What are is your weakness? Interview question

[_maarcb]

Hi! I understand during interviews they always ask what is your weakness? I come down to the fact that my weakness is people dying. Don't get me wrong I can handle it. But I hate people dying. It just shows that In best of my ability I want to keep people alive. And would do anything and everything to prevent someone dying on my hands. Is this something I can say during an interview?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I personally would never mention that type of weakness during any kind of healthcare interview. As healthcare workers and/or future healthcare workers, we are expected to have a certain ability to manage issues surrounding death and dying without becoming weak at the knees.

If you mention that dying is your weakness, some interviewers might wonder about your ability to maintain composure in a profession where patient demise is inevitable.

In general, you want to mention a socially acceptable weakness that is reflective of your ability to engage in honest introspection. In other words, mention a weakness and place a positive spin on it. Some examples are below:

1. On occasion I can become so fixated on the small details that I sometimes miss out on seeing the big picture.

2. Since I do everything humanly possible to avoid making careless mistakes, time management is a weakness because I check all orders twice.

3. I strive to provide outstanding patient satisfaction, so one of my weaknesses is my emotional attachment to my patients and their outcomes.

[klone, MSN, RN]

In addition to what Commuter said, you also want to show what you are doing to overcome that weakness. They want to see the ability to be introspective and address problems.

Two that I commonly state:

I have a tendency to get backlogged on email communication and in the past have been slow at responding to emails from others. Once I realized this was a problem, I started making a point of setting aside 15 minutes at the beginning of each shift just to read and respond to emails.

When I'm multi-tasking, I have a tendency to get distracted or forget details or things that need to be done. So I have started utilizing "to-do lists" and I always have scrap paper nearby to write notes on, to make sure everything I need to do gets completed.

[klone, MSN, RN]

And whatever you do, do not say anything along the lines of "I care too much" or "I am a perfectionist"

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

And whatever you do, do not say anything along the lines of "I care too much" or "I am a perfectionist"

And don't you dare say, "My weakness is that I work too much!"

In other words, stay away from those clichés.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Personally, I think the "death" answer is the one you should go with -- because it is the truth. Anything other than the truth is just plain wrong -- and you run the risk of having it sound fake and reheorificed. A fake, reheorificed answer is one of the worst types of answers you can give.

The trick is to present your honest answer in a way that helps you get the job rather than hurts it. Don't make it sound as if you so uncomfortable with death that you can't handle it ... and tell a story that demonstrates that you don't freak out and become incompetent when a patient dies. You can say that you "don't like it" when patients die ... or that you that you haven't had a lot of direct experience with death ... etc. but that you understand that it may be part of the job and you are prepared to handle it. (Remember, some work environments see a lot less death that other units. Consider that in your job choice if it bothers you that much.) Perhaps you can present your struggles with Death as a personal/professional journey you are on -- one you think about and still work on, but a journey that you are successfully manage.

Think it through, reheorifice a little, prepare a story or two about death that show you can handle the job and present the concept of death as something you fight -- but that you can succesfully work with. I would respect an honest (but positive and hopeful) response like that MUCH, MUCH more than one of the standard, reheorificed, fake answers we so often hear.

[NewYorkerGirl]

Personally, I think the "death" answer is the one you should go with -- because it is the truth. Anything other than the truth is just plain wrong -- and you run the risk of having it sound fake and reheorificed. A fake, reheorificed answer is one of the worst types of answers you can give.

That doesn't work for everyone. I just got a job using reheorificed answers. I was asked almost all the same questions before, and my on-the-spot answers didn't get me the jobs. So I wrote out essays and memorized them for my next interview, over 2,000 words. Being prepared with canned answers releases my anxiety.