People Share The Best Answers To The 'What Is Your Biggest Weakness?' Interview Question
You know it's coming.
[rebelmouse-image 18356687 is_animated_gif=Literally, it's the most uncomfortable question of the entire job interview process, which is really something, because asking millennials "Where do you see yourself in five years?" is like asking a starving person "Where's your lunch?" Somehow, this question surpasses it. "What is your biggest weakness?"
Well, PlatypusFez wanted to be armed with a better answer before they got trapped:
When an employer asks 'What is your biggest weakness', what are some good responses?
Read and learn.
Honesty Is The Best Policy
[rebelmouse-image 18346089 is_animated_gif="What is your biggest strength?"
I can make decisions quickly in high-pressure situations.
"What is your biggest weakness?"
I make awful decisions.
Roundabout
[rebelmouse-image 18356688 is_animated_gif=Interviewer: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Me: I'd say my biggest weakness is listening.
Ball's In Your Court
[rebelmouse-image 18356689 is_animated_gif="I tend to react violently to bad news."
"Um..."
"So, am I hired or not?"
Do You Struggle With This, Too?
[rebelmouse-image 18356690 is_animated_gif=I recently went with "I sometimes take on too much work myself rather than delegating to other people". I then follow it up with how I've worked on it and had to get a lot better at it in my last job.
Other Weaknesses
[rebelmouse-image 18356691 is_animated_gif=At my last job when I was asked this I said "I can't fold a fitted bed sheet."
Everyone kind of tittered and I said "It's true, every week I pull that sheet out of the dryer and think, "this is the week" and then I fail. But I keep trying every week".
I got the job.
And yes, I've watched videos, I've had people show me in person-I still can't get it right.
It Isn't So Hard
[rebelmouse-image 18356692 is_animated_gif=My wife always says 'parallel parking'.
Don't Set Us Up To Fail
[rebelmouse-image 18348908 is_animated_gif=My stock answer to this has always been :-
"I can get bored easy and become unmotivated unless I'm fairly busy."
It's never let me down yet, although I'm more the interviewer than the interviewee these days and would never ask this question in an interview.
TBH now I'm thinking about it, if they ask you this then your interviewer is probably not very good.
Extreme
[rebelmouse-image 18356693 is_animated_gif=I once said:
"Look, I know I'm meant to take a positive and spin it as a negative, but I feel that's dishonest. So my weakness is that I don't like playing mindgames with my interviewer."
Yeah don't do that. The feedback I got was that I'm extremely arrogant, and I didn't get the job.
SAT Words
[rebelmouse-image 18356694 is_animated_gif=It can be anything, as long as it's realistic and as long as you follow up with ways you've worked on fixing it or improving. For example, I always say that I have a hard time with time management and prioritizing different tasks, but then I follow up immediately with how I've worked on ranking different projects based on certain criteria (deadline, expected time to finish, etc.) and sorting them that way. Compartmentalizing and sh*t. Compartmentalizing is a great word. Throw that in there.
Heyyy Wait A Sec
[rebelmouse-image 18356695 is_animated_gif="I lie to avoid hurting people's feelings."
Then you compliment the interviewer's shirt.
No Patience
[rebelmouse-image 18356696 is_animated_gif="I have absolutely no patience for office politics, conspiracies, bullying, micro management, or corporate cheerleading. I want to work somewhere friendly and open and fair, where I can treat colleagues as equals and be pretty much left to do my job - in return, I can do it extremely well." Said this at the interview for my current job, been here a year and a half and everything is good. I've worked some places where everyone was horrible to each other, and it just isn't worth the cost to your soul.
Obligatory
[rebelmouse-image 18356697 is_animated_gif=Pick anything relatively innocuous (stay away from "motherf-cker looks at me wrong, I waste 'em") but still plausible. Any normal, reasonable human character flaw. "I can be impatient with people who don't grasp or follow things as quickly as I do." "I overanalyze tasks before I begin them, which leads me to procrastinate actually starting the work." "I do a lot of processing and reflecting internally before I speak, which can lead people to believe I'm not contributing to a conversation."
Then - this is the key - tack on a piece about how you've learned to manage or compensate for it. "I usually remind myself that I was new at a task once myself, and what may seem second nature to me is less apparent to others. In fact, I take note of the questions the other person asks and develop an FAQ or teaching tool." "I've found it helps if I pick a basic first step and get started, and create deadlines down the line for making major decisions about the task. This helps me keep some flexibility while still making progress." "I usually make a point of saying 'these are just my preliminary thoughts, but...' and then sharing a little bit about my reaction."
The purpose of this question isn't to force you to convey the impression that you're flawless. No one is. It's to check and see if you're self-aware about what your limitations are and to see whether you're actively trying to improve.
(Source: Am HR.)
Not Subtle
[rebelmouse-image 18356698 is_animated_gif="Those eyes"
leans in for kiss
Super Effective
[rebelmouse-image 18356699 is_animated_gif="I'm weak against grass-types"
Once Again, The Honesty
[rebelmouse-image 18356700 is_animated_gif="My biggest weakness is that sometimes in interviews, I have absolutely no idea how to answer some of the questions"
I always get the job
Call Center
[rebelmouse-image 18356701 is_animated_gif=As someone who interviewed literally 10's of thousands of people over the years for entry level jobs with a required set of questions (that included this weakness one), this answer would be enough for me to hire the person (provided everything else was at least okay).
To me, it shows that they understand that interviews are more about getting to know the person and that shows a certain level of intelligence. With that knowledge I can reasonably say that I could teach them the basics of any job I'd need them to do. And who knows, they might have a good time with a humorous attitude.
I'm wondering how well it would go for a job in a more professional setting. I figure just fine, but I could see situations where it wouldn't be as funny.
