The Ever-Present "Weakness" Question

There are basically two answers to the perennial "what's your greatest weakness?" interview question:

1. You state a "weakness" that's really a strength (or something employers would like to hear). In other words, you really don't admit to a weakness. Examples:

"I'm too driven and always want to deliver great results no matter what the project is."

"I work too much. I'm always putting in overtime and working more than what is required."

2. You state a true weakness, but show that you're making progress on it. This could also be explained as "a weakness I once had but am now over." Examples:

"In the past, I was often so focused on obtaining the objective that I used to by-pass proper channels and personnel. I've since learned that I need to work through the proper people and systems so that the objective is not only reached, but that it is achieved in a manner that's least disruptive to the organization and lets everyone be part of the process."

"I used to struggle with any sort of negative feedback on my performance. I've worked hard at being open to what others say about my work, knowing that they truly are trying to help, and now I see that constructive criticism can make me a better executive. It's still not something that's easy to hear, but in the rare cases where I do get some corrective comments, I work hard to understand what the person is saying and think about how I can apply the suggestions to my work for positive change."

MSN Career covers these two answers as follows

Weakness as a Strength

"I like to hear applicants state an exaggerated strength, and put an interesting twist on it. An example of this is, 'My initiative is so strong, that sometimes I take on too many projects at a time.'"

This answer leads with a strength that employers want -- initiative -- and still acknowledges that you're not perfect. In fact, you can overextend yourself. Although you might consider this acknowledgement too honest, it works because it proves you're being honest. Plus, employers are still requiring workers to "do more with less," so you show that you are prepared to multitask.

Honesty with Progress

When you consider what your weaknesses are, think about how you have attempted to overcome them. No one is perfect, so pretending that you had a weakness and then eliminated it entirely will come across is insincere. Debra Davenport, author of "Career Shuffle," believes citing examples are the best approach.

"My preferred response for this question is to tell the truth without damaging the applicant's image -- and in a manner that doesn't make the candidate come across like they've been coached by a Hollywood PR person," Davenport explains. "Many candidates are on to this question and so have developed fluff answers such as, 'My co-workers have told me that I sometimes take my work too seriously,' or 'I can never seem to leave the office at 5:00 -- I guess I just love my work too much!'" Employers aren't buying it, she says.

"A better response might be, 'I've had some challenges with work-life balance in the past and I realize that a life out of balance isn't good for me, my family or my employer. I've taken the time to learn better time and project management, and I'm also committed to my overall wellness. I eat right, exercise and maintain healthy boundaries for myself.'"

Here's my take on the issue:

• In the past, I always used the "weakness as a strength" response, answering with something (I can't remember what exactly) about how I often was "too focused on getting great results to the exclusion of other things." I know, it was a weak answer, in general. But it worked (believe it or not.)
• If I was interviewing today, I think I'd respond more with a weakness that I've been working/making progress on. I think it's more honest (we all have some issues, right?) and believable (do interviewers really accept the other response these days?)

So, how would/do you answer the "what's your greatest weakness" interview question?

Comments

[MattJ]

I consider myself fortunate that I've never been involved in an interview where I had to address such *ahem* BS / pop-psych questions. Perhaps it's my youth, or that I spent so much time in grad school only to immediately fall into a really great job doing exactly what I wanted. The interview for this job was conducted by a couple of straight-shooting, 'tell us what your skills are and we'll feel you out personality-wise over lunch' guys. As far as I can remember, they didn't ask any of the textbook 'hidden agenda' questions.

Other folks in positions that select from candidates may think that's a mistake, but these two guys have hired probably 20 engineers after me, and every one of them that I've worked with has been a diligent, first-rate engineer, except for one person who was foisted on us as a transfer from somewhere else in the company.

[jim]

I really hate that question in an interview. Its stupid. Why ask it? The person asking doesn't really want an honest answer and expect them to give a BS answer. Or they're trying to trick someone into being honest. How stupid is that? I don't ask questions that I want to hear BS answers for. I ask questions to get honest answers. In fact if I asked that question and got the BS "I work tooooo hard" answer I'd consider that a negative and much prefer an honest truthful answer. But I guess thats just me.

[texashaze]

My answer is that there are opportunities to better learn the company (who is interviewing me) internal business practices. It's typical BS but seems to do the trick. One thing a candidate should never ever do is answer the question with a work practice or personality weekness (ie, sometimes I'm late on deadlines or I get angry at coworkers for whatever reason). This just gives them a reason to not hire you.

[jackson]

You have to be real careful answering this type of question. If you give an honesty with progress response, make sure your weakness isn't a critical job junction.

[Cristina]

While I agree it's not the a great question, and have never used it in an interview myself, I think even the "BS" answers can provide some value. Somebody who consistently shows up late and sneaks out early probably won't answer that his weakness is working too much. He would be more likely to pick a "strength" he actually has to portray as his weakness.

The person who answers that his weakness is getting angry when criticized obviously has never read any advice about preparing for an interview (since how to answer this question is address in just about every single article). Is someone who is unprepared in such a basic situation also going to be unprepared or uninformed in other areas?

[Jon]

How about "I have a low tolerance for stupidity/laziness/incompetence."?

[KMI]

I answer this one honestly, with a weakness I'm working on and some of the ways I've improved and continue to work on it. I can't think of a faster way to turn off an interviewer than to answer this one with the BS "weakness as strength" answer. I did it straight out of college and learned my lesson after a couple interviews. It may depend on the company you work for though. My company makes it very clear that if you are not self-aware enough to know your weaknesses, then you won't be an asset to us anyway. If you know your weaknesses and lie about them, we don't want you either. Nobody is perfect, and we don't expect that. But if you can't figure out what you need to work on and be honest about it, how in the world will you be able to analyze problems on a project, report issues to management that they need to know, or mentor others in improving their skills?