
Tough Questions
Your weaknesses?
What are your weaknesses?
This question is potentially more harmful than helpful, and for many candidates it is also one of the most intimidating questions. Most interviewers do not expect you to do a paragon of perfection, nor do they expect you to reveal your true weaknesses. They are just probing for soft spots.
If you do admit to a major weakness, you may win points for honesty and openness, but your chances of getting hired are slim. On the other hand, if you give a flip answer, or respond, “Well, I don’t really have any weaknesses,” you may annoy the interviewer with your lack of candour, arrogance, and limited self-knowledge.
Most career advisers recommended that candidates turn this question around and present personal weaknesses as professional strengths. Lets say that you like to pay close attention to even minor technical details, that you are a workaholic and unable to relax, and that you neglect friends and family when working on an important project. You can turn these “weaknesses” around by saying, for example, that you are too meticulous or tenacious and that once you start a major project, you can’t let go of it until you have ironed out all the technical problems thoroughly, even if it means, working after hours and weekends to finish the job on time. This way you have cast your “weaknesses” into positives, which most bosses would find irresistible.


