Why they ask it
CareerOneStop's practice questions say your answer shows you can take a failure, get back up and try again. When something goes wrong, they want to know you can work through it.
It also tests honesty. The UK Civil Service lists two strengths that fit. Being resilient means you recover quickly from setbacks and learn from them.
Being responsible means you take ownership of your decisions, and hold yourself to what you promised.
How to answer: own it, fix it, learn
Use the STAR method, as England's National Careers Service sets it out. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result:
- Situation: where you were and what was going on, in a line or two.
- Task: what you had to do, or the problem to solve.
- Action: what you did, step by step. This is most of the answer, so say "I", not "we".
- Result: what changed, with a number if you can, and what you learned.
Aim for about 90 seconds out loud. Keep it short and to the point, and be ready for follow-up questions about it.
For this question, cover four things:
- What went wrong, said plainly, with your part in it.
- What you did straight away to limit the harm.
- What you changed so it won't happen again.
- What you learned, and how you use it now.
CareerOneStop advises stressing what you learned, and what you've done to avoid a repeat.
Choosing the right story
- Real, and yours. A team failure is fine if you can say what your part was.
- Small to medium. A missed deadline, a wrong order or a slip in an email works well.
- Fixed, or at least learned from. You need an ending.
- Not about safety, the law or honesty. Those raise worries you don't need to create.
Little work history? The National Careers Service says you can use examples from outside work, such as volunteering.
Common mistakes
- Saying you've never failed.
- Picking a fake failure that is really a boast.
- Blaming a colleague, a manager or bad luck.
- Spending most of the time on the problem, not the fix.
- Leaving out the lesson.
Make it fit the job ad
Pick a mistake from the kind of work the job involves, as long as you fixed it well. A careful fix in the same kind of work is reassuring.
Then link the lesson to the job. For example: "I now check every bulk email twice, and I'd bring that habit to your member updates."
A full answer, as a made-up example
Here is a made-up answer about a real-sized mistake. Notice how little time it spends on the mistake, and how much on the fix.
Made-up example
Ana, a sports club admin assistant applying for an office job
Question
Situation
Task
Action
- I told my manager within the hour, before anyone complained.
- I wrote a short correction email, which she approved, and it went out that afternoon.
- I called the 12 members who had already paid the old price, to explain what happened next.
- I made a new rule: two people now check any email that goes to more than 50 people.
Result
Ana owns the mistake in the first line, acts fast, and shows the habit she changed. She blames no one.
Questions
Is a mistake the same as a failure?
Close enough. Use the same shape for both: what happened, your part, the fix and the lesson.
Should I pick a big failure?
Pick one that mattered but that you put right. A small mistake, handled well, can say more than a big drama.
What if it was mostly someone else's fault?
Pick another story. Or talk only about your part, and what you'd do differently.
Sources
Written by Seal the Offer from these pages, last checked on . Rules change, so check the employer's own page and the job ad before you apply.