Interview tomorrow. What's your strategy for this question?

[prohornblower]

"I'd like to be a little more experienced".

This is the perfect answer, (if you are young). Because it's obvious to the employer that you are probably lacking some experience.

Just say, "I wish I was a bit more experienced in this field. But...I suppose that is just something that will come with time..."

[4_2_it]

[ QUOTE ]
That's the worst question ever. It's a stupid question too. There's no way to answer it without coming off like a 1.) arrogant prick, 2.) worthless loser, or 3.) a liar.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone with any real life or work experience should be able to handle this question. It shows how you deal with failure, which is something I want to know about the people who work for me.

I dont want someone who 'never' fails to work for me. They are self-deluded at best or huge problems at worst.

[turnipmonster]

my strategy for this question would be to be honest and tell them something about you that is a genuine weakness.

[dustyn]

[ QUOTE ]
They are looking for you to make an honest assessment. No one is perfect and trying to act like you are will not impress anyone.

I always talk about how the situations where I am learned the most were usually the results of a mistake. Then I give an example or two (not a problem for me) from my personal experience.

(I recognize this hedges the weakness thing a little, but does not avoid the question.)

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is good advice. Everyone has weaknesses, and the purpose of the question isn't to lie and say some BS "positive/negative" type of answer. If your weakness is that you aren't always the most organized person, saying something like this is good: "Sometimes I tend to get overloaded with work and can get disorganized. I've worked hard to stay on top of it, and succeed at that more often than not. However, there at times I still need to work on this."

It's a judgment call overall; some people (lower level HR screeners, or lower level managers that don't seem particularly intelligent) may respond better to the obvious crap like "My weakness is I work too hard and take on too many projects." However, if you are interviewing with an intelligent and strong manager, you are going to need to give a better answer than the above one. It's all about catering to your audience; just be careful about giving answers to this question that are obviously prefabricated and contain limited honesty. Think about the answers YOU want to hear if you are interviewing someone and ask this question.

[MDoranD]

I ask this question all the time to potential hires and its unbelievable how many of them use the "Im a perfectionist" answer. I think they teach this answer in college.

I also like to ask a question just to see someones thinking process. A question that doesnt require a "right" answer but will help tell me a lot about that person.

Example-

What would you add to the water supply to improve humans?

Why are manhole covers round?

If you could be any part of a car, which part would you be and why?


MDoranD

[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.

[lou22]

"I tend to ignore questions that make me uncomfortable."

Then when she asks you to explain what you mean, talk about how nice the weather is today.

[C.R.E.A.M.]

Good points. I agree with your take on the negative/positive response of "I work too hard sometimes". I was thinking about saying something like that (and I have used it in the past at interviews for $7.50/hour part time jobs that I worked while in school with success), but the more I thought about it, the more I feel it just sounds so fake and sounds like such BS. I bet interviewers get that answer all the time.

[eviljeff]

12 year old boys

[Gunny Highway]

Think of some personality characteristic that this job does NOT require. It's now your greatest weakness.