Question: What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in your career? What happened and how did you handle it?

Alternative Question Phrasing:

Follow-up questions:

What steps have you taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

Question Details:

Question Type:

Behavioral

Skills:

Basic – Monitoring (Making observations of self and environment)

Other Factors:

Motivation/Ambition/Aspiration,Self-Awareness

Work Activity (Task):

Mental Processes – Judging the Value of Things, Services, or People,Mental Processes – Making Decisions and Solving Problems

Work Style (Person-Job Fit):

Analytical Thinking

Question Frequency

Question Difficulty

What to look for in an answer:

The candidate’s aspiration and motivation.

Red Flags to Watch For:

The candidate’s lack of aspiration and motivation.

Sample Answer:

The biggest mistake I’ve ever done in my career turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I turned down a job offer that’s very lucrative due to my loyalty to my current company. In the end, my loyalty paid off because I was promoted to a managerial position a few months after.

Question Source: Unknown