Personally I don't think it sounds either arrogant or humble overall, plus it shows a willingness to discuss difficult things in a polite manner (at least the question as stated above was polite) which is also a plus for a candidate.
Related - Once viewing a house to buy I asked the seller, is there anything you think I should know about this house that I haven't asked about. Their reply turned out to be a deal breaker (at the time - maybe it would have been fine but the point is we got a lot more information! )
This works because that's the reason why the company is interviewing people - they have a problem they need to solve. Be that solution.
If this question turns a company off, both the company and candidate have obtained a critical piece of information.
The fact that anyone would be surprised by that is a sad indictment on our culture.
It’s a subconscious thing, but you really don’t want people to start thinking negatively about you, because it can cause that negativity to linger and affect your assessment. You especially don’t want someone to end an interview on the negative note. Do it in the middle if you have to but make sure you start and end positively
Again, there’s a fine line between too much humility and too much hubris. Humility is fine in moderation , but you have to keep from being excessive or you do a disservice to yourself as much as overselling yourself.
Also though I agree with quietbritishjim's take, from the other side of the table I would actually read the question as confident. I'm British as well. Cultural thing maybe.
For example, I talked to someone on Friday about a bioinformatics job. In passing, the manager remarked, "So you probably don't have any experience analyzing gene networks...." While that's true, I have done other graph theory/network analysis work that uses the same mathematical tools, so we talked about that for a bit. Without that offhand comment, though, I'm not sure how I would have gone about making my case.
However, I'd carve out an exception. In an interview where you have, without a doubt, not done well and there's greater than a 80% chance that you feel you won't proceed, this question may potentially be a good hail mary, for salvaging the interview.
But, I've never used the technique before. And unless you have alot of interview experience, it will also be difficult to make judgement calls on how well or bad an interview has gone.
Any sales person that does their pitch then just goes "welp, see ya later" at the end has no business being in sales.
Everything in a job interview should be to frame you in a positive light.
I see way too many candidates try and play the humble route, and all it does is sell them short. There’s a fine line between too humble and too full of yourself , and neither side is good to find yourself on. This particular question seems to me to be too humble.
Questions like this may seem like it makes the candidate seem humble and open to feedback, but in actuality whenever someone has asked something like this it has made them appear insecure and planted more seeds of doubt in the interviewers mind since they now have to think about their shortcomings.
Maybe phrasing it a better way would help:
“What qualities are you looking for, for this role?” “Are there things you think i should brush up on , assuming I get this role?” “Where do you see me best being able to contribute in this role?”
Those questions give you the same data points, leaving you to infer where you may be lacking. It leaves the interviewer with a sense of your confidence without seeming too full of yourself, and generally the wording makes them consider you as if you’re in the role, versus not in it.
Again, a job interview is a sales pitch. People should be honest while balancing keeping the tone positive.
You wouldn’t sell a car by pointing out its flaws. Don’t sell yourself the same way.