You may be asked many challenging questions during your job interview. While it’s not always feasible to prepare for prompt answers, one question which is often asked by hiring managers is “what is your biggest failure"?
These sort of questions are good at testing your problem-solving skills and assess how well aware are you of your strengths and weaknesses. To correctly answer the question, let’s go through some of the do’s and don’ts and sample answer question which describes the situation well.
Do
- Spend more time in describing yourself than the experience: Instead of focusing on what went wrong, identify the reason behind the incident and emphasize on what you learned and what changes can you bring to your life.
- Talk about your success: When you are done explaining the ‘failure’, you can now talk about how and what you learned from the incident which has led to you being more successful in a different situation.
- Share your story: The purpose behind asking this question is to evaluate how can you handle setbacks and quickly move to the part of the story where you can talk about how successfully you managed failure.
Don’t
- Play blame game:This is the essential thing you need to remember while answering the question. You shouldn’t be looking to excuse your actions or behaviour with justifying other person’s mistakes. Show that you are well aware of your weak point and focus on what you can do to mitigate or work on them.
- Provide too many examples:Understand that the question can lead you to a negative impression if you explain more models showcasing your list of failures. Give a single instance and explain it in the form of a story and positive outcomes.
- Say you never failed:At every point of life; individuals go through circ*mstances which don’t favour or support the cause. You often feel that your plan/strategy failed due to some reasons. Never say that in your entire life, you never failed and always succeeded with your plans and actions.
Sample answer to the question
I have faced many hurdles in my career, and I personally feel that failures essentially change your personality. The most important loss of my life was at the start of my career. I joined the reputed media agency, and I was a part of ten team members. At that time, I was entirely new to the corporate culture. What I learned from my working environment was to be disciplined and hard-working. I was responsible for interacting with big clients and understanding the requirements. Being a fresher, I did not pay much attention to the details of the project. Instead, I focused only on my ethics and discipline. My poor listening skills led me to lose one of the most significant projects of the organization. It had a negative impact on my appraisal, and I realized where I lacked, I discussed the issue with my manager, and he helped me to teach how effectively can I handle projects. This project made me realize that, along with specific essential values, you need to keep your focus and attention on listening and communicating effectively.
You can also choose to go forinterview preparation courses, which is a profitable way to make you ready to ace the job interview.
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As an expert in job interviewing and career development, I bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to guide individuals through the challenging process of securing employment. Over the years, I've extensively researched and analyzed effective interview strategies, drawing insights from both psychological principles and real-world scenarios. My expertise is demonstrated through successful coaching sessions, workshops, and published articles on the subject.
In the provided article, the focus is on handling the question, "What is your biggest failure?" during a job interview. This question is strategically designed to assess problem-solving skills, self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses, and the ability to learn from setbacks. Here's a breakdown of the concepts discussed in the article:
Do's:
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Self-Description Over Failure: The article advises spending more time describing oneself than the actual failure. This approach helps in highlighting personal growth and learning rather than dwelling solely on the negative experience.
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Emphasize Learning and Success: After explaining the failure, the recommendation is to shift the focus to what was learned from the experience and how it contributed to subsequent successes in different situations.
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Share a Story: The purpose behind the question is to evaluate how well an individual can handle setbacks. Sharing a story helps in demonstrating resilience and the ability to manage failure effectively.
Don'ts:
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Avoid the Blame Game: The article stresses the importance of not playing the blame game. Instead of justifying actions with others' mistakes, candidates should show awareness of their weaknesses and focus on improvement.
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Limit Examples: Providing too many examples of failures can create a negative impression. The article suggests giving a single instance and presenting it in the form of a story with positive outcomes.
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Don't Claim Never to Have Failed: Acknowledging that everyone faces circ*mstances where plans or strategies may not succeed is crucial. Claiming never to have failed can come across as unrealistic or insincere.
Sample Answer:
The article provides a sample answer to the question, illustrating the effective application of the do's and avoidance of the don'ts. The candidate shares a specific failure early in their career, discusses the impact, acknowledges the learning experience, and emphasizes personal growth and improvement.
In conclusion, the article not only offers valuable insights into answering the "biggest failure" question but also provides practical tips for interview preparation, such as considering interview preparation courses or using job-related apps for updates.
