"Tell Me About Your Strengths and Weaknesses"

Anyone who has ever prepared for a job interview has probably anticipated this question. I don't know if I have actually ever heard it directly, but I have certainly come up with a series of examples of situations in which I overcame a weakness. We are well-trained to cover weaknesses or at least to reposition them as strengths. And even the least self-promoting among us learn quickly how talk up our strengths when we need to.
 
But sometimes, in the midst of making all the strengths seem superhuman and the weaknesses seem like just opportunities for growth, we have a real need to shout out about a little victory or lay bare our weaknesses without having to justify or rectify them. And that is where our good friends come in. When we can't rise above weakness, they are there to prop us up. When our successes are exciting but not necessarily LinkedIn-worthy, our friends are the ones who cheer for us and with us.
 
The need to discuss our strengths and weaknesses intelligently with potential employers will likely never go away. It is a part of the job search that helps hiring managers know that they are getting someone who learns and adapts, and what company wouldn't want that? But the need for making sure we have people in our lives who will support the strong and the weak in us is an even more vital part of the career exploration process. It is with the help of those friends that we can survive being weak, and come out feeling stronger than ever.