Several years ago I was interviewing for an engineering internship at a big company. The position was paid and spots were limited, so it was pretty competitive. Of course I was stoked to have scored an in person interview.
The interviewers were my potential future boss (B1) and his boss (B2). The technical part of the interview goes great, no hitches. Then some personality style questions. The last one being: “what are your 3 strongest personal traits and 3 weakest traits?”
I gave honest, but interview-y answers like “punctuality” as a strength and “perfectionism” as a weakness. I struggled to find a third interview sounding answer for strength, so I answered “compassion”. I am extremely empathetic and compassionate towards most people. My entire life people I know have remarked on my big soft heart. This was the most genuine, non work focused answer I gave. Big mistake.
I was shocked when B2 scrunched up his face like he just walked into a pile of dog shite and said “Umm, right. How exactly does 'compassion' help my team win?”
Realizing I had misstepped by being a decent human being instead of a capitalist robot, I backpedalled and said something like being compassionate towards coworkers improves workplace relationships, morale, and productivity which are all critical components of a winning team.
The rest of the interview went well and I was offered the position. Completed my internship there and finished uni. When they contacted me after that asking me to come back as a regular full time employee, I remembered this conversation… hard pass.