What is your greatest strength weakness?

Crow · Feb 13, 2008

So in a couple of weeks, I have an interview with GE for their Financial Management Program (btw, if anyone is in the same program/has been any pointers wud be v helpful). and hopefully a few other interviews are going to come along as well.

one of the questions that really bothers me and i dont know what the recruiters are looking for is "what is ur greatest strength/(esp this one)weakness?"

i imagine many of you have had interviews/have interviewed others. any suggestions?

globetrotter · Feb 13, 2008

for god's sake, what you don't want to say is "my greatest weakness is that I am such a perfectionist that I always do everything perfectly and it makes other peopel look bad" or some other attempt at making it seem like you have no weaknesses.

you have a weakness - you have identified it, it is not relevent to the job at hand, and it is under control.

for instance - "my biggest weakness is that I have a mild form of deslyxia. before there were spell checkers, this caused me a lot of grief, but now I know that I always use a spell checker, and for things like lists of numbers, I always have somebody double check my numbers (obviously, in my job numbers are a small part of what I do - for a financial job that might not be the way to go)"

as to your strength, the important thing is that you know yourself, and that your strength isn't something stupid like being great at snowboarding.

HomerJ · Feb 13, 2008

I too hate those stupid interview questions. Just don't say something crazy like

Greatest strength = my pimp hand
Greatest weakness = la cocaina

Oh and globetrotter's comment +1

mbc · Feb 13, 2008

Mention a weakness that can be fixed. Recruiters that I know expect that a skill weakness can be fixed, but personality is permanent.

Piobaire · Feb 13, 2008

I have to disagree in the concrete (but not the principle) with GT. WHATEVER YOU DO, do not say something that will have them thinking you are basically a healthy, well person yet will somehow fall under the ADA act. A sure way to get knocked out of the running.

globetrotter · Feb 13, 2008

Originally Posted by Piobaire

I have to disagree in the concrete (but not the principle) with GT. WHATEVER YOU DO, do not say something that will have them thinking you are basically a healthy, well person yet will somehow fall under the ADA act. A sure way to get knocked out of the running.

good point - I didn't think about that.

yes, the idea is to present a weakness that is under control, and will have no effect on your work, and that you recognize. what it is is up to you.

FabricOfSociety · Feb 13, 2008

There's a book out called Go with Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham. His idea is what we enjoy doing - is naturally our strength(s) and we should slowly form our daily jobs to concentrate on our strengths.

His basic theory is that if you don't like your job you are probably not using your strengths, at least not on a consistent basis.

It is really tough, but I would interview to fill a position I would excel at rather than whatever happens to be open at the time.

FidelCashflow · Feb 14, 2008

Globetrotter nailed it

1) Come up with a weakness that has NOTHING to do with the job (e.g. if someone wants you as a junior accountant, say your biggest weakness is public speaking)

2) Spew some cliche weakness that is a strength like "I spend too much time at work" or "I care too much about my clients" or "I am a perfectionist"

Maharlika · Feb 14, 2008

Greatest strength: Good Listener
Greatest weakness: I talk too much.

Stazy · Feb 14, 2008

Originally Posted by FidelCashflow

2) Spew some cliche weakness that is a strength like "I spend too much time at work" or "I care too much about my clients" or "I am a perfectionist"
-1 I would say it's more advantageous to frame these statements as strengths rather than weaknesses. Interviewers are looking for hard workers and and individuals dedicated to customer satisfaction. For an interviewee to suggest that such characteristics are actually weaknesses seems like a fatal error to me.

Viktri · Feb 14, 2008

Originally Posted by Crow

So in a couple of weeks, I have an interview with GE for their Financial Management Program (btw, if anyone is in the same program/has been any pointers wud be v helpful). and hopefully a few other interviews are going to come along as well.

one of the questions that really bothers me and i dont know what the recruiters are looking for is "what is ur greatest strength/(esp this one)weakness?"

i imagine many of you have had interviews/have interviewed others. any suggestions?

Good luck. Which office do you hope to get in to?

My friend finished his interview last year and (he is Japanese attending a *** U) will be working for GE when he graduates at their Tokyo location for the FMP.

He didn't have much to say about the interview except that he had lots of team work/building skills. He told me how Japanese interviews differ from western interviews, so I don't know how relevant this is (His CV/Resume was incredibly plain as well - it was just a list of what he did - which I thought was awesome).

Gus · Feb 14, 2008

Originally Posted by Maharlika

Greatest strength: Good Listener
Greatest weakness: I talk too much.

+1

Crow · Feb 16, 2008

well im applying to US, they havent told me yet which office i would go to. its an internship so its probably gona be at one of the HQs.

thanks every1 for ur help. some v interesting suggestions and i will def use some of them. wish me luck

Go Surface · Feb 16, 2008

Greatest strength: My insight.
Greatest weakness: I'm unforgiving.

mikeman · Apr 11, 2012

Im interviewing for a entry level marketing associate job in a few days. Would it be okay for a weakness to say that I stress over things? But only because I want a quality outcome. or something like that?

What is your greatest strength weakness?

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