Turning failure stories around

The most dreaded of the behavioral questions are those around failure. They come in the forms:

• Tell me your greatest weakness.

• Tell me about a time you failed to do X.

The failure or ‘strengths and weaknesses’ questions stump a number of people because you must be vulnerable without saying something that makes you sound like an idiot.

So, for good reasons, we who interview live in fear of giving just the right examples so as not to sound too arrogant or superficial. There is a careful balance.

Some interviewers love these questions because you can learn a lot about people’s level of self-awareness. Others like it because it can uncover experience levels and a host of other stories. It is imperfect, but trying to tackle it can help you be a better storyteller about your own experiences.

I used to hate the questions and tried memorizing a list of ‘safe’ weaknesses and strengths. Now, I like to think more in terms of ‘how have I grown’. That can mean, what were embarrassing lessons of defeat that have made me a better product manager and product leader. Or, what are my natural strengths that have been built up over the years.

How to find good examples

Think about your lessons learned. When did you make a huge error in judgement? How did you handle it? How did you avoid the same mistake days, weeks or years later?

Note: Some things identified as weaknesses are nothing more than communication style differences. Be careful not to undercut yourself.