Lots of good stuff in this thread. What's your biggest weakness? They want to know if you are self-reflective. If you say "I haven't thought about it much." Then they know you are not self-reflective. So be honest. I agree with tng. They see right through answers like "I work too hard." But if you say, "Sometimes I get so involved with one project that I ignore other deadlines and might let my team down." That's a more honest version of "I work too hard." Here's something that has worked really well for me. Imagine as best you can what West Point is looking for. What kind of student do they want in 2015? Do they want their students to be ethical, to be respectful of all genders and gender preferences? Show an awareness of the sexual harassment issues at West Point in 2014. Do they want their recruits to be capable of leadership? Then in the interview say this: I have an idea of what you are looking for. You want you students to be... and ... and ... Those are the qualities I want to bring to WP. good luck.
If I have nothing else to show for my life, at a bare minimum I can safely say that I will never again have to interview for a job, never again have to put up with a fucking HR flack trying to crack open my skull, never again have to second guess a bullshit question to find the appropriate flavor of bullshit answer, and never again have to contemplate what particular tone they want my one handed clap to sound like. I've never met a self-reflective HR professional. I've never met an interviewer who actually had any ability to sway hiring decisions. More than that, I've never seen a first-level interviewer whose job was more than to see how well you rattle. Anyone asking "what is your biggest weakness?" and expecting self reflection lacks the merit to ask. It's a canned question to fuck with the interviewee and the only winning move is not to play.They want to know if you are self-reflective. If you say "I haven't thought about it much."
HR professionals, in my experience, tend to be people that probably couldn't succeed in a non-bureaucratic workplace. They're bloodsuckers who are there for a singular purpose: to make sure the company doesn't get sued, or if they do get sued, to limit the spillover. I would never advise anyone to go to HR for any reason, unless all other options have been exhausted. The problem is that they present themselves as being mediators, when they lack allegiance to anyone but the bottom line. If it's cheaper to settle a sexual harassment allegation by letting the harassee go? Guess who's getting the gate? And those yearly performance goals? Just a backstop in case they want to fire you without a "real" cause--they already have documentation of you not being up to snuff that you provided them. I refuse to give myself less than a 5 out of 5 on my self evaluations. This year my boss made me change one of the categories to a 4, because he said it didn't sound believable. I said I didn't give a fuck, and you sign the thing, so do whatever you want. I like my job, but long for the day when this no longer applies to me. With luck, that day will come sooner rather than later. When my company gets off the ground I will never assent to employee annual reviews, no matter how hard thenewgreen protests :)
True story: I called a company because a vendor told me they needed me. I got routed to HR, who told me they weren't hiring. The VP of engineering called me back half a day later, apologized, and called me in for a meeting. Director of HR tried to interview me before engineering, but the VP of engineering actually kicked her out of the room. Eighteen months later, when they laid me off (as it turns out, it was a terrible company), the HR director tried to friend me on LinkedIn. When that didn't work, she tried Facebook.
Then in your follow up letter, quote their answer give examples of how you possess these characteristics. Here's a direct pull from a follow up letter I wrote, using this method:Imagine as best you can what West Point is looking for.
-This is a question I asked in every interview. "What characteristics does your ideal candidate have?" You mentioned that the strict common characteristics you expect from your team are "character and integrity, a 'belly fire' to be number one — I will be joining the 'A' team — and discipline." Please take a moment to read the letters of recommendation I have provided you, which I've attached electronically here. You will see that I possess all of those common characteristics.