Interview Question Lets Talk About Failures

Interview Question Let’s Talk About Failures It’s the dreaded interview question or statement. “Please tell me about a failure in your life and what you learned from it.” The wording may be a bit different, but the idea is the same. The employer wants you to give an example of something you failed at and what you have done to learn from that mistake. Let’s face it: no one really ENJOYS talking about their failures. However, they are a fact of life. To be even more specific, mistakes and failures are a fact of life in the workplace. If someone tells you they have never made a mistake in the workplace, don’t believe it. What is an employer looking for when asking this question? Are they looking for the world’s worst mistake? Probably not. They are trying to see if you can take an honest look at yourself, admit your mistake, learn from it, and not make it again. I’ll give you an example of my answer to this question. When I worked at a photography studio, we did a great deal of location photography. For one location, we were in southern Florida for approximately four weeks. The client had chosen this location because it was more cost-effective than some other locations considered. I thought we were saving a great deal of money on hotels compared to other places around the country. It turns out that the estimate was sent to the customer reflecting the dollar amounts of hotel rooms during the off-season, not the peak-season when we were there. When I had called for estimates, I had only received an estimate for hotel rooms, but didn’t specify that I was looking six months ahead of when I was calling. It turns out that hotel rooms are MUCH more expensive in February than they are in October, when I originally called. Lesson learned. Instead of telling the client about the mistake, we discovered other places to save money and were able to still make the job a profitable one. This is a failure I like to share in an interview because it has led me to be someone that now asks a great deal of questions when planning things. I make sure everything is covered and have become much more detail-oriented since this incident. When you are asked about your failures in your next interview, keep it work-related. And, be honest. Be honest with what happened and what you learned from it. The interviewer will see you are genuine and will know that you are someone that learns from mistakes and moves on with the job. Determined. Honest. And ready to forge ahead.