I want to take bets on how long until that username is banned/changed. I say by April 14th.

I guess my response to this question, albeit douchey, would be something along the lines of 'I work too hard'. That's what advice I've been given on this type of question.

People still ask this question? I thought it was outdated since everyone expects it to be asked...

Pick something that isn't a huge weakness and talk about what you did to overcome it and why it isn't an issue anymore.

That's why you should always try to look for your next job long before you actually need it. You're not going to want to work at most places or for most bosses, so you might as well set up a situation where you and any bosses you wouldn't want to work for mutually exclude each other. Then you only get offers from bosses/companies you'd like to work for anyways.

Still seems weird to me. I suppose it makes some amount of sense in the context that someone mentioned earlier about positions where the company is looking for horsepower rather than creativity or management skills.

Some headhunter wrote a column on this topic and said you want to avoid answering "I'm a terrible cook" or "I'm a workaholic perfectionist".

Since the question is among the most common in an interview it reflects poorly on your planning if you don't know how to answer it and the same can be said if you try to evade the question by responding with something that's not really a weakness.

The "I'm a terrible cook" line had been used by a guy applying for a manager type position and after being coached by the headhunter he had a much better answer.

Q: What's your biggest weakness

A: I struggle to keep up with the information stream throughout the day and have to spend 20 minutes after work catching up. (Include some yada yada about steps to improve in this area)

This could for all we know be utter BS, but at least it's answering the question with a work realated weakness that shows you have self awareness and also that you've prepared for one of the most common interview questions.

Prospective employer: "What is your biggest weakness?"
Me: "Well it was the morons I had to work with at my last place. You don't have any morons here do you?"

Very dated question that I would assume is not even asked anymore.

can't resist continuing the derail...

so now just because every technical marketing person on the planet has a hard-on for THE CLOUD, i'm not allowed to talk about remote clusters of elastically deployed virtual machines without BSing? or rather, i can talk about them, but i can't call them a "cloud"?

"Why should I change? They're the ones who suck!"

designing frameworks *is* fun, but most of us have that fun beaten out of us when we have to implement, maintain, document, and teach others how to use those frameworks. of course, since architects never actually write any code, they never have to feel this pain so hooray! more frameworks for everyone!

"I like not having fun. I like your idea of fun... I mean, our idea of fun. I like not having that."

definitely still asked.

The best answer I have heard to this question is "I have no known weaknesses." I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the guy that said this.

Hahah. Epic.

I got asked this question last year, so it is still used for some companies I guess.

Earlier in the interview they asked me several questions about stress/pressure and ability to work lots of overtime. So that made my answer along the lines of "I am not very good at finding work when there is nothing needed to be done, i'm not one to start a busy work project just to kill time".

They complimented me on my answer and I got the job. I think mentioning a weak point you have that is not highly linked to the prospective job makes sense.

I got asked this (actually the even more dreaded "What are your two biggest weaknesses") at a recent interview and said "lack of experience but I'm a fast learner" (I'm in college) and "I am sometimes afraid to be wrong for fear of embarrassment, but I've been learning that it's better to speak up, be wrong, and take the embarrassment than to remain silent and stay wrong"

Other stock answer I have heard: "I take the leadership role too often"

"I expect too much out of other people" or "vagina"

Eh, this is definitely a dumb question for two reasons. First, its just stupid and cliched. Second, answering it poorly can be a disaster because if the HR person is actually asking it they are a donk and want a good answer.

However I actually had someone ask me this, and before I could answer, she said "and don't give me some canned answer". *gulp*


Anyway, my personal advice would be to think about this question beforehand. You should be doing this anyway, preparing yourself for a wide array of questions, and while doing so actually ascertain what your biggest (constructive) weakness is. I think being honest here is incredibly important. In my last interview I believe I said that I can be somewhat demanding of my co-workers, and its something I have been working on, trying to understand other peoples perspectives and approach them in a different manner that allows myself and the team to achieve our goal.


Something along those lines shows you are willing to talk about your weaknesses and that you are actively working to fix them.

Mentioning a normally strong characteristic as a weakness is so bad for this question, imo.

Name a weakness... I'm a leader.

However, 'I have no known weaknesses' is amazing.

This is not getting enough love. But I am also vulgar so you know.

I think honestly naming a weakness is important here. But you do have to phrase it in some honest positive light. That being said, I have no clue what I would say if asked this on an interview. I have to think about this.

Thats nice, probably gonna steal it next time I have an interview.

Them: What's your greatest weakness?
You: I like to abuse small boys on my lunch break.

Bad answer. You need to follow it up with what you're doing to fix the problem:

"But I'm trying to kidnap some fatties to be less discriminating."

Lack of self awareness.

I always used to say public speaking but that I intended to do a training course to help get over it,never meant it though.

But a friend of mine when asked the same question looked at the ground and muttered alcohol,the interviewer just said she'll be in touch,she never meant it either

I recently got asked 'what are your THREE biggest weaknesses?'

*******s.

What is your biggest weakness?