I love talking to people. So when I first started interviewing applicants I would ask a bunch of questions. It looked like an interrogation, but I felt I wasn’t getting to know the applicants very well. One of those questions was “tell me about your strengths and weaknesses”. After interviewing more than 1000 people over the last 4 years, I learned that asking that question was a complete waste of time. These are 3 reasons why.
Some people think their strengths are the activities they enjoy doing. However, It does not necessarily mean they are good at it. Therefore, their answers won’t help you to know them at a deeper level.
You won’t get any good answer from the typical “what are your weakness” question. You will hear the typical answerwith not so negative weaknesses such as “I am a perfectionist” or “I have a hard time to disconnect from work”.
When you ask these questions, you assume an applicant has some “self-awareness” to know exactly what their strengths and weaknesses are. Therefore, you will be relying on information that is not 100% accurate.
Instead of asking this question, start asking about what they love and hate about their last job. Touch their feelings and they will open up. Then you will be able to know them better and start hiring better workers.