Do you know what else I would feel? I would feel that you will continue to BS me in every opportunity you get if I hire you. There is simply no reason for me to hire a team member, especially a subordinate whom will try to bs her way through tough times. Of all the qualities you have, think about it; your hard skills, motivation, that college degree you studied so hard to obtain were all so you could be known as a bullshitter? I am confident that the answer is no.
If you gave one of the answers above, it’s because you were misguided and you received bad advise. Let’s look at some examples; In the world of consulting, we are challenged with deadlines and quality delivery on a daily basis. It’s really tough out there. This is I am sure same with most large multinational companies, be it investment banking, consumer goods, marketing, sales, anything. A large MNC didn’t get to be the number one with lazy employees. They must have superstars. In these high intensity environments, leaders need soldiers who will fight with them as one united team who is determined to capture that castle.
There are no lies or bullshits in such a team. There are no acts no pretense.There are only hard core – facts. So, knowing this, when we are looking for new additions to such an environment, we make sure we are confident we can trust you to deliver that research when you say it at the quality you committed to. There are no excuses, “this or that happened”. I hope I am being clear when I say how honesty plays an integral role in your interview process. When, I join interviews, I have a mental checklist about this. It goes like this; - Is she trust worthy? - Is she honest? - Can she say sorry when she messes up? Learns from it, and then moves on with lessons learned? - Is she motivated to work hard for the team? If the answer is “YES” to all of these, then only I move on to evaluate the hard skills.
And I test you to understand whether you are trust worthy or not. I can increase the pressure and use your answers against you. And I Look for inconsistencies in your answers If an opportunity presents itself, then I even try to make you say sorry. Are you adult enough to say sorry when you need to? Or is it a pride issue? Am I dealing with self-entitlement here? Because, if you are suffering from it, I suggest you work on it before you start interviewing with anyone. It will be obvious. Interviews with these companies are mind games at its best. I am referring to the hiring manager interviews not necessarily HR.
Back to the topic, you were asked a very simple question under pressure; what are your weaknesses? If you can’t answer this honestly, I am sure you will not answer honestly once we start working together. Alright, I hope so far it’s clear for you. You know now that the first thing you need to establish is honesty. But how do you answer that question? Let’s get to it.
First; be specific. There are about a million weaknesses I can list down here but without knowing your domain, background, and experience it’s very difficult. But, what I thought is, I could share with you my very own weaknesses and perhaps they may also relate to you as well. Sounds good? My first weakness: Although I am very good with applications of power point, its tools and functions, I am not the best when it comes to designing the slides. This is true. I really am not a good designer. I can’t design a slide based on what I have in my head. To be perfectly honest, even if I were great at it, I am not sure if I would be allowed to take initiative and design my slides anyway. A lot of companies invest millions of dollars to make sure they have the best colors and layout.
Second weakness: I am confrontational. A bit too much perhaps. This has given me many problems in the past, especially with clients from regions where confrontations are discouraged. Although I mastered the art of confrontation, in certain cultures, confrontation itself is frowned upon. So, there isn’t really anything I can do about it other than being honest with the partner and excusing myself from those projects, and of course I never include those super-sensitive people in my own teams.
My third weakness: We have a strategy development tool at work called “Transform”. I am just not good at using it. Prior to my present employment, I used different methodologies and frameworks to develop strategies and somehow I can’t get rid of the thought-processes I developed earlier. That doesn’t mean I am bad at strategy development but I am just not very good at following “Transform.” Is this good?
Last one; I get bored very quickly. My motivation peaks at first day of a new engagement, stays at peak for about a month or two. Then drops gradually until about 6th month if the engagement is that long. If it’s longer than 6 months, then I really need unearthly motivation to keep going. This is not a problem as 95% of our projects are less than 6 months in duration.
One more weakness: I am not a copywriter. And my ability to write long reports depends on whom I have in my team. To counteract this weakness, I usually get a junior consultant in my team who is a native English speaker and has good writing skills. So, that junior consultant proofreads and edits my deliverables. Okay I guess enough with my weaknesses.
So, let’s analyze them. What am I doing? I am giving you the weakness but then explaining that it’s really no big deal. It’s not something that is so great that you will fail me. One thing I suggest that you do is once you state your weaknesses, then talk about what you are doing to be better at them. Remember, they are still work in progress. They are still indeed your weaknesses. But you are working on them.
It's time to get to work and start writing down all your weaknesses in an excel list. Once you finish the list, start evaluating your short lists based on criteria like this;
1. Does mentioning this weakness hurt your chances?
2. Is it something vital to your performance at work?
3. Is it something not fixable if you work on it? Certain weaknesses cannot be easily fixed.
Eliminate all those that you answered “Yes” to any of these questions I mentioned earlier. If you aren’t left with anything, then go back to your favorite spot and continue thinking. Come up with at least 2 weaknesses that when you ask the questions above your answer is a resounding no.
Let’s say you really thought long and hard but still couldn’t find anything. And, you feel you have no option but to make up a weakness. To basically, a lie. My first suggestion is to urge you to think a bit more. But, if you still can’t, then I understand to a degree. After all, if you are a fresh graduate, you may have very little relatable experience. In that case, I think you have a perfectly justifiable reason not to know your professional weaknesses as yet. Then, why don’t you say it that way? You will collect so many “honesty points” like collecting Pokemon points. If you are a fresh graduate, then go ahead and say something like this; “Well, here is the thing. As much as I want to share with you my professional weaknesses, I still haven’t accumulated enough work experience to share with you a list of them. It’s not that I won’t have. I am sure I will have many of those. But I guarantee you that whatever they will be, I will work on them. If you are interested in my weaknesses related to my personal life, I’d be happy to share with you all". And with that you have answered the question the the most honest way as a fresh graduate with no professional weaknesses.
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