How To Successfully Talk About Failure In A Job Interview - Work It Daily

How To Successfully Talk About Failure In A Job Interview - Work It Daily 3 Keys To Answering Any Interview Question About Failure: We all want to talk about our successes in a job interview, but employers persist in asking us about our failures. Related: How To Answer, ‘Have You Ever Been Fired?’ They’ll say, “Tell me about a time when you failed,” or “Tell us about a failed project.” These are important behavioral interview questions. Everyone fails at some point, and we all make mistakes. Potential employers want to know how we handle situations that don’t go our way. 3 Keys To Answering Any Interview Question About Failure: Choose something that really was a failure Make sure it isn’t something that has a negative effect on your ability to do the job Be able to talk about how you learned something from it that made you better at your job Choose a real failure You can’t say you’ve never failed, because that will be an obvious lie. On the other hand, you don’t want to talk about the time you lost a key account that caused the company to go bankrupt, or the time you accidentally set fire to the building. Strike a nice balance by talking about something where you learned from your mistakes and as a result, became better at your job. Be strategic with your choice Just like when discussing your weaknesses, don’t choose a failure that directly relates to the skill set you need for this jobâ€"so if you’re in sales, don’t talk about how you insulted a customer. Talk about how you overlooked an issue and had to fix itâ€"and now you always have a Plan B. If you’re in accounting, don’t talk about how you transposed a number and caused someone to be audited. Talk about how you miscommunicated with a coworker and what you did to repair the relationshipâ€"and found a great book on being a better communicator, so you haven’t had that issue again. Tell what you learned and how it’s made you better Someone who can admit a mistake and show that they can improve (and want to) will be attractive to any employer. Ending your story with how it’s made you better brings what is otherwise a negative in the interview back to the positive reasons they should hire you. Here are some good examples for how to successfully talk about failure in an interview: One failure was that in my first job, I missed a deadline for a project. I knew that couldn’t happen again, so I took a course to learn my Outlook program in greater detail so that I could use it to keep myself on time and organized. I’ve never missed a deadline again. The great thing that came from it was that I was able to really boost my productivity and provide a greater benefit to my organization. I am a naturally optimistic person, which usually means I have a great attitude and I get along with everyone, but once it caused me to overlook the possibility for an issue with my project. The issue turned into a problem that I had to solve, when it would have been easier to avoid it in the first place. Since then, I’ve learned to always look for pitfalls and make contingency plansâ€"so when things do sometimes happen, I’m ready. When you admit the failure, always talk about the positive outcome from it. Show how you learned from your mistake and won’t make it again. This post was originally published at an earlier date. Related Posts How To Manage Without Being Mean (Is It Possible To Not Be Pushy?) 5 Things To Consider Before You Take That Management Job #1 Key To Becoming An Effective Leader About the author Career Coach - Peggy McKee is an expert resource and a dedicated advocate for job seekers. Known as the Sales Recruiter from Career Confidential, her years of experience as a nationally-known recruiter for sales and marketing jobs give her a unique perspective and advantage in developing the tools and strategies that help job seekers stand head and shoulders above the competition. Peggy has been named #1 on the list of the Top 25 Most Influential Online Recruiters by HR Examiner, and has been quoted in articles from CNN, CAP TODAY, Yahoo! HotJobs, and the Denver Examiner. Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here. Photo Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!