Talk about a time you were unable to meet a deadline on the job. How did you react, and what steps did you take to ensure this was communicated?

Perhaps you merely underestimated the depth of the project, or maybe you faced a distraction at work. Discuss the case, what you did, and the outcome. Show the interviewer that you do not have a defeatist mentality. Nobody is perfect! The interviewers know that there will be times when deadlines pass and projects go sideways. They want to know how you reacted despite the initial failure.

"As a data analyst in a busy setting, I had one day where I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish a data clean project that was needed on short notice from a leader. I immediately reached out to my manager to talk through my competing priorities, and we decided that it was best to ask a colleague to help. She was luckily willing and able to help, and after just a few minutes on a Zoom call together, she took the data cleaning project and ran with it."