Showcase It
[rebelmouse-image 18356702 is_animated_gif=Pull a card out of your pocket that has "I over prepare" written on it.
Unexpected
[rebelmouse-image 18356704 is_animated_gif="I'm lazy. Which means I will find the quickest and best solution to complete a task so I don't have to do it twice."
This person actually got hired.
Twinning...With Myself.
[rebelmouse-image 18356705 is_animated_gif=I got this question right after "What is your greatest strength?". My greatest strength is my tenacity. When faced with a problem, I'm going to solve it, no matter how long it takes. My biggest weakness? My tenacity. Sometimes I forget/ refuse to ask for/ realize I need help. They offered me the job three hours later.
Meatbags
[rebelmouse-image 18356706 is_animated_gif=My entire underbelly is exposed to predators. I have a poor diet and no combat training. You could easily hit my viral organs and I'd perish immediately.
Woman Was Fired For Refusing To Wear A Bra At Work—And Now She's Suing
Christina Schell, from Alberta, Canada, stopped wearing bras three years ago citing health reasons.
While Schell did not specify the health reasons, she did state she finds them to be "horrible."
But after her refusal to sign or adhere to a new enforced dress code policy to wear a bra or tank top under her work shirt at a golf course grill where she worked, Schell was promptly fired.
Now, the 25-year-old has filed a human rights violation against the Osoyoos Golf Club, Osoyoos, in British Columbia, Canada.
Schell said:
"I don't think any other human being should be able to dictate another person's undergarments."
When she asked the general manager, Doug Robb, why she had to comply, the manager told her the mandate was for her protection.
Robb allegedly said:
"I know what happens in golf clubs when alcohol's involved."
After losing her job, she brought the case to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal and told them the club's dress code was discriminatory because the rule didn't apply towards male employees.
Schell told CBC:
"It's gender-based and that's why it's a human rights issue. I have nipples and so do the men."
David Brown, an employment lawyer in Kelowna, BC, said gender-specific dress codes could be viewed as discriminatory under the BC Human Rights Code.
He stated:
"It's an interesting question as to whether or not an employer can dictate the underwear that women can wear, but they don't say anything about the underwear that men can wear, and does that create an adverse impact on the individual?"
Brown added:
"If this policy is found to be discrimination, the next question is does the employer have a bonafide occupational requirement to essentially impose this on the individual?"
"I'm kind of scratching my head as to what that occupational requirement would be."
@GlobalBC The policy is sexist the peopl supporting it are sexist. Hope she wins her complaint— Lori bell (@Lori bell) 1529692660.0
@Shelby_Thom @WoodfordCHNL @GlobalOkanagan @GlobalBC Then men should have to wear either a tank top or undershirt— caffene fiend (@caffene fiend) 1529624161.0
@SoldByBrock @Shelby_Thom @GlobalOkanagan @GlobalBC What does common courtesy have to do with wearing a bra? Breast… https://t.co/ZVI2xDdpgf— M Shumway (@M Shumway) 1529843759.0
As for the tank top option, due to working under oftentimes extreme heat serving tables outsides, Schell did not want to wear another layer of clothes just because of her gender.
Schell said:
"It was absurd. Why do you get to dictate what's underneath my clothes?"
Employment lawyer Nadia Zaman told CBC that the club can enforce a gender-specific policy as they deem necessary as long as the establishment can prove it is for the occupational safety of its workers.
But the attorney questioned if forcing female employees to wear a bra was applicable in this case.
Zaman stated:
"If they simply require that female employees wear a bra but then they don't have a similar requirement for males, and they can't really justify that … then there is a risk that their policy's going to be deemed to be discriminatory."
Under British Columbia's discrimination law, it is illegal for employers:
'to discriminate against any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin'.
@GlobalBC @globalnews Logistically bras or the absence of does not impact health or work performance. That is my v… https://t.co/65cLHBMowf— Louisette Lanteigne (@Louisette Lanteigne) 1529769211.0
McDonald's employee Kate Gosek, 19, agrees with Schell in that the dress code is "unnecessary." She too was harassed by her employers at a McDonald's in Selkirk, Manitoba, over refusing to wear a bra.
"She just told me that I should put on a bra because, McDonald's—we are a polite restaurant and no one needs to see that."
Schell's case sparked plenty of debates on Twitter.
@DunnMan77 @GlobalBC It's just discriminatory, woman shouldn't have to wear bras if they don't want to. As well as… https://t.co/RXhRVWUuNy— Mary Johnson (@Mary Johnson) 1529685276.0
@DunnMan77 @GlobalBC Men do not have to wear underpants if they don't want to. As of right now there are no laws to… https://t.co/l8FuPVybWo— Mary Johnson (@Mary Johnson) 1529686418.0
@GlobalBC Women have the right not to be forced to wear a bra Shaving & makeup also is a choice. If you want to do… https://t.co/Ybkj6PLDnD— Lozan (@Lozan) 1529686156.0
@Lozan72 @GlobalBC I would completely understand her and your argument if we were talking about a potential law to… https://t.co/trRyNAubn4— Chris George (@Chris George) 1529690293.0
@GlobalBC This story frustrates me. There's no dress code equivalent for men? Well if I saw the outline of a male s… https://t.co/5YbAvXKRcO— Molly Max (@Molly Max) 1529705327.0
Schell is not alone in her disdain for bras.
@GlobalBC I personally HATE wearing a #bra absolutely hate it with passion and unashamed to admit it. I HATE BEING… https://t.co/GEi3LtxIDa— Lozan (@Lozan) 1529686305.0
Schell is still waiting to hear from the Human Rights Commission about her claim.
H/T - GettyImages, Twitter, Indy100, CBC