<p>"What is your greatest weakness academically or personally?"</p>
<p>Is it even possible to answer this and sound honest without damaging your personal credibility?</p>
<p>Are you just perfect?</p>
<p>Books on job interviews guide you in answering this kind of question. The general idea is to view it as a constructive question – in the sense of self knowledge – of personality characteristics that you can channel either in a positive or negative direction.</p>
<p>Consider … a weakness may be “impatience” with fellow students who are slow on picking up the essence of a new concept, or teachers who have a strong bias toward one way of doing things, or adults who are quick to reach conclusions, etc. I’m sure you can think of other weaknesses of this type, perhaps one or two that reflect your behavior. So give an example of the weakness; demonstrate that you recognize the weakness; and provide an example of how you master it or put it to good use. The idea is to demonstrate maturity. Always be careful not to over describe the “bad” example – pick something benign, and ideally something that you eventually turned into a positive.</p>
<p>is it possible? definitely. it can even be a plus:
for interviews, my marketing teacher said to say something completely off topic and funny. What i mean is, if you’re interviewing for a job as a cashier, don’t say something like I’m not good at basic math.
for example… i can’t swallow pills to save my life. that has nothing to do with the job you want or damage your personality. then go into a funny story about it and that part of your interview will be over. It’s easy, can bring out your personality, and will give the interviewer something to remember. Plus, if it’s a funny story your interview will be so much less awkward & nerve-racking.</p>
<p>Another idea: ask your parents what your greatest weakness is. I predict that they’ll have an answer for you. Then work on your reply using that information.</p>
<p>For job interviews, they often suggest that you talk about something that you’re “working on” or something that is “a challenge for you.” That way, you can spin it around to the positive, as in “I’ve really been struggling with x, so in the past few weeks, I’ve tried y and z, and that seems to be helping.”</p>
<p>Haha Schokolade…that’s a good idea.</p>
<p>I can see a weakness right away: the inability to be reflective.</p>
<p>Your weakness can only be devastating if it is part of your job requirement.</p>
<p>Just talk about some weakness that has nothing to do with the job requirements.</p>
<p>Harvard Interviewer: Whats you greatest weakness?</p>
<p>You: I can’t swallow pills to save my life !!</p>
<p>Harvard Interviewer:
- Thinks to himself this kid is nuts, puts smiley face next to your name on the list*</p>
<p>We’ll call you DONT call us</p>
<p>"</p>
<p>Following fogcity’s logic, you could say your biggest academic weakness is that you are a perfectionist, or you over-study, or something similar. </p>
<p>A good personal weakness is that you are critical (although try to use a different word), confident (as overconfidence is risky to one’s health), etc.</p>
<p>Oh c’mon y’all, cut the sass. He probably isn’t arrogant enough to think he has no weaknesses but wants to know what or how to say them. It IS difficult to think of weaknesses.
I have a lot of weaknesses, but here’s how I would reply.
I am a complete klutz. I trip over my feet, and I’m always covered in bruises. That’s kept me from playing team sports and doing the school musicals, even though I have always sought that kind of comradery. I started skating in 7th grade thinking it would help me be more graceful and less clumsy. It didn’t, and I’m as big of a mess on the ice as off. If coordination is a must for your applicants then you should probably go ahead and reject me.</p>
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<p>so, you call yourself a figure skater? :)</p>
<p>Yep! I work very hard to achieve what I do.</p>
<p>Pick something that is a fault, but can be interpreted many ways. I am very detail oriented, which can be annoying if I don’t complete something quickly enough. Some people overthink situations. But it is good to think things through.</p>