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Why do people hate the greatest weakness question? I have never minded receiving it, and I often ask people the same. Most of us write code; it's a technical o

by ruggeri 14y ago

Why do people hate the greatest weakness question? I have never minded receiving it, and I often ask people the same. Most of us write code; it's a technical occupation, and none of us are great at everything. Are you super amazing and proficient with 100% of the technologies you'll ever need to interact with? Can you not talk competently about how you have been trying to get better at something? Are you not capable of admitting a weakness without crippling insecurity? Since you know this will be asked, are you so disorganized that you can't think in advance to come up with an honest answer? The only way to answer "too honestly" is to admit incompetence with the basic skills I'm hiring for, or reveal massive personality problems. You score an "A" if you talk about how you're trying to improve. More commonly, applicants reveal themselves as someone willing to lie to my face with a bullshit answer. I've never hired someone like that and never will. Edit: Also would never hire someone who was offended by this question. I think another commenter's suggestion that the applicant ask what the worst thing about working at a company is fair, and vital information. Of course, when I've asked this as an applicant I never received anything but bullshit in response.

goodanswer 14y ago
I agree. I've gotten this often and it's never been a problem. Why? Because I always point out something that's both true and not an issue. Just stay focused on your strengths. For example, most of my career involves unix systems internals, databases and networking. Stuff generally involving valuable state. I've done hardly any professional graphics or gui work. So when I get this question, I generally just point that out. Ephemeral stuff like video games isn't my line of work, and I'm not very experienced at UI stuff. Nobody who's ever care enough to interview me has been unhappy with that answer.
- slurgfest 14y ago
  You say something that's not an issue, therefore it is not really the worst thing about you. (Unless there is nothing bad about you. Lucky you.)
slurgfest 14y ago
It's a pressure question, a kind of interrogation. If you are honest, you will realize that you have a ton of things wrong with you and it isn't all that meaningful to pick the "worst" one. People have been asking this for so long that it really only gauges whether the applicant canned an answer to it which sounds bad enough that you won't think it's bullshit, but good enough that they aren't hurting their application. As with other interrogation techniques you often aren't selecting against lying, but just for plausible lying that you are unequipped to detect. It is certainly an illusion that you are selecting for honesty this way. If you do want to hire honest people, and it isn't for an area like sales where it is important for them to project unrealistic levels of self-confidence, you will cause less needless anxiety and get more actionable information if you can get specific on what sort of disclosure you need, rather than just asking the applicant to incriminate themselves in the worst way they can imagine. If you want to punish people with ability and integrity but lower self-esteem then this question is your ideal instrument.
- ruggeri 14y ago
  Fair points, but we do disagree, I think. The "worst" part of the question is the worst part. I talk to people about "one" weakness. I also ask for how they are trying to improve, which is actually the key part of the question to me. This is not intended as a pressure question. The point is not to learn about a weakness so I can disqualify an applicant. If people ask this question in the hopes that an applicant will incriminate himself, they're doing it (interviewing) wrong. I think this misperception about the intent of the question is what drives a lot of the fuss about it. I think an interview process that is focused on filtering only people who aren't bad enough to obviously reject is going to net a company a lot of bad hires. You're right, plausible lying can be difficult to distinguish from truth. But the kind of hire I'd like to make is one who can speak fluently and with clear honesty about an area where he/she would like to improve. To your last point: really don't think this is fair. If an applicant isn't comfortable with discussing a single weakness without feeling totally compromised, then I'm truly sorry, but their poor self-esteem is likely to get in the way of co-workers being honest with them. I say that as someone not characterized with excessively high self-esteem.
  - 14y ago
jakejake 14y ago
The problem is that nobody is truly going to tell you their "greatest" weakness so it is, to some degree, always going to be a bullshit answer. It's pointless as far as discovering a real weakness in my opinion, but as somebody else said, I do think its useful to see whether someone is able to spin things for social or political reasons. For example if someone answers that question poorly, they may not handle other stressful business situations that require tact.
alexqgb 14y ago
When asked by a technical person in a technical trade, it's an easier question to answer. When asked by an HR person who knows little about the craft, the subtext is very, very different. A far better way of getting the same information would be asking "What skills or abilities are you hoping to develop here?" followed with "What kind of stuff do you see as a sub-par use of your time?" and "What would you be happiest about knowing you never had to deal with again?" By asking slightly less direct questions, you're likely to get far more direct answers.

