During a job interview, you may be asked challenging questions about your prior work experiences and how you handled different situations. While it’s not possible to prepare for every potential interview prompt, one the hiring manager may ask is, “What is your biggest failure?” Understanding how to answer this question can impress upon interviewers your resiliency and ability to turn failure into a learning opportunity. In this article, we discuss why interviewers ask about failure, as well as examples of how to answer effectively.
Pick a real failure that happened in the workplace, specifically a failure related to the work you’re doing now. Look for a story where something didn’t go as planned. Choosing the right story is important, as you want to explain a situation where only one thing went wrong.
TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU FAILED! (Sample Answer to this DIFFICULT BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW QUESTION!)
Acceptable Responses
Answer the question “What is your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?” with a clear and concise story. Mention a time when you made a mistake at work, in school, or in your personal life. Explain where you went wrong and the results of your errors. Finish the story by describing what skills you developed to avoid making that mistake again.
Things to Keep in Mind
Remember that interviewers who ask, “What is your greatest failure and what did you learn from it?” are more interested in how you improved and grew after the failure than they are about the failure itself. Have a humble attitude when discussing the errors you’ve made, and show satisfaction and pride when you talk about what you’ve learned from your past mistakes.
Answers to Avoid
When an interviewer says, “Tell me about a time when you failed and what you learned from it,” avoid making excuses or placing the blame on other people. Also, steer clear of responses like:
Hiring managers know that everyone makes mistakes. Giving non-answers and brushing off past errors can make you sound careless. Interviewers may think you don’t take your failures seriously and are unwilling to hold yourself accountable for your actions.
Choose a specific failure
Pick a real failure that happened in the workplace, specifically a failure related to the work you’re doing now. Look for a story where something didn’t go as planned. Choosing the right story is important, as you want to explain a situation where only one thing went wrong. This will help keep the story brief and make it easy to articulate what you learned and what you can do differently next time. A team failure can also be a great choice to share with your interviewer because you share responsibility with others. It’s just important to take responsibility for your role in why it was a failure.
Why employers ask questions about failure
Interviewers understand that no one is perfect. What they want to understand is whether you are self-aware enough to acknowledge your shortcomings and whether you are someone who can learn from your missteps. Failures also tell a lot about who you are as an employee and whether you are comfortable taking smart risks and pushing beyond your comfort zone to achieve goals. This question also tells them how you view risk, failure and success in general. If you have never failed, you may have never taken risks or succeeded either.
Example 3
“Several years ago, my supervisor tasked me with interviewing, hiring and training an entry-level person to join our customer service team. I chose to hire someone who seemed eager to learn and, based on past work experiences, seemed to have a lot of potential. I did have a few concerns after checking their social media sites but chose to hire them anyway. I quickly learned it was a mistake and that their social media activity was a strong indication of their behavior at work. They were highly dramatic, had a poor attitude and impacted the entire team until I had to fire them.
The experience taught me how important every hiring decision is, from senior staff to interns. Each person impacts company morale and culture. It also taught me not to rush to make any hiring decisions and get feedback if I have concerns about a candidate. I’ve learned to trust my intuition more. However, it’s a lesson I’m glad I learned earlier in my career.”
Example 2
“I took a job where I was responsible for building a sales team that would fix the major revenue problems the company was having. I was overly confident in my abilities and certain I would be able to accomplish the goal. After arriving, though, I realized the problems were not just in revenue but in the way the company was organized. I knew within one month that I wouldn’t be able to make the impact I anticipated.
I briefly considered quitting when I knew I wouldn’t come close to the sales goals I promised, but instead, I decided to focus on the things I could control. I met with the company’s executives and altered our sales goals for the year. We also decided to scale back the size of my team and bring on a consultant to fix some of the company’s deeper problems. Being in this situation reminded me of the importance of focusing on what you can control and collaborating to find solutions to complex problems. I also learned a hard lesson in humility and of not jumping in and making promises before fully understanding the scope of the problem.”
Reflect back on a situation involving a professional failure, and evaluate how you could have taken responsibility for the failure, as well as what you learned from it, and how youve taken steps to avoid similar failures in the future.
Its best to choose a situation from early in your career, or one that isnt a key part of the job youre interviewing for. Using an older example gives you an opportunity to also share examples later in your career where you havent made similar mistakes.
“Early in my career, I learned a valuable lesson when I under-communicated with a client. Ultimately, this led to a loss of revenue for the department. When I realized what I had done wrong, I immediately took responsibility. I went to the client and explained the missing details and why I had overlooked communicating these details. The client respected my honesty and even though it took a little while, we finally got the client to work with us again. I learned the value of communicating, even the tough or negative information, and why its important to establishing trust and holding on to clients. I only had to make this mistake once to learn from it, though it was a tough way to learn.”
The way you answer this question will show the interviewer how you react to and handle mistakes. It can also show off your level of confidence, your ability to learn from mistakes, and your desire to better yourself.
There are a few things you should keep in mind when answering the question “What is your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?”
What are behavioral interview questions?
Companies use behavioral interviews to elicit information about your previous work performance. According to studies tracking years of hiring and firing at companies around the world, behavioral interviewing is the most effective way to predict future job performance and pick the right candidates. It is not flawless, but it is the best technique available at the moment.
Behavioral interview questions frequently begin with “Tell me about a time…” or “Explain…” Each question focuses on a certain area of expertise (a few examples: communication skills, time management, creativity).
Why hiring managers ask, “What is your biggest failure?”
Interviewers are cognizant of the fact that no one is flawless. They want to know if you are self-aware enough to see your flaws and if you are a person who can grow from your mistakes.
Failures also reveal a great deal about who you are as an employee, including your willingness to take calculated risks and push yourself beyond your comfort zone in order to accomplish goals.
This question also reveals your basic attitude toward risk, failure, and success. If you have never failed, it is possible that you have never taken risks or succeeded.
FAQ
What is your biggest failure interview answer?
Answer the question “What is your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?” with a clear and concise story. Mention a time when you made a mistake at work, in school, or in your personal life. Explain where you went wrong and the results of your errors.
What is a good example of failure for interview?
I didn’t plan it well, and I missed the deadline. It delayed other team members who needed to use my part for their work. I failed my team and the customer.
What is my biggest failure examples?
