[spsurfin_Michael]

I interview every applicant for my company and I always ask what their strengths and weaknesses are amongst other things. My goal during the interview process is to assess their critical thinking skills. Almost every skill is transferable and the training is designed to direct those skills so they can be applied to the tasks of particular job duties. It is completely unreasonable to expect them to walk on the job and not require training—every company has its own style, personality, and informal rules.

Answering this question honestly is critical as most interviewers will spot a lie or made up answer in a heart beat. If you give a poor answer, I will ask several follow up questions and force you into a corner until I have the information I want. I will through out hypothetical situations and ask you to resolve them.

We all have weaknesses. The best solution is to pick one that is not related to transferable skills, your ability to work with others, or be a team player.

If you are willing to through out here what you believe are some of your weaknesses are, I’m sure that many of us can offer you good advise on how to spin it so it appears that the weakness can be overcome.

A great example might be where you were on a team and had difficulty with particular personality types and found it difficult to get a group consensus. The team had trouble with conflict resolution due to an overly aggressive member who would not consider other’s ideas, and attempted to bully the tem.