The Dumbest Interview Question
lbrandy.com
lbrandy.com
Wrong. That's precisely the kind of answer it's meant to weed out. The question is supposed to show your ability for reflection on your faults (because everybody has them), and let you explain how you are going about working on them.
If you take it seriously, you can get quite deep and philosophical with that question, demonstrating your ability to express yourself, and discussing the relative merits of someone looking to fill the position.
Granted, the phrasing is very cliche, so it might be better to ask something along the lines "in the near future, how would you like to have improved yourself?".
That said, I might rephrase the question to be something like "What new things would you like to learn, and how are you going about learning them?"
But if they aren't, I don't really want to work for them. My being genuinely philosophical is often off-putting to people as overly smart-ass-ish or academic. I realize the dark side to this is that it limits my selection of jobs, but it makes for good conversation when I find a job I like.
I've found that textbook interview questions don't do anything other than badge the interviewer as unimaginative and 1 dimensional.
IME, the best interviews are conversations and not interviews at all.
That just really seemed to confuse people. They weren't very good candidates though.
I can't see a benefit to asking it, as it would only favor dishonest applicants while irritating others, but it would be interesting to hear the answers.
With the exception of someone admitting to a horrendous fault (anger problem), I don't see how this answer could dictate a hire or no hire.
If your interviewing someone with great credentials, great references, and then they answer this question with "sometimes I work too hard"... your not going to hire him?
What this question does is force the candidate to make a snap decision: Is this particular interviewer hoping I express an honest weakness or is he seeing if a can turn a weakness into a strength?
Guess wrong and your out?
Please, oh please oh please keep in mind that "your" is not "you are".
Having to constantly be deciphering (imploded) sentences is exhausting.
"Is he talking about possession?" "Is he comparing things or putting them in chronological order?".. and so on.
I've been asked this question a lot of times.
Usually I've worked hard to dance around the issue, and I guess I've often blown it too.
Once I even voiced my concerns about the sensibility of the question, but the interviewer said I should answer it anyway!
I think I should try something like this in the future:
- What's your greatest weakness?
- Asian women.
( Unlike some people even on HN, I don't claim to see much action though :p )
Got an offer the next day.
What company or government would hire someone who said their greatest weakness was sex addiction, alcoholism, sexism or a vindictive streak? And yet, men such as Bill Clinton, Winston Churchill, Richard Feynman and Thomas Edison have done great work and great things despite those weaknesses.
So, I still think this question is dumb.
To date no one has every asked me this - and when hiring I've never asked it.
There should be an equivalent question for interviewees to ask - how about "what is your company's greatest weakness?" Or "what would be the worst part about working here?"
I think the sorts of questions an interviewee asks is more revealing than any sort of digging you might do with the standard bullshit interview questions.
Three to four months later (and two or so months before graduating - much closer time-line) I sat down with a hiring manager at a big-co and went over such stock questions and their purpose and interviewed for a different position at the same company which required the same skill set and level - and got the position.
I would say my answer to this question is always honest, but I'll never ask the question myself.
My own stock answer is "sometimes I have trouble delegating".
"If you could get rid of one of the United States completely, which would it be and why?"
Actually, it would be fun to conduct an interview consisting of nothing but ridiculous questions like this, while acting as though the interview were completely normal. I don't think I could pull it off with a straight face though.
Not something I want to see when it's me/my life on the line, really. Take it seriously and talk sense, please.
"The best question to ask is 'What would your mother say was your greatest weakness?' - it's like truth serum. People start babbling about how she thinks that they're always late, or procrastinating, or unreliable and so on."
"What would you say if someone asked you this?"
"'You never call.'"
Apologies that I don't have a better source for this - anyone recognize it?
I mean, what kind of answer are you supposed to give to that?
I'm guessing "CHUG!" is frowned upon.
I never ask it, but I've been part of interview committees where someone else asked it. I finally realized what it's good for.
It tells you how a candidate handles a completely inappropriate question that shouldn't have been asked, and most definitely should not be answered honestly.
Now, whenever it comes up (which is rarely), that's how I take it: as an invitation to show how insincere I can be without letting on.
[:P - haven't yet faced an interview - merry christmas]
1. Can Do
2. Will Do
A good interviewer should filter a "Can Do" candidate by seeing his CV and should interview whether the candidate "Will Do".
Otherwise the interviewer is absolutely clueless about the job you are being interviewed.
When you hear that, you could interpret it as: "We want you to work your ass off under unrealistic deadlines caused by our incompetent/greedy salespeople and bad management".