Health Insurance Specialist Question:
Explain me what’s your biggest career mistake or failure?
Answer:
The most dreadful of them all. The one where they ask you to take about your own personal mistakes, mess-ups and overall failures.
This one always feels like a trap—how can they possibly give a job to someone who has failed!!—but it’s really not. The truth is you’re human and you’ve made a mistake or two on the job before. So has everyone. So has your interviewer.
No one likes talking about failure, but it can be very helpful to a prospective employer to hear you talk about how you handle it. Avoid placing blame on anyone and focus on what you learned from the experience that you choose to share. Again, like your answers to the prior questions, don’t be afraid to talk about your personal experiences.
“Never underestimate the power of the story,” Lin says. “It can convince a company that one won't quit at the first sign of a better paycheck.”
(Word to the wise: Don’t go into “full honesty” mode on this one. Definitely don’t lie, but you may want to avoid telling the interviewer about the three hazmat incidents you caused in your last job.)
I learned the hard way about how to manage night shifts about five years ago. I was so used to managing day shifts that I realized there was a whole culture of the night shift that I was unfamiliar with. On top of that, the hours were killing me. But I paid attention to my more seasoned colleagues and did some real soul-searching about how I could better handle managing the job. My first six months were tough, but after I made a few key adjustments, I great to really like that job at that time.
This one always feels like a trap—how can they possibly give a job to someone who has failed!!—but it’s really not. The truth is you’re human and you’ve made a mistake or two on the job before. So has everyone. So has your interviewer.
No one likes talking about failure, but it can be very helpful to a prospective employer to hear you talk about how you handle it. Avoid placing blame on anyone and focus on what you learned from the experience that you choose to share. Again, like your answers to the prior questions, don’t be afraid to talk about your personal experiences.
“Never underestimate the power of the story,” Lin says. “It can convince a company that one won't quit at the first sign of a better paycheck.”
(Word to the wise: Don’t go into “full honesty” mode on this one. Definitely don’t lie, but you may want to avoid telling the interviewer about the three hazmat incidents you caused in your last job.)
I learned the hard way about how to manage night shifts about five years ago. I was so used to managing day shifts that I realized there was a whole culture of the night shift that I was unfamiliar with. On top of that, the hours were killing me. But I paid attention to my more seasoned colleagues and did some real soul-searching about how I could better handle managing the job. My first six months were tough, but after I made a few key adjustments, I great to really like that job at that time.
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