(Note to potential/current employers: If you've found this blog post, please consider the importance of honesty in your employees. I'm just being honest here.)
It's a standard interview question: "What is your greatest weakness." Usually, we try to come up with some answer that is actually a veiled positive quality. For example, "Sometimes I am too much of a perfectionist." What about something completely honest but unredeemable, like, "I am overly sarcastic and disparaging?"
What I want to do here is give everyone an opportunity to unburden themselves. After lying or semi-lying so many times in interviews, honestly, what is your greatest weakness when it comes to your professional life?
My greatest weakness is I don't work well without a tight deadline. It's extremely hard for me to concentrate when things are slow and I'm not under the gun. I don't believe I'm a lazy person because I like to work hard. Working on a tight deadline feels good to me. Stressful, yes, but I like getting things done quickly and meeting tough targets.
Just so this doesn't sound like too much of a cop-out answer, let me elaborate my sins when under a lax deadline: read news, check my stock portfolio, and write email. (Note, I really try hard not to blog on work time, cause I don't want to feel guilty about this blog.) And when I do try to work, the quality is not good. I write marketing collateral for technology companies, and my prose is dull and confusing when the piece is due next week instead of that afternoon.
Anyway, that's my struggle. It's my weakness, and I own up to it. So, what about you?
4 comments:
ok, ts, i admit, even though i don't like it when you first getting into online forum and then starting your own blog, where you spent hours and hours in front of the computer (felt like you had abandoned your wife and daughter), now, i actually check your blog daily. occasionally, this is where i find some of your thoughts that i don't know about, so sad... : )
ok. wow. i think we need to have a little talk, ts! :-)
on the other hand, i think i know what your wife is saying.
I think this is such a funny question. I've never known anyone to answer this truthfully (like... my greatest weakness is procrastination! Can I get the job?)
A sunny day and a golf course.
There, I said it.
I usually tell my office I have an iron deficincy and I need to go see Dr. Green for some iron shots.
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