How to answer "What's your biggest weakness?" during an interview?

CFA General
#1

I’ve been attending several interviews where the question “What’s your biggest weakness?” always kind of screws me over. One interview I had with a major chartered bank asked me this, and I told him that being organized has always been an issue for me, but since I registered for the CFA, I was forced to get myself together in orderto efficiently balance my study/work life. I started to take advantage of the Calendar reminder on my iPhone, I placed used sticky notes on the firdge with a short to do list for the 1st half of the day of my day and then I would set up reminder alerts on my phone and etc.

Can anyone advise me on how to answer this question when in for an interview for a financial related position>?

Appreciate everyone’s response!!

#2

Say something that used to be a weakness and then describe what you do now that makes it not a problem anymore and then say "actually, it’s not such an issue anymore "

Done.

#3

Don’t try the obvious evasion - I’m too “insert positive characteristic”. Always provide a characteristic that is definitely negative on its own, but then provide further context that actually exhibits it as a debatably good characteristic.

For example:

“My biggest weakness is that I’m impatient.” -> Sounds bad, right? Just continue…

"It’s hard for me to sit around waiting for things to get done… ", etc.

NEVER answer the question with an actual negative characteristic and then just leave it at that. Always somehow turn it around.

#4

If I heard that, I would say, that’s not a weakness. Give me another that is a weakness.

#5

^ As you are one of the few here that sits on the other side of the table, what’s the best answer you have heard?

#6

And I’d respond with, “I’m not a complacent person, if I viewed something as a weakness, I would have fixed it already… although I guess I do care too much.”

Seriously, it’s such a bull sh*t question. I didn’t even know people asked that anymore, it’s a polite way of informing candidates that if they’re hired they can expect to be working for a bunch of dipshits stuck in the 90’s.

But if you’re going to answer it seriously, then something like,

“Sometimes I’m a little too detail oriented and have to remind myself when something has been done well enough to serve it’s purpose and move on.”

“I tend to get impatient with beaurocracy.”

“Driving too fast.”

“Letting my oil changes go over the mileage on the sticker.”

“I spend too much time each day helping old ladies across the street.”

All equally valid responses to a stupid interview question (there is such a thing).

#7

“I get irritated by people who are unimaginative.”

“I like to play with people who ask stupid questions, the way a cat plays with a mouse before he eats it.”

“I like directness. Tell me what you really want to know.”

…the possibilities are endless…

#8

+1.

And whats more stupid than these are when the interviewer has an ANSWER in mind and frames a question for it. Obviously your answer is different from what he is expecting, most irritating to find that the interviewer is asking you “is there another possible solution?” !!!

#9

Actually, I struggle with that one a lot. I struggle with perfectionism, when a dose of “good-enough”-ism would really help.

My experience with markets has taught me that you just have to accept that you are ultimately making the best decision within a reasonable time frame based on incomplete information, and that diversifying your decisions limits your vulnerability to random events while allowing a competent thought process to accumulate over a large number of decisions over time.

It’s not as big an issue as it used to be, but it helps to have competent coworkers to interact with.

–

The other thing is that I while I write good stuff, it sometimes can take a while to write it. That’s because I refuse to force people to read something I wouldn’t want to read myself. As Hemingway said: “It’s easy to write, you just sit down at a typewriter [keyboard] and BLEED.”

–

Another weakness of mine is that I frequently mistake how dumb the rest of the world tends to be. I figure if something is obvious to me, it must be obvious to everyone, and it turns out that that’s just not true. It’s probably because as a child, I was surrounded by some of the smartest minds around, and I was always behind them (heck, I was a kid, and they were Ivy / OxBridge type professors!), but the feeling stayed all my life. A good friend who grew up 50 miles away from me is also wicked smart, but he knew that everyone around him was dumb and so he developed the ability to just run with what he thought, knowing that it was likely better than any advice he could get from those around him. He’s not a billionaire, but he’s done pretty well for himself.

There’s a reverse version of that where I’m confused about something and other people seem so clear about it. I wonder what it is that they know or think that makes them so clear. In retrospect, it’s often because they only see part of the picture, and I’m seeing a bigger one - i.e. they can’t see the confounding issues that I see. But because they seem so confident, I figure they must have done better analysis. I’m sure that’s a major behavioral bias one could write about if it hasn’t already been, and the basis for confidence games and con-men. If it doesn’t have a name, I’ll call it “bcha-bias” - take that, bchas!

That’s one reason that I need to bounce ideas off of other people in order to figure out if they are worth pursuing. I wish that after generating them on my own, I could just have the confidence to go out and put them on. That’s a challenge for me, and why I like to work in teams.

This is also one reason that I focus so much on portfolio construction techniques. In my mind, this is the tool that allows me to go ahead and put ideas on, knowing that there’s a mechanism for risk control in the portfolio construction.

OK, so now you know more about me.

#10

I usually say that I am very blunt. Which is true.

#11

Find something that is a natural weakness of yours that you’ve come quite a bit in overcoming (but still persists as a legitimate weakness). Focus the discussion on how far you’ve come in overcoming it.

#12

My greatest weaknesses = chocolate, sushi

#13

That’s a good one.

Q: What’s your weakness.

A: Identifying my weaknesses.

#14

Speaking of BS, BS–here’s a story my friend told me. (I obviously can’t vouch for its accuracy.)

The interviewer asked him, “If you were miniature-sized, and put in a blender, and you knew that the blender was about to be turned on, what would you do?” I suppose the point is to find out his problem-solving skills.

My friend replied, “I would deploy my Wolverine-style adamantium claws and chop the blender’s blades up into little bits.”

The interviewer apparently did not like the answer. He said, “This is a serious question.”

The friend replied, “My answer is just as serious as your question.”

He got a letter a few days later saying that position had been filled.

#15

Speaking of Blenders, I recently came across this thing called a “Sport Blender” in William Sonoma or some store like this. It was very overpriced, like $200 or something like that. It seems like you can call anything “sport” and charge a higher price nowadays. I think I should pioneer the “Sport House” and charge premium over the inferior non-sport house.

#16

See, I think that’s kind of a thoughtless interpretation. If you had a significant weakness and did not address it, that doesn’t make you good at identifying weaknesses, that just makes you complacent. And if what are left after a process of addressing significant weaknesses are insignificant weaknesses, then by definition, they have no significance and aren’t worth addressing.

#17

Patron, Ribs, Southern Belles.

#18

But only while they’re young. All that delicious southern cooking is not kind over time…

#19

I often sit on the other side of the table and would never ask this type of question.

#20

^ Agree. I find more value on having a conversation and seeing if I could work with this person week in and week out.

Those canned questions that often get asked just baffle me from a point of view of useful insight. An example is, “Describe a time when you were about to make it rain in a strip club, but all of a sudden you saw your WIFE slip backstage. This struck you as odd given she said she was hanging with her ‘chickas’ this night. In any case, your homeboy Jamal has his hopes on you making it rain, so you hit the ATM to realize it only dispenses 10 bills. Darn you think, you wanted 1s. How do you balance these conflicting ethical, moral, and financial implications while ensuring, A. Your wife doesn’t see you at said club. B. You make it rain for your nigga 4 life Jamal. C. You don’t overdraft your checking given you can only pull 10s from the ATM, but still make it rain through the TIP DRILL song. D. Ensure you have enough lettuce left over to grease the legs open of the 10 back in the champagne room. What do you do?”