Mr. President...What is Your Biggest Weakness?

Look...my friends...I'm a political junkie.  I've been carefully watching both campaigns and all of the debates.  Politics and the Mariners: the two topics that will earn eye rolls from friends and family on a daily basis.

During the VP debates, Gwen Ifill asked Senator Biden and Governor Palin, "What is your Achilles heel?"

During the second Presidential debate, a town hall format, someone asked the question, "What don't you know?"  (I have a feeling this person works in HR.)

Is it just me, or does this scream of the common, and pointless, interview question, "What is your biggest weakness?":

"Senator Pankow...you are running for the most powerful position in the world.  Keep in mind, that your opponent will twist anything you say to make you sound like a complete fool who is out of touch with every single person in the United States.  With that said...What is your greatest weakness?"

"Well...I sometimes work too hard.  I don't take vacations, even if it would involve Camp David.  I'm a perfectionist, so I sometimes become WAY too committed to making things work, whether it involves the economy, energy, or meeting a deadline."

Seriously?  What do we expect from this question?  Do we expect an interview candidate to spill their guts and tell us, "Well...I crack under too much pressure, so I don't like to work a minute over 40 hours a week, no matter what the circumstances are?"  Do we expect John McCain to say, "I have anger management issues," or Barack Obama to say, "I'm pretty new to this whole thing and have an awful lot to learn?"   

Still, so many of us expect a straight answer to this question.  We ask, we get the canned, "I work too hard" answer; we smile, nod, and wonder why we even still ask this question, as it's just a waste of time. 

There is a point to asking the question.  We're not just trying to find out what someone sucks at.  We want to know how they have worked to fix it.  You want to know about their greatest weakness?  Ask them about a time when they missed a deadline.  Why did they miss it?  What was the result?  Ask them about a time when something they were responsible for failed.  What was the cause?  How did it impact the business?

Questions like these may not solidly identify a specific weakness, but you can certainly look for patterns.  They can also tell you how much responsibility the candidate put on themselves for the lack of success.  If the candidate passes blame, that should be a concern.  They also leave the door open for follow-up questions like, "What did you learn?" and "What will you do differently next time?" 

So, "What is your Achilles heel?" doesn't work too well, as we saw from the debates.  Unfortunately, since the moderators, so far, have done a crummy job following up to actually get an answer, I am not sure a question like, "Name something you have supported that resulted in a negative impact on the country," would get us very far either.  They'll still manage to only talk about how McCain is 4 more years of Bush and Obama doesn't wear a flag pin. 

Maybe Kris Dunn should moderate the next debate.

Editor's Note - Jason Pankow is a Senior Recruiter for Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE and Xbox Software groups.  Jason supports the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, bringing in technical, as well as creative, talent to Redmond.  Look him up on Xbox Live, where he'll ring you up for a triple-double as Steve Nash on NBA 2K8 or kick it old-school via a 7-digit score on Galaga...    

Comments

[Mary]

Good stuff! The 'biggest weakness' question has always seemed like a catch-22 to me, and now I know I'm not alone. I hope more hiring managers take your advice on utilizing the alternatives. Loved the analogy to the presidential debates, too, by the way - spot on.

[Lance]

I can't say I blame your family for rolling their eyes at you for the Mariners talk. Just the fact that it is baseball is bad enough, even with all of the losing :)

I always say be honest with your weakness but spend most of the time talking about what you've done to fix it. So if you consider a two minute response to this, you spend the first 15 seconds on describing your weakness and a minute and 45 seconds of minimizing it.

Thanks Jason.

[Jessica Lee]

oh... lance is just a hater on the M's because he's in oregon. OREGON. go huskies, and not cougars, lance.

hey, nice post, pankow. i like the alternative questions offered and you're spot on with the follow up q's. good job of keeping the posting balanced too. i woud never know from reading this that you are a hardcore you know who supporter. :)

[Robert Stine]

Great bit on how to take such an often used question and reword it to get a response that will be helpful in a hiring decision. I have forward your article to a number of friends still running bookstores. You got my attention with the political stuff and then the article sold itself.

[Joel Kimball]

Sorry, like a bird distracted by shiny objects, I noticed your affinity for Galaga in the wee bio at the end. Solid :)

Can you tell me about a time your approach to Galaga wasn't successful? What did you do to correct it?

Excellent post - I've always hated this question, and like the alternatives you've offered. Into the toolkit they go...thanks!

[Daphne]

I hate the weakness question. Too many people have been taught to focus on strength and when questioned about weakness to highlight a weakness that is really a minor strength. I totally agree with your alternative suggestion, gets more insight into the values of the interviewee. Great interviewing skill!