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The Dumbest Interview Question

lbrandy.com

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Re: The Dumbest Interview Question

#2

Post by andreyf »

You see, this stupid question is designed to be rightly answered by someone who has carefully crafted an answer that turn some apparent weakness into a perceived strength.

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?".

Re: The Dumbest Interview Question

#4

Post by thisisnotmyname »

andreyf wrote: post #2

You see, this stupid question is designed to be rightly answered by someone who has carefully crafted an answer that turn some apparent weakness into a perceived strength. 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…

I totally agree - and in fact I think this is one of the best interview questions. In my experience, the people who identify and actively work on their weaknesses are the most likely to succeed.

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?"

Re: The Dumbest Interview Question

#6

Post by cchooper »

thisisnotmyname wrote: post #4
andreyf wrote: post #2

You see, this stupid question is designed to be rightly answered by someone who has carefully crafted an answer that turn some apparent weakness into a perceived strength. 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…

I totally agree - and in fact I think this is one of the best interview questions. In my experience, the people who identify and actively work on their weaknesses are the most likely to succeed. 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?"

I identify my weaknessess and actively work on them, but I would never answer this question honestly, because I can't assume that the questioner is someone as enlightened as you.

Re: The Dumbest Interview Question

#8

Post by mikeryan »

Has anyone actually been asked this? When I first entered the workforce and started interviewing I remember prepping for this question (and its corresponding strengths one) and had nice prepped answers.

To date no one has every asked me this - and when hiring I've never asked it.

Re: The Dumbest Interview Question

#9

Post by ConradHex »

mikeryan wrote: post #8

Has anyone actually been asked this? When I first entered the workforce and started interviewing I remember prepping for this question (and its corresponding strengths one) and had nice prepped answers. To date no one has every asked me this - and when hiring I've never asked it.

I've been asked it maybe half of my interviews. If you're going for an interview, be ready for this one. I've had at least one interviewer be very persistent about 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?"

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