Interview guide
The biggest mistake of all
After interviewing a candidate today, I was reminded of a song by that great philosopher and song-writer, Hannah Montana. The candidate didn’t, to my knowledge, have a country-music singing father nor the potential to morph into a nasty tongue-flashing ‘kidult with a predilection for riding demolition equipment.
No, I was actually reminded of Hannah Montana’s smash hit “Everybody Makes Mistakes” (classically ironic, given Ms. Cyrus’s desperation to prove that exact point, but I digress). My point being, the candidate obviously hadn’t heard of the song nor the platitude behind it. You see, this particular interviewee made the biggest mistake of all: not making any.
How not making mistakes is the biggest one of all.
OK – so I’m not actually talking here about someone who literally makes zero errors in their job- that’s clearly impossible. What I am talking about is candidates who either think they shouldn’t admit they make mistakes, cannot remember making mistakes or (and most seriously) someone who doesn’t think it’s important to reflect on and learn from them.
Let me be crystal clear right from the start; if an interviewer asks you about the biggest mistake you’ve made, do not under any circumstances gaze at the ceiling, humming with your tongue sticking out and pretend that your last mistake was soooo long ago that you’re struggling to remember. Do not mention some trifling little incident like when you got your boss a ham and gruyere instead of pastrami and swiss bagel for lunch. And if you dare mention that you cannot remember making any mistakes, then you really should do the honourable thing by everyone and defenestrate yourself immediately.
When I’m interviewing a candidate who cannot tell me about their biggest mistakes and what they learned, I tend to assume at least one of the following things (if not all of them):
1. They have no capacity to reflect on themselves or their work
2. They don’t learn from their mistakes and may constantly repeat them
3. They seriously over estimate their performance
4. They may not feel accountable for problems that occur
Basically – four BIG red flags. If I see any of these flags appearing in an interview, it’s immediate cause to probe a lot further.
It’s important to understand why the interviewer is asking the question; they do not want someone who is perfect. They want someone who is humble. That’s right – good old fashioned humility. Not the grovelling, brown nosing door mat that we’ve come to understand as “humility”. Rather, I’m talking about the flexible, mature professional who is willing to acknowledge and own their mistakes, work out how to fix them, develop professionally so that they don’t happen again, and then get the hell on with the job. That’s true humility and to a recruiter, it spells l-e-a-d-e-r. I want a leader – not someone who has a false notion of what good looks like. Leaders grow, while also-rans stagnate and let me tell you, in a buyers’ market, the buyers are looking for growth potential.
How do you own your mistakes and learn from them? Well, remembering them is a good start! Think of the times where you’ve made huge mistakes, what the impact was and how you grew from them. What did you do to ensure it didn’t happen again? Admit you were in the wrong and what you did to make it right.
Don’t feel like you have to sit in the dark with a bottle of Jack and some dark blues playing on the phonograph (unless that’s your thing in which case, be my guest) – but do reflect seriously on what has made you the professional you are now. Be prepared to articulate that when you go for an interview. While few people (who aren’t called Kanye) actually claim to be perfect, very few people are ready with a good story of where they stuffed up, how they made it better and what they learned. These stories are as important as those hailing your great and impressive achievements.
Trust me on this; work out how to tell these growth stories and you’ll come across as much more rounded, mature and let’s be frank; honest professional. I’d employ you*. Really I would.
(* comment is not to be taken as offer of employment not exchange of any consideration for skills or capabilities rendered. But you knew that right? right?)
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