Hi Nie!

It's the interview question that strikes fear into the hearts of job candidates everywhere: What if they ask me about my greatest weakness?! What will I say? Do I lie? WHAT DO I DO???

This is a dumb interview question because it just stresses you out and forces you to do one of three things:

1. Lie

Pretty much everyone considers answering, "Well, I don't have any weaknesses that I can think of."

The problem is that this is a lie and we all know it. I have weaknesses. You have weaknesses. Everyone has weaknesses.

So nobody buys it when you say, "I don't have any weaknesses." and that means this isn't a feasible answer even though it's the one we all want to give.

2. Tell them your greatest weakness

Ok, but just because there's not an easy answer doesn't mean it's a bad question, right?

The problem is if you're trying to impress someone who will pay you a lot of money to do a challenging job, telling them, "Here's something I'm really bad at!" will probably work against you.

Saying something hurtful about yourself in front of a stranger who may offer you a job might possibly backfire, right?

3. Spin one of your assets into a "weakness" in a transparent way that doesn't fool anyone

That leaves us with the third terrible option, which is to pretend one of your strengths is a weakness.

"I care too much."

"I work too hard."

"I try to solve customers' problems even at my own expense."

Blech. Just typing those made me feel a little nauseated, and I bet you rolled your eyes too