Behavioral

Can you give an example of a time when you experienced failure or rejection in your professional life, and how did you use it as an opportunity for growth?

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Anonymous

4.4Exceptional
Situation: After completing my bachelor’s degree in business administration, I applied for a quantitative master’s program in Bologna. Unfortunately, I wasn’t accepted, missing the cut-off by just one point. The main reason was that my background in quantitative subjects was insufficient, as my bachelor’s degree had focused more on business administration.
Action: Despite this setback, I remained committed to my goal of improving my quantitative skills while continuing to pursue finance. In my master’s program, I chose as many quantitative courses as possible, and I also participated in several classes from the Master in Quantitative Finance program. Additionally, while working as a librarian in the economics library, I had the opportunity to engage with students and professors from the field, gaining valuable insights and expanding my knowledge.
Result: My efforts paid off when I wrote a highly quantitative thesis, which was reviewed by the director of the Master in Quantitative Finance, who served as my co-examiner. This experience validated my hard work and determination, and reinforced my belief that with perseverance, curiosity, and a commitment to continuous improvement, I can achieve any goal I set. Applying for this position is the next step in pursuing that ambition.

Anonymous

4.4Exceptional

Situation:

I was laid off from my first job just four months after joining due to budget constraints. This was a major setback for me as I had just started my career. Around the same time, my father suffered a heart attack, which required me to stay at home and take care of him while he was on bed rest for several months. The combination of losing my job and dealing with a family emergency left me feeling devastated, and I struggled to apply for new roles.

Action:

Despite these challenges, I remained determined to grow in my career. While caring for my father, I focused on upskilling myself:
  • I attended mentor sessions on ADPList to gain industry insights.
  • I reached out to experienced designers on LinkedIn for portfolio reviews and feedback.
  • I enrolled in courses through Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF) to expand my knowledge.
  • I continuously improved my portfolio and resume, incorporating the feedback I received.
I also actively networked with professionals, which helped me regain confidence and visibility in the industry.

Result:

My persistence paid off. Where I once struggled to pass resume screenings, I started receiving recruiter calls consistently. In fact, this very interview happened because I proactively connected with a senior designer, shared my portfolio, and received a referral for this role. This experience not only strengthened my portfolio and skills but also taught me the power of perseverance, networking, and continuous learning.

Anonymous

4Strong
Situation: In my previous company, we redesigned the API layer to optimize performance and improve reliability. However, after the launch, we received very negative feedback and multiple escalations from leadership regarding the application's performance.

Task: As the team lead, my task was to address the concerns raised by leadership, understand the root causes of the performance issues, and demonstrate the improvements made by the new API layer.

Action: I attended calls to understand the concerns, which centered around the new performance dashboards and incident reports. We realized that previously, not all error scenarios were tracked and reported. To address this, we created high-level reports similar to the old ones to prove that the new API was better performing. We highlighted that through context propagation, we were now identifying potential and previously unreported failures and moved from average response times to 95th percentile reporting. Additionally, I recognized the need to set expectations for other involved teams, explaining the current process, the changes being rolled out, and educating them on the new process. This allowed them time to adjust their processes or align with our approach.

Result: Although it was a tough week, we successfully demonstrated that the new API was indeed performing better, which helped restore confidence in our team's work. This process also highlighted the importance of clear communication and expectation-setting with other teams to ensure alignment and prevent unnecessary doubts and morale issues in the future.

Anonymous

4Strong
Situation:At my early-stage startup, I led the engineering team on a high-stakes project that required close collaboration with design and QA teams. Despite completing my assigned tasks on time, delays from other teams caused us to miss the project deadline, creating significant issues for the company.
Task:I was responsible for ensuring that our engineering tasks were completed on schedule and seamlessly integrated with the work from the design and QA teams.
Action:After the project failed to meet its deadline, I took several steps to improve future project outcomes:
  1. Implemented Daily Stand-Up Meetings:We had a specific issue where a critical design update was not communicated to the engineering team. During the new daily stand-ups, we identified such gaps early. For example, a design change was discussed in a stand-up meeting, allowing us to adjust our engineering work in real-time and avoid significant delays.
  2. Introduced Regular Risk Assessments:We identified a risk of the QA team being overwhelmed with testing volume. Regular risk assessments highlighted this risk, prompting us to temporarily reallocate resources from the engineering team to assist with testing. This proactive approach helped us keep the QA process on track and prevented further delays.
  3. Utilized Project Management Tools:We used Jira to track progress and set clear milestones. This tool allowed us to maintain transparency across teams and keep everyone aligned. For instance, the tool’s visual dashboard helped us monitor task dependencies and adjust our schedules based on real-time updates.
Result:These changes led to improved synchronization between teams and more timely identification of issues. For example, the daily stand-ups and risk assessments allowed us to resolve issues more efficiently, and the project management tools enhanced overall transparency. As a result, subsequent projects were completed on schedule, and the improved processes contributed to more successful project deliveries. This experience reinforced the importance of daily synchronization, proactive risk management, and effective communication in managing cross-functional projects.

Anonymous

3.4Strong
In my early stage as a fesher and from non CS background I was not very well competent with coding skills...so when first time I was handed with a development work I got overwhelmed and without properly understanding the requirements gave the low estimation for effort required and promised to deliver within 2 days with a sense of overachievment ...but as I started I got stuck badly in the middle and was unable to proceed and had to take the help of senior developer and finally completed the task with 1.5 weeks...this entire situation gave me the lesson of not jumping into anything without properly understanding and analysing the problem and the requirements which also help me a lot in my product management journey of anaylsing the problem better

Anonymous

3.4Strong
I failed to implement a full fledge feature that i had overcommitted in a particular release. However, looking at deadlines and other constaraints I decided to break down the feature into current and next release take out only most feasible items in the current relase. This helped me showcase the feature in the current release as well as avoid any last minute burnouts of the team.
  • Tell me about a time when you failed at something you were aiming for.
  • Let me know about the time you failed in your efforts to achieve something.
  • I want to know about a time you failed at achieving something you had set out to do.
  • Describe a time when you failed to reach your goals.
  • I'd like to hear about a time when you failed to achieve something that you were trying to do.
  • Can you tell me about a time when you were unsuccessful in something you tried doing.
  • I want to hear about a time you failed to achieve something you set out to do.
  • Describe a time when you failed in something you were attempting.
  • Tell me about a time you failed at something you were trying to achieve.
  • Can you describe a time when you faced a setback or failure while pursuing a goal, and how you handled it?
  • What is an example of a time when you faced a significant challenge or failure while working on a project, and what did you learn from it?
  • Have you ever experienced a setback while trying to achieve a goal, and what actions did you take to overcome it?
  • Can you share a story about a time when you encountered a failure while striving for success, and how you used the experience to improve?
  • Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a failure or mistake, and how did you respond to it?
  • Have you ever faced a major obstacle or failure in your previous work experience, and how did you navigate it?
  • Can you give an example of a time when you experienced failure or rejection in your professional life, and how did you use it as an opportunity for growth?
  • What is a challenge or failure that you faced in your previous job, and how did you learn from it to become a better professional?
  • Describe a situation where you were unsuccessful in achieving a desired outcome, and how did you rebound from it?
  • Can you tell me about a time when you failed to meet a significant goal or expectation, and what actions did you take to improve and learn from it?
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Interview question asked to ML Engineering Managers, Engineering Managers, Data Science Managers and other roles interviewing at American Express, Udemy, Envoy and others: Can you give an example of a time when you experienced failure or rejection in your professional life, and how did you use it as an opportunity for growth?.