Maybe this time they’ll forget to ask and I won’t have to lie!
Most of the people I’ve asked agreed that “What’s your biggest weakness?” was one of the most annoying questions in a job interview. The first impulse that I usually get when asked that question is “It’s none of your business”, followed by “Lie!!” and consequently “Say something, anything, you’ve been quiet for too long.”
My defensive impulse is relatively normal compared to others’ prepared automatic answers that qualify as the definition of bullshit. So many people claim to know how to answer that question; for instance; mentioning a weakness you had but you’re working on fixing, mentioning a weakness irrelevant to your work, or the most commonly used and the most provoking of all: disguising a strength as a weakness; like for example, saying how much of a hard worker you are and how you lose track of time when you get to work that you spend a lot of time at work which is consequently affecting your personal life.
Personally, what I find more provoking than the interviewer who asked the nosy question are the phony interviewees who start the stream of lies that are often triggered by “Good morning. Tell me a bit about yourself”. This is not because they’re lying, I’m not against that at all, but I’m rather against stupid, obvious lies. For example: your biggest weakness can’t be that you are a perfectionist; perfectionists don’t walk around with a shoelace untied and a shirt misbuttoned, perhaps if you rephrase it to obsessive, it might work.
It’s not that honesty works either. I mean, after you get sick of lying, having done it all day, and resolve to telling the truth, misguidedly and absurdly believing that the interviewer would appreciate your honesty and you’d get the job, and you start blabbing and confess to them how sick you really are. That’s when your punctuality is explained by the bus schedule, your perfectionism becomes obsessive compulsive disorder and your alleged love to work in a team is in fact a fear of being alone or, more truthfully, your actual incompetence and uselessness as an individual.
I was honest once. I was applying for a teaching position and when asked about my biggest weakness, I told the truth. I explained my inability to refrain from retorting when someone makes a mistake or says something stupid. Basically, if a student makes a mistake, I’ll automatically make fun of him or her. It’s an impulse, I can’t really help it. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job.
So, if lying doesn’t work and neither does honesty, what does?
Miniskirts.
Dr. Asmaa K. Marie
Education: Physical Therapy / Job Title: English Instructor / Published Books: Like Most & Most Likely
Photography: Areej Elfeky / Model: Amel Mostapha
EDITOR: Sarah Shalaby