spends way too many hours at work to be willing to work with people who don’t get him and thus don’t deserve him.

You spend a lot of hours at work, too — don’t you deserve to work alongside people who get you?


https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2017/03/29/how-to-answer-the-greatest-weakness-question/amp/

Wow! First to comment sha..

Seun I will send my account number soon




Guys make una check my signature

Ok

My Greatest weakness is that I care so much about the wellbeing of every Nigerian

Or you can simply keep quiet and hope they ask another question. Gbam.

You have said nothing...
Lemi come and be going

And I guess I'll get the job after that.

clickbnkgod:
Wow! First to comment sha..

Seun I will send my account number soon




Guys make una check my signature

Who 1st to comment help

So so on point Mr Op!!









the most intelligent way to answer a dumb question

My greatest weakness was the failure to separate the theory in the four walls from reality. I had to learn in a hard way that there are more things I could offer than what I learnt from the school.
Things like team playing , leadership qualities, problem solving which I never acquired from the school were my biggest weakness which I have conquered overtime

Estimable:

Who 1st to comment help

Lol.....bad guy

Nice...
I was just about posting a more simple and practical version. Very weird that someone just posted same.

To put simply, here is how to answer ''What are your weaknesses''?
http://www.hrtechnique.com/2017/02/how-to-answer-what-are-your-weaknesses.html

Walking out of the interview room because you are asked such a question? Are you for real?

Well.... I think it is better to come up with a witty response to that "crazy question" without revealing anything than to walk out. That way, the interviewer will focus on the "mystery" trail you left for him with your smart answers. He will have you in mind and think, "There must be something special or Nicely weird about this guy or lady"....

And from there you may never know.......

Interviewers love to know that you are also kinda " special" in a way and your reply to such a question gives you an opportunity to show how smart and witty you can be with crazy questions like that........ that way they may not wanna miss out on hiring the next Super Employee or "Intrapreneur" or even "next rising star"...

It is all about bad-ass Confidence, " improvised reasoning" to deflect the silly question..... and Spinal Critical thinking.

The best answer to that stupid question is to simply state that you do not have any weakness.

Atiku2019:
My Greatest weakness is that I care so much about the wellbeing of every Nigerian

Hypocrite

Just tell the interviewer this words.

Did you ask Buhari about his weakness before you vote him? THUNDER FIRE YOU

I love that response " i don't have any"

Interviewer:so mr XYZ from Enugu state,wat would u say ur greatest weakness is?
Mr XYZ:i have only one weakness.OKPA

So this my post made FP after many days while I was away looking for who will buy this my piece of land in ibeju/lekki.

Lalasticlala your wife will born triplet on first attempt because your are blessed. Oya say amen

Antara0503:
Interviewer:so mr XYZ from Enugu state,wat would u say ur greatest weakness is?
Mr XYZ:i have only one weakness.OKPA

"Thank you Sir for the question.

Whereas i'm at a loss as to which weakness is greatest as i've had several; I have by the grace of God been able to turn every single one of them to strengths as I rely on His ability within me. For example, the fear of failure. Now I have the mindset of success and victory regardless of what the task is and that's been my experience over the years with several awards and commendations to show.

Thank you once again Sir for the question."

***looking straight at him with a confident smile.***

***I refuse to be apologetic, wether or not you give me the job***

My HRM was conducting an interview about 2 years ago and I was with him helping out in the preparation. Me being the person to print out the set questions was surprised to see that almighty question "what is your greatest weakness so I went straight to him and asked if he's expecting a sincere answers from the applicants and to my suprise he said the question is just to test the intelligence of the applicants.

When i was about to leave his presence he called me back and asked "Emmanuel, what is your greatest weakness?". I was confused and afraid for a while then I answered him "Sir, I just like everyone else in this world I'm not perfect and not expecting to be; I keep track of my life and I try to improve on my shortcomings on every opportunity I get." Then he looked at me, smiled, tapped me on the shoulder and said "Go and continue what you are doing"

My greatest weakness is fried plantain. Ripe one o. I add it to virtually everything I eat.

The "Weakness question" is asked to show that no human is perfect. If you don't have a weakness, then that's a weakness.

Say something that relates to work, but finish by explaining how you cope with it.

E.g I adhere to plans 100%, so sudden changes in plans affects me, but I've discovered that it wise and helpful to prepare for such changes in advance when making plans