Recruiter Avoids Hiring Job Candidates Who Think They Can Outsmart This Common Interview Question
PeopleImages | Shutterstock Most candidates assume that job interview questions will focus on their past experience and skills. But sometimes recruiters are listening for something else entirely.
That seems to be the case for a global assurance talent leader named Sandra Oliver, who spoke to CNBC Make It about the qualities that she looks for when hiring a potential employee. Oliver admitted that it sometimes boils down to a single, important question she asks during the interview process.
A recruiter avoids hiring job candidates who try to outsmart questions discussing past failures.
Miljan Zivkovic | Shutterstock
Oliver explained that she'll ask job candidates to give an example of a goal they set for themselves and how they achieved it, as well as one goal they didn’t achieve. It can be difficult to talk about failures in a job interview because you want to appear infallible, but that's pretty much why Oliver asks them this question.
"That’s the way I like to start the interviews, to see how people think about themselves," she said. "People don’t like to ever talk about those things."
Candidates should be willing to talk about their past mistakes.
Rather than candidates trying to skirt around the question, Oliver is instead looking for complete honesty. She wants candidates to take accountability for the things they might've messed up on during past job experiences and share what they've learned from those things. Oliver, who often interviews recent grads, said many were high-performing students who struggle talking about challenges rather than successes.
"They’re used to being the best and being successful, and I think it’s really important to learn that when you get into the workforce, success is measured differently,” she told CNBC Make It. "It’s not the exam question, it’s not tests, it’s working as a team, and sometimes you’re not going to know things, and that’s okay. Sometimes you may try something or set a goal, and you fail at it, or it doesn’t come out how you think."
Oliver continued, "They’re so programmed to do everything great that it’s hard to really pause and say, okay, how can I learn from the failure?" Accountability in and of itself is already a quality many people look for in someone. Research has shown that initial team accountability is often linked to trust, commitment, efficacy, and emotional identification with the group.
Confronting mistakes helps you grow.
Miljan Zivkovic | Shutterstock
"We can’t erase our fear of mistakes — it’s too deeply ingrained in our biology. However, we can choose how we interpret and respond to them. When we begin treating errors as data points rather than disasters, we open the door to personal and collective growth," explained psychologist Sam Goldstein.
The key to overcoming mistakes is not running from them. It shows where your real skills and talents lie, which is what recruiters look for when interviewing candidates. Oliver stressed that "failure kind of is learning."
"It’s really important to have that mindset when you’re working that you’re going to work as a team,” she said. “You’re going to maybe not have the best idea, or the way to think about it. Somebody’s going to have a different idea, and that’s going to be good, and you’re going to learn from that and take that forward.”
It might seem scary at first, but especially when you're in a setting that's purely to judge you based on what you're good at, but it shouldn't be a question that makes you panic. Instead, lean into it.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
