But you can’t blame interviewers for asking it. Stories of failure can reveal important insights about an applicant’s maturity, resilience, temperament, openness to learning, and ability to receive critical feedback — qualities that won’t appear on a resume or cover letter and probably won’t be brought up by the applicant unsolicited.
No. Your screaming self-preservation instincts are correct. Sharing an embarrassing and consequential failure during a job interview could leave a lasting negative impression, but you still don’t want to seem evasive. So, where’s the safe zone between a revealing response and a repellant one? This can be tricky to navigate, so it’s important to practice in advance.
Your level of self-awareness
You will further reveal a lot regarding how self-aware you are. If your initial reaction is to deny ever making any errors, you’ll show a lack of awareness. And this can reveal red flags for your interviewer.
STAR Technique and How to Use It
Applying this structure helps you build an answer that incorporates all the key points without roaming or veering off-topic. The STAR technique makes practice easy and enables you to be clear regarding what you want to say.
Before using any examples for your interview, make sure that it’ll fit into the STAR format.
Below are some samples illustrations of how to give a comprehensive response to the question “Tell me about the time you failed,” utilizing the STAR technique:
Situation: While serving as a vice marketing account director at Netbox, a thriving digital marketing firm, a client asked us about our services.
Task: “I was being prepared to take on more obligations. My manager advised that I take the occasion to talk with the client about what they were searching for and how we could be of help.”
Action: “I was a bit nervous about this and didn’t feel very ready. To plan for the conversation, I glanced over the services we offered to be clear on which would be appropriate for the potential new client.
“When I was holding the discovery call with our lead, they summoned me to a puzzle about monitoring Key Performance Indicators, and it got me off guard.
“I gave the most helpful answer I could, but, then, the lead reached our firm again and expressed dissatisfaction. Saying we were no longer proactive regarding monitoring and reporting on the figures. We recognized that I had provided minimal information and had distorted how our company addresses this area.
“After speaking it through with my manager, we discerned that I hadn’t identified which questions a lead might ask me and consequently, had failed to prepare appropriately, resulting in me transmitting incomplete information.”
Result: “To address the situation, I participated in a training session with my manager, comprising a roleplay with him acting to be the lead and asking all the issues that usually get asked. I practiced my answers and built up my confidence.
“We further resolved that if I do not know the answer to a question, I can apologize to the client while offering to investigate and get back to them.
“I later called the potential client, apologized for the mix-up, and explained precisely how we track and report on KPIs for our clients. They were content with this information and showed gratitude for the time I took to explain. They came back to book our services. After then, I have taken the lead with two other prospects who have both signed up as enterprise clients for yearly contracts valued at £35,000 and £50,000 .”
Situation: “I was managing my team in an advertising project at the last company I worked at.”
Task: “I was so anxious to awe our new client that I drafted a proposal that pledged to deliver the work below budget and in less time than they had stipulated.”
Action: “The client was thrilled and gladly offered us the work. However, as the project went on, it became apparent that we couldn’t deliver it in the shorter period I had proposed.
“I had been overly confident and had over-engaged in my effort to impress, and my company had to offer a discounted rate to make up for the delay. I apologized to the client (and to my boss) and accepted my mistake.”
Result: “I acquired that it is much more helpful to be practical and honest from the starting, rather than to overpromise and underdeliver.
“I have never committed such a mistake again. Now I take the path of gaining conventional assurances and then being honest to clients when the work comes in faster or under budget.”
What an interviewer wants when they ask ‘tell me about a time you failed’
Hiring managers or recruiters ask questions like “Tell me about the time you failed” to discover the following about you: