Worst. Question. Ever. I hate answering this during an interview. What is my go-to answer? “I have a problem with authority.” Just kidding. Usually it’s a toss-up between being too detail-oriented (how is that a weakness?) and “diving into the work without a formal plan in place” (the latter is a weakness I GUESS but it’s just my method and it works for me).
I hate being interviewed and when I was a manager I hated conducting them. The questions are canned and don’t give much insight into a person’s skills and personality. There are obvious right answers which defeats the purpose of getting to know a candidate to find out if he/she is a good fit. When I was a manager we were provided an interview cheat sheet with a list of the usual questions. I hated asking them but I didn’t know what else to do. You can ask a candidate where they want to be in five years but they aren’t going to be honest with you. These days no one works at the same company for more than five-ish years. There is no company loyalty because companies are ever-changing and offer little stability to its employees. Year after year the benefits decrease and the grievances become unbearable.
My best friend has been working for her current company for about five years and while she has bounced around doing various admin jobs she is currently responsible for their payroll (among other accounting tasks). This means, of course, that she gets to see what people are paid. She told me about a girl that was just hired for the entry level admin position where my friend also started with the company. The new girl doesn’t have a college degree (my friend has her BA) or any admin experience; what she does have, however, is a bigger paycheck. My best friend, who is the new girl’s superior, makes about $5,000 less per year. Ouch.
That would certainly piss me off if I were her. What do you do in that situation? Nothing. Quit? Sure. You have to find a new job first.
Basically I am trying to prepare myself for the typical questions while hoping that they don’t ask me the usual “tell me about yourself.” I hate that question. It’s open-ended. And I truly believe that they don’t really care about who I am. I love heavy metal and I’m a vegetarian. Does that make me more qualified for this job than the next person?