“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” ― Dolly Parton
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Recently, nowaypablo made a post asking for interview guidance. One of the questions he anticipated receiving was the dreaded, "tell me about your greatest weakness."
How would you answer that question? If we all know that this question is likely to be asked, why do we still fear it? What is the objective of the interviewer? Are they genuinely interested in your specific answer, or are they interested in how you answer? -I think it's both. They want to know that your weakness wouldn't preclude you from doing the job effectively, sure, but they are also interested in how you answer. Were you able to quickly and succinctly articulate an answer to such a question? Do you possess the self-awareness to have a good answer?
So how about it Hubski, What is your greatest weakness?
So I think that the answer to this question really depends on the context - I think that my answer to this question "in life" or "in relationships" would differ a lot from what I'd say for work. Since this is on the tng selling series and placed in the context of a job interview, I'll answer the way I would at work - as honestly as I can. I have difficulty seeing the forest for the trees sometimes - if I get very involved or interested in something, I can hyper-focus on small elements such that I lose sight of the bigger picture. This can cause me to use my time ineffectively as I'm trying to research one small detail because I become attached to it, when instead the greater priority is finishing the whole piece. This also impacts my communication because sometimes, I communicate things on too micro a level. It's been useful to me at work to learn to take a step or two back from "where I am" in a project, and try to present information on a larger level to business partners and coworkers, etc. I'm really, really good at research and analysis but sometimes that means I get way too into nailing down the details behind the smallest details. This is one of the most frustrating ways that I lose time at work, because I become attached to identifying the right answer when really I need to let go and move on. But learning this about myself has been helpful in fighting against it. I also think it's a valuable thing for me to know about myself. It helps me to say "Stop it, get out of your head" when I can feel myself getting drawn down a research hole.
I overthink things to the point of inaction. I strive to find balance between meaningful forethought (First order consequences, If this then that) and meaningless abstraction. (Third and fourth order hypothetical consequences) It's the difference between AndYou hit a pool ball, and it starts to carom off the sides of the table. In theory, that's a fairly simple system, almost a Newtonian system. Since you can know the force imparted to the ball, and the mass of the ball, and you can calculate the angles at which it will strike the walls, you can predict the future behavior of the ball. In theory, you could predict the behavior of the ball far into the future, as it keeps bouncing from side to side. You could predict where it will end up three hours from now, in theory.
But in fact, it turns out you can't predict more than a few seconds into the future. Because almost immediately very small effects-imperfections in the surface of the ball, tiny indentations in the wood of the table-start to make a difference. And it doesn't take long before they overpower your careful calculations. So it turns out that this simple system of a pool ball on a table has unpredictable behavior.
Interviewee: "I'm overly honest." Interviewer: "I don't think that's a weakness." Interviewee: "I don't give a fuck what you think." I seem to recall that great analyses was conducted by internet pundits upon the "correct" answer to this question and more insight was offered working HR people themselves. The question isn't designed to pinpoint one's greatest weakness but rather to assess one's levels of introspection. A good answer was to take a concrete situation in which one had found a personally generated obstacle in one's working life, to lead the interviewer through how one had identified the interaction between self and situation, how it had led to the situation and what one had done to develop personally in order to surmount the obstacle. The harsh truth is that for most of us, we are psychologically blind to our own weaknesses. Pick anything on that list that you're absolutely certain doesn't apply to you and you've probably found one that does. If none of them does, you may be labouring under the Dunning-Kruger delusion. There's an element of what NLP calls "deletion" in such an open question (or its reciprocal statement), similar to statements like "This food is terrible" -> "This food [tastes] terrible [to me]". I try to heard a question like that as "What [do you recall] is your greatest weakness [in a specific situation which I'm not going to supply, so I want you to do it for me]". This makes it easier to sustain a conversation with the human being before you, rather than pluck a desperate answer out of the air to please the seemingly faceless corporation judging you. Do not reply: "I give short answers to obtuse questions." Like _refugee_ says, the question is really contextual as is the answer. It's a question given in a workplace situation so should relate to the working life. I try to do everything - I like to learn by doing - so I must consistently assess my suitability and effectiveness in any given task and learn better ways to delegate to others. One current startup project I could have coded but my project manager wisely advised me to delegate completely and outsource. It got done better, faster and more efficiently, leaving me free to get on with other projects. Then the personal battle was refraining from micromanagement. Incidentally, the answer: "I guess my greatest weakness is caving in to the need to humiliate myself in this farcical charade of a conversation in order for you to assess whether you want to enslave me into the military-industrial complex to further exploit the planet and hasten the destruction of the biosphere through impossible infinite growth in a finite system" is not acceptable.
If I end up slumping mood-wise it makes me less effective at everything I do. If you under-utilize me or put me in a position of high-responsibility without support it will likely contribute to item A and create a feedback loop. I can be very indecisive and collect too much data in the process of making a decision.
My greatest weakness would have to be my need to make sure my work is done and it's done right. You are probably thinking "That's not a weakness." but when a project with a lot of moving parts presents itself I find myself double or even triple-checking things that don't necessarily need my attention at the moment. It can slow me down, and I have continued to work on it.
