Your Biggest Weakness?

The “snidey” monopolistic Leftist media in Britain are presently knotting themselves into a swirling fit.

The current ruling political party are electing their new helmsman.

This is (sadly?) no Presidential democracy. So no mere citizen ever gets a vote for supreme leader.

Imagine a US-style Primary, but where the winner walks straight into the White House.

There is a frontrunner. Who wisely eschews the clamour of falsely bleating journalists with their disingenuous cries of “transparency”, “scrutiny” and “debate”. As current hot favourite, they declined an invite to appear at the first tv circus featuring all six candidates. Deploying the delightful reason, among others, that it would be a waste of time due to being undoubtedly “cacophonous”.

So to the event itself. Even featuring the “empty chair”. Pathetic. Still, how about the penultimate, and seventh question from the audience;

What’s your greatest weakness?

Well well. Welcome to the real world of job interviewing. You might indeed say, lazy world. Asking this question, even when wrapped alongside strengths too, a staple of the tired old assessment format.

As for answers, here’s what each hopeful claimed they were;

impatient – a restless soul – there’s many things I don’t know about the world – stubborn

That last one two divulged.

I think by now most people know the drill. You try to make a weakness sound like a strength. Try to show a bit more of your human side. Then launch into a tale of how you turned some supposed deficiency around.

Even as far back as my Uni days, the careers guidance given was to say that you can be a bit of a “perfectionist”. Oh dear.

I was alarmed to view the google ‘featured snippet’ on this day. Not because of any merit or lack thereof, but as it felt like promotion due to merely being most recently published. Only posted three days prior. Although it is fairly standard fayre. [post-publish edit; even the old bbc dusted off their contacts book on this, coming late to the party 24hrs on, although you’ve got to admire that style beginning, ‘well, there’s so many, where do I start…?!’]

In the politician cases here, they attempted stories to let their suitability sink in.

One talked of battles with junior doctors, and being better at communicating what you want to do. Another spoke of always wanting to make things better. The outsider cited discussion with tech sector leaders. And one namechecked his social media secret weapon, Bailey the dog, for whom he thought ten years was too long to make his daughter wait for getting.

I can hear answering the prospect question now.

“Well, our biggest weakness is our price. We charge what we are worth. Level with the proven value we unlock. There’s a reason for that…”

Sounds a bit cheesy today, hey?

Still, if I were faced with this over the next month whilst the UK’s next Prime Minister is selected, I’d cite and mention context of these four responses. You could even cheekily ask which weakness they prefer to recruit. It’s a rubbish question IMHO. But like all such, it’s not necessarily what you reply with, but how.