I Hate this Question.
Don’t you hate getting asked this question, “What is your greatest weakness?” Most of you might not because it’s easy question to already have prepared. Sure, that’s something you can control when interviewing, but do you really have a different answer. The two most common answer to this question is perfectionism and time management. I can probably guess what those look like as well.
“I would say my greatest weakness is that I view myself as a perfectionist, and I have a hard time finishing projects because I always nitpick every single aspect of my project and I overwork. I’m trying to work on this by depending on my teammates to deliver and finish the task as a team.”
Ok, as noble and great this sound, it’s probably pretty bogus. To be completely honest, you probably are not a perfectionist. Most of these “perfect” candidates are a part of 8 different organization, have a not-so-perfect GPA, watch Netflix, and hang out with friends every Friday night. Yeah, I understand excelling (to the point of perfection) in all aspects, socially, academically, and extracurricularly is absurd, but that’s the point! A perfectionist is borderline insane because you just keep working until it perfect regardless of any another task. They sacrifice sleep, free time, and family time to make sure what they do is 100% not even 99%. So, most likely you aren’t a perfectionist, so don’t call yourself one. That’s just insulting to someone that is a perfectionist.
The second most common answer.
“I would say one of my greatest weakness is time management. I often find myself not being able to balance my time and I find it hard fitting everything in. I’m using Google calendar to plan out my days and get more done.”
This response is pretty convincing. I can totally relate to feeling that you don’t have enough to accomplish everything that you set out to do. Honestly, most people feel like they don’t have good time management. I’ve honestly used this response myself in the past, but I’m not happy with it. This is probably the most cookie cutter answer but still is pretty legitimate. However, everyone says that time management is a problem. Everyone wants to be able to do more from the student who has House of Cards marathons to the guy hustling his way to make a startup.
There has to be something more that you can show if time management is truly your greatest weakness. Using a tool, like Google Calendar, is not the answer. Or at least the only answer. Instead talk about specific tasks that you are able to accomplish with better time management.
Look understanding and improving your weaknesses are important, but as an interview question, I think it is misguided. As a recruiter or an employer or even as a leader, building a team around each member’s strengths is more important. A strong well-rounded team can outbalance all of the weaknesses the team may have. A team build around balancing the weaknesses will result in failure. At best second place.
