Question: Describe a time when you missed a deadline. What was the situation and what did you do when you realized you missed it?

Alternative Question Phrasing:

Have you ever missed a deadline?
Have you ever missed a deadline? What would you do differently next time?

Follow-up questions:

How or when did you find out you missed it?

Question Details:

Question Type:

Behavioral

Skills:

Basic – Critical Thinking,Basic – Monitoring (Making observations of self and environment)

Abilities:

Cognitive – Category Flexibility (Mental Flexibility)

Other Factors:

Personality-Job Fit,Personality-Organization Fit,Self-Awareness

Work Activity (Task):

Information Input – Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events,Mental Processes – Making Decisions and Solving Problems

Work Style (Person-Job Fit):

Adaptability/Flexibility,Analytical Thinking

Question Frequency

Question Difficulty

What to look for in an answer:

The candidate’s organization skills.
The candidate’s critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Red Flags to Watch For:

The candidate’s poor organization skills.
The candidate’s poor critical thinking and ineffective problem solving skills.

Sample Answer:

Once I was late in submitting a report due to unavoidable circumstances. The inputs from another department came in late. Although I informed my superior ahead of time, we missed the deadline by a few hours. After that incident, I always make sure that we get what’s needed at least a week before our deadline.

Question Source: Unknown