“Tell me about your biggest weakness,” I recently asked a job-seeking client in a practice interview to help her prepare for her upcoming job interview for an administrative position. She smiled confidently, and gave me a predictable answer, one often heard from job seekers and which I call “the perfectionist answer”: “When I am given a task, I work very hard at getting it completed, and will not stop until it is perfectly done.” “So,” I said, taking a devil’s advocate role, “are you saying that you get really stressed out about it and that you compromise all other work to get it done?” She straightened up uncomfortably, looked me in the eye, and answered “No. Of course not! I always make sure all my work gets done.” “So, how then, is it a weakness? I would love to hire someone who sets high standards for themselves.“, I challenged her gently. Looking confused and mildly annoyed, she struggled to answer my challenge satisfactorily, eventually looking at me imploringly, “What do I say, then? What do I say that won’t make me look bad?”
