Esra Gurkan, for MAILONLINE, writes:
Job interviews are an unpleasant chore that we all need to go through to get the role of our dreams. It’s easy enough to talk about why you want the job and why you’re the best person to do it. But there is one question that everyone dreads and is most likely to trip us all up: What’s your biggest weakness?
… A job-hunter known as humansof took to Reddit to pose the horrible question to see how other people had answered and was soon inundated with responses. Among the 1,600 comments were people’s own solutions … [1]
One Redditer answered the dreaded question by saying that they take failure a bit too hard sometimes. Another user, Bumpkinsworth, expanded on that, writing, “You can elaborate as to how that pushes you to work harder so that you won’t make the same mistake twice.”
Someone else advised using humor, suggesting you could remain silent and then pull a card from your pocket that reads, “I over prepare.” And yet another Redditer sarcastically suggested the following reply: “People say I can be condescending. That’s when you ‘talk down’ to people.”
Another Redditer also used humour to win over the interviewers, saying: ‘I had one laugh with the response, “my biggest weakness is not fully knowing my weaknesses all the time”.
One commentor recounted a story about a man that was far too honest in his answer: When asked what his greatest weakness was, he replied “women” and then proceeded to tell them he got caught cheating by his wife.
Gurkan continues:
Sefromans replied to the thread with some useful advice: ‘Saying something behavioral based like “I don’t work well with people” or “I’m soft spoken” is like shooting yourself.
‘Give a skills based “weakness” that you can take action to improve upon in the near future.
‘Something like “I’m not too familiar with Microsoft Excel at the moment, but I’m planning on taking classes this coming month.” Make sure you provide a remedy to the weakness.’ [1]
We dread this question because an honest answer is likely to torpedo any hopes of getting the job. Weaknesses don’t play well in our world. To succeed, it’s important to appear strong, capable and in control.
However, the biggest interview any of us will ever face doesn’t come in this lifetime, but rather when we stand before God in the next. God won’t need to ask, “What is your greatest weakness?” He already knows the answer. It’s the sin that has caused a separation in our relationship with Him.
We might impress the world with a clever answer that serves to hide our weaknesses, but God isn’t so easily fooled. But here’s the good news: We don’t have to “make sure” we “provide a remedy” to our biggest weakness. God has already done that by sending His Son into the world to die for our sins.
That being so, all that’s left for us to overcome our biggest weakness before God is to humbly put our trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).
“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)
________
1. “‘What’s your biggest weakness?’ Bosses reveal how you should really answer the dreaded interview question,” By Esra Gurkan for MAILONLINE, October 10, 2016; < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3825805/Job-hunters-reveal-NOT-answer-interview-question-s-biggest-weakness.html >.
[illustration was edited by Rev. David Holwick]