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I feel a need to speak up about the "What is your greatest weakness?"
question... I ask this question, not to put the candidate "on the spot" as
was suggested, but to gain an understanding of how this person evaluates
himself/herself. People who know their weaknesses, in my experience, have
a better chance of overcoming them. If I get a "flippant" answer, I'm
going to think twice about that candidate. If I get someone who says that
they need to work on X, Y, or Z, I may be able to help them with it... or,
their weakness may be a strength for another person on the team. I try to
team up our writers so that they can learn from one another with their
strengths and weaknesses.
We have a great company and a great team. I have a blast working here (and
I'm also working my butt off.) It is my understanding that my team does
too, and if they aren't, as their Lead, then I need to find out why. Now,
I'm not talking about "all sunshine and flowers", but I do want my writers
and myself to wake up in the morning and WANT to come to work... We try
hard to "make it so"... Yes, we have tough deadlines... Who doesn't? Yes,
we have bad days... But we enjoy what we're doing and the people we're
"doing it with"... I've worked for companies where this wasn't the
case. Now we have a chance to make it so.
After the skills are assessed, I want to make sure that a candidate will
fit, personality AND skills, with the rest of the team. These questions
assist me in determining the fit. I have one team member who's a walking
dictionary, thesaurus, trivia, and grammar book. I have another who knows
a ton about telco. Another is a fabulous editor... If someone is
interviewing and has a speciality that we don't currently have, that skill
could be *bonus* for the team. If they have a weakness of not being the
best editor, I have an expert editor already, so the weakness is not
necessarily a Huge detriment...
Great thread, by the way...
Trish Castin
Lead Technical Writer
DSET Corporation
908-526-7500 ext. 1333
"Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n putting' it back in."
