My Weakness is Chocolate
I was just reading a CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Candidates Blog entry about how to overcome tough interview questions and it caused me to remember an answer that a friend of mine used to give interviewers who asked him what was his biggest weakness. He would answer that it was chocolate. That would end that silly line of questioning for most interviewers but for those who were better prepared and could actually explain what information they were after he would provide them with a more meaningful response.
When I interviewed for jobs in college and after graduation, it never ceased to amaze me how ill prepared both the interviewers and candidates often were. Interviewers often had little to no training and frequently knew nothing about the candidate until they had scanned their resume as the candidate was walking in the door. So rather than asking meaningful questions about the candidate’s credentials, they would ask stock, open ended questions like, “describe your greatest weakness.” What a waste of time for everyone in the room.
I frequently hear from recruiters and candidates how hard it is to find the right match. They spend hour upon hour, day upon day, week upon week, and sometimes even month upon month searching, searching, and searching. Then when they finally do connect with what seems to be a good fit, they come into the interview far less prepared than they should be. If they invested even 30 to 60 minutes ahead of time then their chances of success would skyrocket but they often don’t so the interview often goes no where and they’re right back on the same old treadmill.