I feel your pain. I have some competency in my job, now I'm working on building efficiency and speed. But with lots of balls in the air/ moving parts/ pick-a-metaphor It's really easy to get bogged down in finicky little things.when a project with a lot of moving parts presents itself I find myself double or even triple-checking things that don't necessarily need my attention at the moment
I can genuinely see how this would slow you down and be a weakness. That said, much of the advice you see on how to answer this question warns against the "I'm a perfectionist," answers, which this seems dangerously close to. If I'm in the interviewers seat, I may be thinking okay, so you're detail oriented, nothing wrong with that, what's your real weakness? Oraybe it's a perfect answer...? I suppose it's all relative to who is on the receiving end. Honest answer, how many times did you re-read your comment before posting it? :)
I'm a builder, not a maintainer. I'll build you a new program, department, system, or structure, and when I build it I'll make sure that other people can easily learn it, maintain it, and grow it, but if you leave me to maintain what I've built, I'll do a terrible job. It's like asking an architect to clean the windows every day. He might be able to do it for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, but that's not what he wants to do and that's not where his skills are. His skills are in designing buildings and once that's done, he moves on and practices his skills elsewhere.
I think honestly, I'm lazy. I stagnate without much issue in many aspects of life. I'll get good at a specific skill in Rugby, and promptly leave it at that. I get positive feedback for something I do at work, and go about emulating that, but never improving on things - because I don't want to put any more effort into things. I get to a certain stage in life and I'll be quite comfortable with the scenery; and it takes a fairly big change to knock me out of that. I cruised through my degree, barely attended lectures for the last two years of it, and called it a day with my Bachelors. And yet? I am hugely competitive. I want to beat you at whatever it is we're doing. I get a little stroppy when I don't win or succeed. It's quite odd having both trains of thought there "I'm going to wipe the floor with you" sitting right along next to "Sleep. Sleeeeeeep. Bed. ZZZzzzzz. No more work". Maybe it's a by-product of having parents consistently tell me I was intelligent/talented etc. Not like, they pushed me to be the best, but they were just observant (or biased) parents and they didn't mind telling me these things. Possibly, I grew up being able to coast by and felt that meant I was automatically really good and smart and stuffs - and when I don't do well I immediately feel the anger of a loss, from something I probably didn't care about beforehand, because that was different to my perceived norm of being "too capable to make an effort". Oooorr! I'm just a sore loser, and take it poorly rather than being ultra-competitive. Damn Hubski, you thought-provoking.
I do not care about playing office politics. It isn't that I am unaware of it, I just have absolutely no desire to play that game even though I will probably have to at some point. And I am not speaking of ordinary interpersonal relationship problems but the games that people often play when maneuvering for a raise or a promotion. I just want to do my assigned job and do it well.
Attention to detail I've known it for a long time, but it manifested itself way more than I expected this summer at my internship. It feels like I can't write a sentence without making 5 typos and grammatical mistakes. And add to that formatting problems and stuff I forget to fix after we discuss it with my boss because somehow I didn't write it down, even if i do try to write everything. I really felt like a chicken without a head... Everybody was really nice about it and stuff, but my supervision genuinely and very nicely even mentioned I might want to reconsider my career choice (I felt like I wanted to work in a marketing agency developing campaigns) because of that flaw... Any tips? Do you think it's something I can work hard on and overcome or should I really look into other options that play more to my strengths? Hard questions :( What kind of career can you even have these days as a careless person? goddamit
For what it's worth, my attention to detail also sucks. However, I have skill-sets in other areas that compensate. Generally, that's how it works. A supervisor, or a manager doesn't want to put up with someone's lack of attention to detail, unless that person is pretty amazing in another area. So, be aware of your weakness, mitigate it as best you can but more importantly develop those core strengths so that you become indispensable. Good luck!
I'm unable to take a compliment. Lately I've been getting more involved in art, something I've loved my whole life. I'm not bad, per say, but obviously improvements can always be made (that's the main reason I drawing something every day) Its impossible for me not to feel like an imposter, someone will comment on a picture (Literally just now I got a bunch of "wow!" And "that's amazing!" Comments on Facebook on my latest one) and I immediately think 'are they being sarcastic?' That's why I've been posting some stuff here on hubski, part of it is getting myself out there, trying to learn to take praise, and actually be proud of what I do. I still prefer when people tell me "its good but x is wrong/could be done better if you try like this". I'd rather people criticise my faults so I can improve than just outright compliment me.
Usually when you don't know how to respond to a compliment, they just want you to smile and say thank you. Criticism is great, but a couple months of no good news can be draining, so compliments are nice too. I think that constructive criticism in general is something that's always on the decline, but can only say that from what I've personally viewed. But you could add that even though you can't take a compliment, this has allowed you to not be too shy to vocalise your own constructive feedback.
My greatest weakness is that I tend to be quiet and introverted. I've stated as much in various job interviews, and I've had success so far. I think the key is answering quickly and succinctly. I usually state that being an introvert is my weakness, but that I have certain strengths that make up for this (independent thinking, I'm a great listener, I always keep my nose clean in the office, etc). I also point to group work on my resume and my references as proof that I can work in groups and develop relationships effectively. I just don't like to do it as much as some people.