Just prepping. . . how personal is too personal? I know it's generally better not to do something academic. I have plenty of failures, just hard to pinpoint the greatest one. One thing that comes to mind is how for months I failed to notice my partner (now spouse) was depressed and didn't have enough food to eat (due to lack of money). Obviously this took a huge toll on our relationship and I learned a lot from it but seems like this might be too personal?
Greatest failure interview question
- Thread starter Reader88
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Absolutely not.
Unless you plan to show yourself as self absorbed.
You have got to have a better experience that you can count as a learning experience.
If you do decide to go with this one, then you're going to have to very carefully craft the narrative because it has the possibility to backfire bigly. You don't want to come off as self absorbed and then self congratulatory, which this kind of story can very easily come off as.
Unless you plan to show yourself as self absorbed.
You have got to have a better experience that you can count as a learning experience.
If you do decide to go with this one, then you're going to have to very carefully craft the narrative because it has the possibility to backfire bigly. You don't want to come off as self absorbed and then self congratulatory, which this kind of story can very easily come off as.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I do have other failures, just trying to decide if they are big enough to be "greatest failure" but small enough not to make me look like a terrible person, like this one does. Things like missing a professional deadline or failing to connect with a patient just seem so weak for greatest failure.
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This thread has me wondering what a good answer to this question would be.
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This would be a really bad answer. If you can’t even notice that your partner/spouse is in depression and isn’t eating then how are you going to help patients?
That’s a good point although to be fair you don’t know the details of the situation. I will avoid it though, but I feel like this thinking could be applied to any greatest failure? If someone can’t hold a job how can they get through med school (if greatest failure is losing a job). If someone makes a huge mistake by missing a detail who is to say they won’t make a mistake that costs a patient their life? I’m just unsure what failure won’t be a red flag but is better than failing a chemistry test.
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That poster's response is exactly the sort of incredulity that your story will be met with in an interview. It's 100% in how you deliver it and it's too nuanced to take a chance with.
The purpose of any sort of question like this is to ask: "Can you show me a situation which shows your humility and how you can take ownership of something that didn't go well and how you learned from it?"
Lincoln couldn't make it as a damn postal clerk, but he championed the emancipation proclamation not the emaciated proclamation.
Move on.
Alright, point taken. Thanks for the honesty!
