My Biggest Failures?

Dear lovely people,

I was ready for them. Sited before the interview panel, I was a little bit nervous but feeling confident. It was a good dose of adrenaline working on me as I prepared to fire back at them. The Air condition in the room was doing a good job keeping me from perspiring.

We started off and soon they hit me with the first hard question "What is your biggest failure?" firstly I was not caught off guard by the question, I expected it and so it was my time to play the Master. Unlike most candidates, I didn’t respond by describing a minor mistake that won't make them look so bad. Neither did I lie that I have never failed before. I knew so well neither of such responses will impress the apparently sharp panel members in front of me.

I was fully aware that there are many misconceptions about why interviewers ask about failure. Many are those who erroneously think the purpose is to uncover your weaknesses. Well, that may be only a very small part of it. I knew the real reason why interviewers ask about your biggest failure is that it reveals a lot about you. I was ready to make them feel my ability to take risks, face challenges, acknowledge my mistakes and learn from them. I equally understood that it really isn't about what I did wrong. It's about how I handled a difficult situation and what I learned from it.

I was careful not to play the wise man by claiming I don’t make mistakes because I knew so well that nobody is perfect. Even the most successful people in the world have had many failures in the past. I knew that sounding like someone with no failures would make them think: I don't take risks; I don't set goals, so I never fail; I am hiding something; I don't take responsibility for my actions or if something bad happens, I'll blame it on everything or everyone else but myself.

In composing my killer response, I thought about the key decisions and milestones in my career and education. Considering the challenges I have faced and evaluating whether or not I made the best choices and decided I would not make the same decisions now that I did then. 

I strategically selected my failures, choosing failures that I have honestly learned from and making sure not to mention any failures that didn't teach me a lesson, incriminated me or ones that I had not fully recovered from.

I added a pinch of what I learned. I didn’t dwell on the fact that I made a big mistake but rather focused on the positive things I learned from the situation and how much it helped me grow as a professional.

Summing it all up, I knew it’s always hard to admit that one has made a mistake or failed. But when I was asked about my biggest failure, I didn’t hide or shy away from the opportunity to shine. I humbly explained the challenges I faced and the outcome. Then, confidently described how I have learned from the failure and how much I have grown as a result.