One of my weaknesses at times I’ve often mentioned is that I can sometimes be a perfectionist and want to complete things to the best of my ability. It’s actually a strength and a weakness and knowing when good enough is good enough is a skill you need to hone over time and experience. Often weaknesses can be strengths in the right situations so this or a similar one might be a good example to use.

I’ve just found a quote by Tristan Walker that explains this reasoning perfectly:

“Too many people spend time trying to fix their weaknesses, and so they don’t double down on their strengths.”

Hi Bobby, I agree with James. I think it’s just coincidence that you’ve never been asked this. I’ve been asked it in a few interviews over the years and I believe it’s worth giving this question real thought before any interview. IIRC John covers this in his “preparing for a job interview” course.

The key thing here is to answer the question honestly but in a way that doesn’t sound arrogant or pessimistic. Talking about your strengths is an invitation to sell yourself for the job. State your accomplishments and speak of compliments that others have given you. You can mention recommendations on Linked In for example, but you’ll probably just want to give a quick summary.

Talking about your weaknesses is an invitation to blow your chances of getting the job. Don’t say that you can’t think of any weaknesses – everyone has weaknesses whether they recognise them or not. List something that you are honestly weak at, but which is unimportant for the role.
For example in my interview with my current employer, I stated virtualization as my weakness. The job doesn’t require me to know much about this so this wasn’t considered a big problem.

It’s not a myth. I’ve been asked this question.

I believe it’s actually a pretty good question to ask someone in a FIT interview so you can understand if the person is self-critical. Being self-critical is an important part of understanding how you can improve yourself.

Also it’s a great way for a company to get some honest answers out of you since you can often tell from answers to it whether they’re being genuine or not.