I gave a three-week time estimate, and within a week, it was clear that the deadline was unrealistic. To strengthen your response, I would suggest focusing on what you learned from this situation and how you will keep this from happening again (after all, not every situation will offer a deadline extension). When we filled all the prescriptions, we then completed all the transfers and were able to start working on the tasks I had de-prioritized. Interview questions and answer examples and any other content may be used else where on the site. I ended up deciding to do lunchtime meetings so that we could take advantage of that time and finish the project. Describe the last time that you undertook a project that demanded a lot of initiative. I take full accountability for missing any deadline, regardless of the reason, to ensure that our client relationships remain healthy. I recently had my primary project interrupted due to a critical firefighting request by my dotted line manager. ", "(Situation) While working as a Sales Manager for Company ABC, we fell behind on sales targets after a product launch became delayed due to further endurance testing. This is an excellent example of an interview because it shows how much you care about the success of your organization, and also all the pride you put into your work. Its really about showing you have good emotional intelligence. 6. "In my current role, I have both a direct line manager and a dotted line manager. I apologized for the inconvenience, and I amended the action the best of my ability by offering to stay overtime to finish the work and to ask for an extension.". Since past actions are a good indicator of what may happen in the future, behavioral questions are the best way for hiring managers to determine if you would be a good fit. I also met with my dotted line manager and discussed training another person in the department so that I wouldnt be the sole person to cover in these types of situations", An example of how to best answer this question for entry level candidates: I continued to follow up and stay a few hours more and scheduled appointments for patients to come in to help meet this deadline.". You support your work ethic wonderfully in this response. We got an extension on the bid and were able to secure the project. I met with my mentor and we worked out a situation which allowed me to continue to work on the project part-time after the official end of the internship. Our Behavioral Questions were written by Rachelle Enns and updated on December 14th, 2021. The STAR method is ideal for answering these behavioral interview questions. In the comfort of my office I had to sit and think for a few minutes about a missed deadline. I apologized, explained the situation, and asked for an extension of 3 days, which he accepted. Part of being a leader is recognizing your faults, and coming up with solutions that help you avoid those problems in the future. What questions to expect during an interview? Step 2: Describe the situation and your task. During the weekend, I read up on software evaluation best practices and created a draft scoring model including all the products I initially had identified. If we did not match those goals, our team would focus on how to stay current on all projects and would work extra hard to manage the project. To help you prepare for your next job interview, here are 31 Behavioral interview questions and answer examples. I did many times get asked where are we in the process and just had to patiently explain that there is more to it than just signing up with insurances. The answer typically comes down to the circumstances and the resulting blame game. To help you prepare for your behavioral interview, here are 7 of the most common behavioral interview questions and answers: 1. "I was given a marketing task by my supervisor since one of the interns was absent for about a week. 1. ", "(Situation) Last year, our faculty needed to refresh the math curriculum for our grade 4/5 class. I learned from this experience how important it is to analyze potential dependencies with other people early, which has helped me avoid ending up in similar situations again.. Have a basic theme to go on if you do get stumped. Remember, everyone has both large and small failures under their belts. We do this by creating interview questions that we think you might be asked. Due to the pandemic, we had to quickly switch from on-side to remote candidate interviews. The creative result was not satisfying and in order to enhance the work, I would be unable to meet the project deadline promised to the client. I also met with my dotted line manager and discussed training another person in the department so that I wouldnt be the sole person to cover in these types of situations", "In my recent internship, I delivered my primary project ahead of schedule and was then given a secondary project to deliver by the end of my internship. People love honesty, and it is even more refreshing when employers hear that their employees are taking accountability for their mistakes and working to keep them from happening again. An example of how to best answer this question for experienced candidates: Your answer also showcases your strong communication skills. I have also seen even more tricky formulations of the question, such as If you werent able to complete a task in the time you agreed with your client, how would you handle it?, or What do you do if you think you might miss a deadline?. It was a write up about marketing strategies for a new title for the season. Indeed, you may have even missed a deadline in the past that was not your fault. Nice job! One day many years ago, I was walking home from high school, when I saw a frail, elderly woman carrying heavy bags of groceries. The next time this happens, I will know to ask for help so that I can meet my deadline. (Action) When I realized that the deadline was fast approaching, I called the client and apologized. The interviewer wants to know how you respond to situations in the workplace where you might feel like you failed. 