5/16    When an interviewer asks about your weakness, what do you usually
        say?
        \_ "i'm outta of a job and i have to come to you to get one"
        \_ "i'm too weak to answere questions about myself"
        \_ I cry when I masturbate.
        \_ Well, I could always use more upper body strength to impress
           the girls.
        \_ "I've been told that I work too hard, but I've never considered
           it a weakness."
           \_ Do not try this. Any non-moron interviewer would pick up on
              this sort of thing. I guess since he asked this question, we
              may deduce he IS a moron though. But anyway I divebombed an
              interview when some high-end VP asked this and relentlessly
              discarded my non-incriminating answers. The "correct" answer
              is really to have a pre-memorized set "things you're doing
              to improve yourself", under the assumption that anything
              where you're not your best is a weakness. Yeah it's stupid.
              I guess you could turn the "work too hard" thing into a real
              weakness if you say like you sometimes get fixed on a problem
              and if you don't get enough sleep you aren't as bright as
              you can be blah blah.
           \_ I agree that you should NOT give a canned response, especially
              the one above.  IT'S TOO FUCKING OLD.  It's like walking into
              a single's bar and asking "What's your sign?".  Be thoughtful.
        \_ "That's a stupid question.  I'll go somewhere else where the
           interviewers aren't morons."
           \_ Translation:  "My weakness is I kneejerk sometimes at the risk
              of pissing off other people."
              \_ No, I'd just rather not work for a company who wastes my time
                 like that.
                 \_ You might want to consider the fact that there's more to
                    being a true professional than your (very high) opinion of
                    yourself.
           \_ Alternate Translation: "I'm a very, very poor candidate."
        \_ I just answered honestly.  Just list some real weakness you
           have.
           \_ Yeah, I tried that once. Apparently, they weren't interested
              in people who don't like to be micromanaged.
              \_ Sounds like you came out on top of that one.
        \_ I get distracted too easily by eye candies.
           \- Just say "I wish I could be more organized."
        \_ I'm a lazy fuck.
        \_ I tell them that sometimes I am too optimistic about how
           much work I can get done and that therefore I take on too
           many tasks and that sometimes this causes frustration in
           other people who are waiting around for me to get things
           done. It is a real weakness of mine (and just about every
           other engineer and sysadmin I have ever worked with) and
           just indicates a normal kind of failing that you can cop to.
           I don't tell them that I drink too much and call in work
           sick all the time on Monday because of it or anything like
           that.
           \_ This is a smart man. (or woman)
           \_ Yeah, good call.  During my interview for my current job,
              I was asked this and answered a couple of things off the
              top of my head -- one was "I have a hard time saying no
              (to client requests, management requests)" -- it's a
              genuine problem, and one that I work on.  This led into
              a brief discussion of dealing with those sorts of
              dynamics, and probably did give them a better idea of
              how I think & work.  Which is the point.
              \_ Well I'd still laugh at you both. It's still an obvious
                 cop-out basically, just a clever variation of "I work
                 too much/am too eager to work". It shows you're good
                 at lawyerly bullshitting. Good job.
                 \_ This is a foolish man. (or woman)
                 \_ No, I honestly don't think it is 100% bullshit. Super
                    awesome programmers accurately predict how much they
                    can get done in a certain amount of time and when they
                    screw up, they bust their ass to get back on track.
                    I am not that conscientious. Yes, it is BS, in the sense
                    I am not that hard working. Yes, it is BS, in the sense
                    that I believe I have worse failings as a human being,
                    but none that I think appropriate for a job interview.
                    If I was really pressed, I could come up with some others
                    like "sometimes I can be too terse for people" but I
                    rationalize that as me just not liking to be interrupted
                    when I am deep in thought.
        \_ My last boss has a restraining order on me, but I learned
           from that experience.
           \_ That rocks.
        \_ I have a hard time with the line between sexual harrassment and
           harmless flirtatiousness, but I've been taking sensitivity classes
           and higher doses of medication, so it's less blurry to me now.
        \_ I ask this question. Not looking for an answer but how they
           react. That tells me a lot more about a person, esp. for a
           high-profile position.
           \_ Just out of curiosity, what does it tell you about a person
              when they walk out of the interview telling you it's a stupid
              question, and that you're a moron for asking it?
           \_ So what are you hoping to see from them? What kind of
              responses to this cliche question impress you?
           \_ Two pp's above should watch "The Assassination of Richard Nixon"
              \_ Why?
        \_ "I can't stop my bosses' wives crawling onto my bed."