Let’s review tips for your answers and mistakes and dive into the ten most asked questions about integrity when you prepare for a job interview. Hiring managers and human resources will ask various integrity interview questions to find a good fit for the position.
An employer wants to make the right decision, whether for customer service or a sales job. The following questions, tips, and mistakes can help you address these questions successfully.
Tell us about a biggest failure of your professional career.
This is one a bit indirect, but your answer tells a lot about your integrity. For example, can you recall any failure? Do you accept responsibility for failing? Can you talk openly about the mistakes you made, which eventually resulted in your failure to complete a project, reach some goal, etc? Let me show you how to do it the right way:
What does integrity mean to you?
* Since this a most popular interview questions about integrity, we have a separate article for it, with 7 sample answers. You can check it out here: What does integrity mean to you?
Tell me about a time when you made the right decision and it had a negative impact on your job. Looking back, do you wish you have done something differently?
These types of questions show the candidate’s commitment to making the right choice, even if it means experiencing a setback. While a candidate’s honesty is essential for the potential employer, how you handle a potential problem that may arise can indicate whether you have strong interpersonal skills and display your core values of integrity, especially in stressful, fast-paced situations.
Sample Answer:I worked as a team leader in a production facility, and when we discovered an error in one of the product lines, we had to stop immediately, then restart the process once it was corrected. I always aim to be honest, even if it means I am blamed or there is a delay in meeting a team goal. E
ven though we didn’t achieve our metrics for the project, I still felt comfortable with my decision, as it prevented a possible faulty product from making it to the retail store, which could have resulted in dissatisfied customers and reputational harm, or maybe even worse (such as a lawsuit).
How did you benefit from consistent performance and resilience on the job? What were the results?
For this question, the interviewer is looking to understand whether the candidate would be an essential part of the team over time and through a changing company environment. One way to demonstrate this, as well as the candidate’s commitment, is to discuss a time when they set and achieved milestones on the job despite setbacks or problems that may have challenged their efforts. When you bounce back from a problematic situation or help facilitate a turn-around by improving sales or customer service, this also demonstrates how you would be a critical long-term part of a team. When a company goes through a merger or a small business expands to include new services, adapting to a new work environment, going through a training program, and being flexible with changes to your job will all be critical elements to have.
Sample Answer:In my previous role, I was transferred to a new department because the company merged and some positions became obsolete. The new job was challenging and required working with new coworkers. I also needed to master new software and procedures. I decided that if I wanted to succeed, I needed to keep my work ethic consistent, as I did previously.
So, I asked my supervisor how I could learn more about the new procedures to improve my performance, and also asked for advice on goal-setting for my position. Because of my past success with goal-setting, I knew that a similar process would set me up for success in my new position, and it worked out well.