Stupidest Interview Question Ever!

Greetings all,

I went out on Friday to a meetup and one of the people I met, whom I met before, works in a non profit employment counseling centre. Since I will have to find a day job soon, one of the questions I always hated to have someone ask is "what is your weakness?".

I would always rack my brain over this one because I really thought it was a stupid question. Like it was obviously a trick question and I would wonder what do they really want to know? I mean, if you answer 'wrong' you may not get the job. I know for my last job I believe I was asked this and said that I had a tendency to be late but I was working towards not doing that and have been successful but I have to make the conscious effort to be on time. So my weakness was that I had to make a conscious effort to be on time.

One of the things this woman does for her job is help people do well in interviews so I asked her what are employers looking for. She said to pick something that is not related to the work, like say if you have the tendency to be late. A good answer would be saying that you are shy since it might take you a bit longer to open up to coworkers.

I told her that I would prefer to answer the question as follows:
I don't believe in the concept of weakness as I accept myself the way I am. I believe that I have things to learn and to improve upon but I do not see them as weaknesses. Therefore I cannot answer this question because the concept of weakness doesn't exist in my mind.

I probably would have added as well that this question can be improved by asking the interviewee "What do you think you need to improve within yourself?", as I can honestly answer that question. I cannot honestly answer the question "What weakness do you have?" because as I mention earlier, the way I perceive myself, I do not perceive myself as possessing a weakness. I guess because of my spiritual practises and because I make an effort to stay in touch with my 'higher self', I identify with that rather then the 'lower self', which can improve. My 'higher self' is perfect as it is and since I can get in touch with my 'higher self' or my heart, the whole question makes no sense to me.

The woman said my answer was honest but it wouldn't work.

Isn't that fucked up though? Here employers bitch about wanting employees who can 'think outside the box' and when one actually does, they potentially may not land a job because they aren't giving the 'proper' answers??!!

Fuck off!

Just because I am honest and am not willing to just answer mindlessly a question, doesn't mean I cannot do an effective job and it doesn't mean that I won't fit in with a company. I am not a threat at all and actually enjoy getting along with people but I cannot lie and I cannot not think independently.