You want to know what?
Careers Counsellor and Conference Speaker FRANK NEWBERRY turns his attention to Job Interviews and one of the most feared interview questions of them all - the ‘biggest mistake’ question.
Many interviewers do not even ask it and no one seems to relish answering it yet we all have to prepare for it, and the best answer is an honest answer.
Two years ago I wrote in my ‘Top Ten Tips for Interviews’ that we should have ‘mistake’ answers ready. No one is perfect and a good interviewer will want to know about any significant mistakes and errors you have made. Prepare to give real life examples that show how you recovered from your mistakes.
Today I want to look more closely at how to ask, and how to respond to, the ‘biggest mistake’ question known to many HR professionals as the ‘Contra-Evidence Question’.
Asking the ‘biggest mistake’ question
From the trained interviewer’s point of view the contra-evidence, or ‘contradictory evidence’, question is vital. It can yield evidence that contradicts the reassurances and claimed knowledge of those clever, but not necessarily best suited, candidates who do well at interview but do not perform so well in the job.
Untrained recruiters often avoid asking the ‘biggest mistake’ or ask it but then do not probe the superficial answers given by candidates. This may be because a lot of untrained interviewers tend to ask superficial, often hypothetical, questions that tend to reveal knowledge (which candidates can swot up on) and not suitability (which is more difficult to test).
Worse still, many interviewers think that the probation period will sort out any problems with recruits. This is hardly fair on the candidates and it is even more problematical for the work team who may have to ‘carry’ an unsuitable recruit for some time - often during busy and stressful periods of the year.
In the meantime, clever candidates will be preparing long and hard to come across well at the interview. One problem on the day of the interviews can be that every question seems to be getting a great response from the clever but not necessarily most suitable candidate. When things seem to be going rather too well at the interview then the ‘biggest mistake’ question - deployed well - could bring out evidence that contradicts the candidate’s view of him/herself. Probing well beyond the first response can also bring the interviewer much closer to the real abilities and suitability of the candidate.
88 The question itself
Any good probing question could bring out some of the failings or human weaknesses of the candidates. You might probe with a question like: ‘What went wrong on that project?’ If the candidate says ‘nothing’ then go straight to ‘Tell me about a project that did not go well’. If the candidate still struggles to talk about the negatives then you might say:
‘You have said a lot of positive things about your suitability; I would now like to explore some of the negatives - what is the biggest mistake you have ever made at work?’
Weaker candidates will be tempted to disclose little mistakes; they may claim the error was not really their fault and finish by saying that nothing much came of it. In this instance a good interviewer will ask for a better example and probe for evidence that shows that the candidate is human, does make mistakes, learns from them and then does not repeat those mistakes.
Clever candidates will seek to avoid the ‘biggest mistake’ question by happily talking about things that may have gone wrong at work early on in the interview. Their answers will be designed to reflect well on their ability. If their responses sound a little too good to be true then you might begin your probe for the truth in a general way by saying ‘tell me more’ or ‘what else happened?’ If, after a few well chosen probes, the clever candidate still remains persuasive under pressure then deploy the ‘biggest mistake’ question and keep probing their answers until you are satisfied you are getting the truth.
It is vital that you probe. There is now research which clearly indicates that liars and their lies become more transparent and less convincing when they are pressed for facts and details. If the candidate has to dig deeper then we might get a truer picture. As interviewers we must probe deeply for details and uncover real evidence about suitability and not be taken in by the confident responses of the clever candidates.
You may need a little more time to get to the truth but a good candidate will want to disclose a meaningful mistake. They will accept responsibility for making the error and tell you what they have learned from it.
Answering the ‘biggest mistake’ question From the candidate’s point of view the
‘biggest mistake’ question in an interview can be very disturbing if they have not prepared for it. Many candidates will prepare answers that show them only in a positive light but will neglect to spend time thinking of an authentic substantial error that they can talk about at the interview.
To conquer the contra-evidence question candidates should speak honestly and confidently when asked about any errors and the learning they gained from them. When the interviewer springs the ‘biggest mistake’ question then candidates should give the honest answer they have prepared. Their answer should include the impact of the error, briefly how it happened and whose fault it was (the candidate’s), what corrective action was taken and any ‘future’ preventative measures that were put in place.
Candidates should say with conviction that they have ‘learned a lot’ from their mistake. We need to remember that employers want people who are genuine human beings who may make mistakes occasionally but will recover well from them. Having said that it may be wise to wait for the ‘biggest mistake’ question rather than volunteer it. If you can be prepared, but patient, the chances are that you will be a better candidate than the employer is an interviewer!
Helping your employer to get the best staff
Research indicates that untrained recruitment and selection interviewers achieve only around a 30% success rate at getting the best candidate at interviews. Trained interviewers achieve over 60% success at getting the best candidate and this figure goes up when other testing is also done e.g. aptitude tests, practical tasks etc.
If you want to help your employer to get the best staff then contact Christine Johnson via the
Pitchcare.com website. She will give you details of the training courses led by myself that will help you do a much better job as an interviewer and selection tester. If you attend the course you will also be shown how to be a canny candidate. Purely for training purposes of course!
In the meantime if you have an urgent question about career development or recruitment and selection interviewing you can contact me by email at
frank@pitchcare.com or via the ‘Contact’ tab of my personal website
www.franknewberry.com
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