Oh so what he really wanted to hear was my weakness for salty snacks at midnight! He asked for 3 upfront, not after he wasn't satisfied with the first two

Anonymous wrote:I would have a "backup" weakness as well. I was on a job interview once that made me list THREE! I only had one prepared that sounded good and I struggled but managed to come up with another one on the spot but the interviewer kept pressing me for third. I couldn't come up with the third one and he wouldn't let it go. I don't know if it was some kind of jedi mind trick. I didn't end up getting the job but I'm ok with that.

Maybe he just wanted a real weakness, not a BS thing you say in a interview to make yourself look good.

I don't know if that's what it was, but the Sunday NYT has an interesting feature where CEOs talk about their management philosophies and how they interview and several of them have said things along the lines of "I want an honest answer to my questions" or "I want to know that you have struggled with things in the past and learned from that process".

I would have a "backup" weakness as well. I was on a job interview once that made me list THREE! I only had one prepared that sounded good and I struggled but managed to come up with another one on the spot but the interviewer kept pressing me for third. I couldn't come up with the third one and he wouldn't let it go. I don't know if it was some kind of jedi mind trick. I didn't end up getting the job but I'm ok with that.

DCUM

I usually point out a positive trait of mine and say how it can be a negative/weakness, such as:

"i'm very detail oriented, so at times as a manager it can be difficult for me to give the people who work for me enough room to do their own work. I'm working on letting my direct reports grow as leaders themselves though and on jumping in less often.."

also try to pick a weakness that isn't crucial to the job you want. For example, don't say you don't have good time management skills for a project mgmt job, etc.

I usually say it's a tossup between hookers and blow.

11:14 here. Telling it like it is is an acceptable weakness. In this case, I would tell the interviewer it is a stupid question because he/she is asking me to figure out what I think he/she wants to hear rather than what I think. Same goes for "where do you want to be in five years?"

My answer, seriously, to this question is that I always overestimate the cunning and skill of my adversaries (and these are not always human but sometimes situational). This sometimes means being over prepared but is ultimately less expensive than a failed outcome.

Does that work for you?

What weaknesses are "acceptable"?

Shoes??

because I prefer working collaboratively and focus on team building, I have had less direct top down managerial experience....

I would scratch any candidate off my list that invoked any BS about "working collaboratively."

This tells me I've got a "go along, get along" person if front of me. I want people that will get up on a chair and scream bloody murder at foolish group think or any other stupidity that gets perpetuated due to "working collaboratively." But that's just me.

depends on the job and how you want to come across, but you need to acknowledge a weakness and follow up with indication of where you've been striving to improve


because I prefer working collaboratively and focus on team building, I have had less direct top down managerial experience....

if you have an area where you don't quite meet the listed requirements..."I have had the most experience doing X and less doing Y, although I have done so and so to gain more experience and am really looking forward to developing further that skill set."


I work best in a structured environment and find that I do better when I have measurable performance goal....etc.

Looking for some tips on how to answer this at an interview.