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What is the STAR method?
2
How to choose a failure example
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How to apply the STAR method
Be the first to add your personal experience
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How to deliver your answer
5
How to practice your answer
Be the first to add your personal experience
6
Here’s what else to consider
You're in a job interview and the interviewer asks, "What are your biggest failures?" How do you answer this question without ruining your chances of getting hired? This is a common and tricky question that tests your honesty, self-awareness, and resilience. In this article, you'll learn how to use the STAR method to prepare and deliver a convincing and positive response that showcases your skills and potential as a mentee and a leader.
Key takeaways from this article
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Emphasize growth:
When discussing failures, use the STAR method to focus on the lessons learned and how they've spurred your personal growth. This turns a negative into a positive, showing your resilience and ability to adapt.
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Highlight movement:
Share a failure by detailing the experience, your role in it, and most importantly, the lessons learned. It demonstrates your ability to reflect and take constructive action toward improvement.
This summary is powered by AI and these experts
- Fortune N. Regional Sales Manager- Southeast USA
- Katia Batista HR Management
1 What is the STAR method?
The STAR method is a simple and effective framework to structure your answers to behavioral interview questions. It stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. You use it to describe a specific scenario where you faced a challenge, what you did to overcome it, and what you learned from it. The STAR method helps you to highlight your achievements, skills, and growth, while also showing how you handle failure and feedback.
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- Syed Fadzil Syed Mohamed Fellow of The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (FIEM)
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Early in my career, I designed a pressure vessel that eventually failed due to an improper material specification. I failed to double-check the standards. That unpleasant experience taught me the value of paying attention to detail, following strict quality control procedures, and seeking advice from more experienced engineers. Most significantly, it instilled in me the humility required in my job.
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2 How to choose a failure example
The first step is to choose a relevant and recent failure example that relates to the job or the skill you're applying for. You want to show that you have faced similar situations or challenges before and that you have learned from them. Avoid choosing a failure that is too trivial, too personal, or too catastrophic. You also want to avoid blaming others, making excuses, or being defensive. Instead, focus on your own actions, responsibilities, and emotions.
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- Katia Batista HR Management
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Como mentora, sei que insucessos fazem parte da carreira e podem ser grandes fontes de aprendizado.Ao participar de uma entrevista, recomendo compartilhar uma experiência de insucesso mostrando sempre movimento, ou seja, qual foi a experiência, o que motivou o erro ou o insucesso, qual foi seu papel e, principalmente, a lição aprendida.Saber qual foi o erro e reconhecer o insucesso é muito importante, mas mais importante ainda é o que se faz a partir disso. É importante demonstrar como esse erro o motivou para a ação, para um próximo nível, para o aprendizado.
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3 How to apply the STAR method
The next step is to apply the STAR method to your failure example. Begin by setting the context and background of the failure, explaining what the goal, problem, or expectation was, and who was involved. Then, describe your role, responsibility, or assignment in the situation and what you were supposed to do or achieve. After that, be honest and specific about your actions, decisions, or mistakes that led to the failure. Lastly, explain the outcome or consequence of the failure and how it affected you, your team, or your project. Reflect on what you learned from it and how you improved or changed your behavior or approach.
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4 How to deliver your answer
The final step is to deliver your answer confidently and concisely. Aim to strike a balance between being humble and being positive. When doing so, it's important to use a clear and logical structure, following the STAR method and using transitions to connect each part of your answer. Additionally, be brief and focused, avoiding too much detail or rambling. Try to keep your answer within two minutes while highlighting what you learned, how you grew, and how you applied your feedback or lessons to future situations. Show that you are open to learning, improving, and taking risks by ending on a high note; summarize how your failure helped you achieve a better result, develop a new skill, or overcome a challenge.
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When talking about failures I would also recommend1.Hinesty and transparency, if you chose to share an example, share as much as you can2.Use candor, empathy, talk about the human side of the experience3. Tell how you fixed it or cope with it3. Identify what you have learned from the failure and how would you tackle it differently now with more experience4. If the context allows, a bit of smart humor can be helpful
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5 How to practice your answer
To prepare for this question, practice your answer in advance. Begin by writing down your failure example and apply the STAR method to it. Ensure that your answer is relevant, honest, and positive, and that you have a clear situation, task, action, and result. Practice your answer out loud using a timer, a mirror, or a recorder to check your timing, tone, and delivery. Ask for feedback from a friend, mentor, or coach. Repeat the process with different failure examples and have a few examples ready for different scenarios or skills.
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6 Here’s what else to consider
This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?
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- Fortune N. Regional Sales Manager- Southeast USA
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One thing I have found helpful is to view failure as a sounding board. The crucial elements are showing self-awareness, resilience (maintaining a never-give-up attitude), and a readiness to learn from mistakes. Keep pushing forward! Failure is the pathway to personal growth and improvement.
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- Letuba Ledwaba Regional Manager at Pepkor Logistics
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Start by explaining your understanding of failure. This is important because people view failure differently and how one views failure determines how one responds to such failure. Give an example of a failure, how you felt at that time and most importantly, how you responded or made it right and what lessons you learned. Explain that failure and success are feedback mechanisms, meaning that if you fail, you might have to repeat the attempt but with more emphasis, experience and/or vigor. When you succeed, you might proceed to the next level. Finally, state that how one interprets or responds to failure can impact future actions and outcomes.
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- Pavan Daptardar, PMP® Assistant Manager @ Flipkart | LSSYB, Communication, Transforming Leadership, Top Community Voice of Linkedin
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Stay calm and composed. Don't let your emotions get the better of you.Focus on a professional failure that is relevant to the job you're applying for.Describe the situation, the task, the action you took, and the result. This will help you structure your answer effectively.Everyone makes mistakes. Admitting to a failure shows that you're self-aware and willing to learn from your mistakes.
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- Jennifer Ritchie Career Coach, Trainer, Retrenchment Reinvention Expert and English Instructor.
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Interviewers should use "developmental areas" not "failures" but if they do, make sure you give an example which was a learning or growth area for you and resulted in a positive realisation or new approach.
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