by ruggeri 14y ago

goodanswer 14y ago

I agree. I've gotten this often and it's never been a problem. Why? Because I always point out something that's both true and not an issue. Just stay focused on your strengths. For example, most of my career involves unix systems internals, databases and networking. Stuff generally involving valuable state. I've done hardly any professional graphics or gui work. So when I get this question, I generally just point that out. Ephemeral stuff like video games isn't my line of work, and I'm not very experienced at UI stuff. Nobody who's ever care enough to interview me has been unhappy with that answer.

slurgfest 14y ago
You say something that's not an issue, therefore it is not really the worst thing about you. (Unless there is nothing bad about you. Lucky you.)

slurgfest 14y ago

It's a pressure question, a kind of interrogation. If you are honest, you will realize that you have a ton of things wrong with you and it isn't all that meaningful to pick the "worst" one. People have been asking this for so long that it really only gauges whether the applicant canned an answer to it which sounds bad enough that you won't think it's bullshit, but good enough that they aren't hurting their application. As with other interrogation techniques you often aren't selecting against lying, but just for plausible lying that you are unequipped to detect. It is certainly an illusion that you are selecting for honesty this way. If you do want to hire honest people, and it isn't for an area like sales where it is important for them to project unrealistic levels of self-confidence, you will cause less needless anxiety and get more actionable information if you can get specific on what sort of disclosure you need, rather than just asking the applicant to incriminate themselves in the worst way they can imagine. If you want to punish people with ability and integrity but lower self-esteem then this question is your ideal instrument.

ruggeri 14y ago
Fair points, but we do disagree, I think. The "worst" part of the question is the worst part. I talk to people about "one" weakness. I also ask for how they are trying to improve, which is actually the key part of the question to me. This is not intended as a pressure question. The point is not to learn about a weakness so I can disqualify an applicant. If people ask this question in the hopes that an applicant will incriminate himself, they're doing it (interviewing) wrong. I think this misperception about the intent of the question is what drives a lot of the fuss about it. I think an interview process that is focused on filtering only people who aren't bad enough to obviously reject is going to net a company a lot of bad hires. You're right, plausible lying can be difficult to distinguish from truth. But the kind of hire I'd like to make is one who can speak fluently and with clear honesty about an area where he/she would like to improve. To your last point: really don't think this is fair. If an applicant isn't comfortable with discussing a single weakness without feeling totally compromised, then I'm truly sorry, but their poor self-esteem is likely to get in the way of co-workers being honest with them. I say that as someone not characterized with excessively high self-esteem.
- 14y ago

jakejake 14y ago

The problem is that nobody is truly going to tell you their "greatest" weakness so it is, to some degree, always going to be a bullshit answer. It's pointless as far as discovering a real weakness in my opinion, but as somebody else said, I do think its useful to see whether someone is able to spin things for social or political reasons. For example if someone answers that question poorly, they may not handle other stressful business situations that require tact.

alexqgb 14y ago

When asked by a technical person in a technical trade, it's an easier question to answer. When asked by an HR person who knows little about the craft, the subtext is very, very different. A far better way of getting the same information would be asking "What skills or abilities are you hoping to develop here?" followed with "What kind of stuff do you see as a sub-par use of your time?" and "What would you be happiest about knowing you never had to deal with again?" By asking slightly less direct questions, you're likely to get far more direct answers.