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

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.