"Tell me your greatest weakness."

Interviewers often ask predictable questions, so you should be prepared with substantive, personal responses to the range of possibilities. While coming up with original, specific and informative answers is often not particularly difficult with proper planning, one question always poses a challenge: "What is your greatest weakness?"

The careers section of the Wall Street Journal online recently included a discussion, from an employer's point of view, of potential pitfalls in answering the question along with some examples of successful interviewee responses. One employer says that answering with something that is not really a weakness can be a deal-breaker for him. Another notes that answering with a quality unrelated to the workplace is not helpful, either. The correct approach, say some employers, is to identify a work-related weakness that won't really affect your performance. Read more here.