1. Your best approach is to talk about a specific situation where you missed a deadline due to unforeseen or unplanned circumstances, yet take personal responsibility for the shortcoming and talk about what you are doing to keep it from happening again in the future. Great! Need your resume in PDF, word, or an image file? Maybe it turned out that he was planning to create a scoring model to rank the different products based on your list, so you spent the weekend learning about software evaluation best practices and prepared a first draft scoring model, including all options. To be successful in this type of interview, you should practice until you are sure of yourself. We need to find innovative ways to make up any timeloss and avoid the disaster.. 2014. In this instance, I assessed the new information and requested a deadline extension, given the latest news and added work. This example highlights your critical thinking skills and patient-first mentality. "My District Manager asked me to complete Medication Therapy Management for all our stores, within the week. I believed I could handle the article in addition to the workload I already had, but I miscalculated how long it would take me to write it. Learn more about this page. Behavioral Interview Question: Describe a Time You Missed a Deadline In any stressful workplace there are sometimes issues that can come up that may cause you to miss a deadline. (Result) He declined the offer but was happy with my willingness to go over and above to meet the original deadline. Should I have answered truthfully? Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer. Goals, milestones, deadlines. Nobody is perfect! Definition of commitment 1 as in dedication adherence to something to which one is bound by a pledge or duty his frequent absences made others question his commitment to the political campaign Synonyms & Similar Words Relevance dedication loyalty allegiance devotion fidelity faithfulness steadfastness fealty attachment faith constancy adhesion (Result) In the end, I was able to resolve the issue with some of our vendors, negotiating rush services. I talked about this with my direct line manager and we agreed to put in place contingency buffer time into future projects to allow me to divert if and when necessary to the dotted line department. "In my current role, as an IT Management Consultant, there was a time when I needed to handle all phases by myself and test certain scenarios within a deadline. Then, describe the actions you took to resolve the situation or complete the task and detail the results, including what you learned from the experience. For instance, you might have missed the deadline for delivering the shortlist of video interviewing products by two days; but, thanks to you also preparing a first draft scoring model, the right solution could still be identified on time. I ran to help her, and carried the groceries to her house. "My district manager had asked me to complete MTMs for all the stores within the week which I said I would be able to complete however, I underestimated the amount of time some of the claims were taking because I had to wait for doctors or patients to get back to me. I learned that I could be persuasive, but in the end, I cannot control the actions of others. I would suggest typing out what MTM means, and putting the acronym right after that. Your answer should explain the scenario and why you missed the deadline, focusing on how you resolved it. What did you learn from this failure? I also work with the IT administrators to create a contingency plan for the different scenarios that can cause any delay. He said yes, and the tower got turned on. You will miss a deadline once in a while. (Result) Because I remained pragmatic through the entire situation and presented solutions rather than giving up, my team exceeded the sales target by 23%. Due to the pandemic, your employer needed to switch quickly from onsite to remote candidate interviews. I met the second deadline that I promised and the CRA was impressed with my transparent and honest attitude throughout the process.". I have tweaked it a bit, below. Why the interviewer is asking this question: ", "(Situation) While working for Company ABC, our IT systems went through a company-wide overhaul. (Task) I was the only person on our team available and equipped to perform this with a fast turnaround. I also request assistance from my coworker to split the number of reports to be run. "I am very responsible with my work and great at meeting deadlines. Throughout the process we kept the client up to date and sent over snippets and useable components whenever possible. I met with my mentor and we worked out a situation which allowed me to continue to work on the project part-time after the official end of the internship. When interviewers ask this specific question, they really want to know how you react in stressful situations, whether or not you take accountability for your mistakes, how you learn from these situations, and what your work ethic is like. However, that is not always possible. Task: I missed the deadline because I underestimated the need for research staff for the project. To date, we have automated that reporting with a minimal hands-on approach on my side. You don't want to give off the impression that if they hired you, you'd likely make the same mistakes. Download a personalized cover letter in minutes with our cover letter builder. I was able to complete the secondary project a few weeks later and got a high overall rating for my work", An example of how you should not answer this question: Today, potential employers are focusing more on figuring out how an interviewee is likely to act on the job when certain situations arise. 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