Practice 30 Department of Social Services interview questions covering case management, ethics, and client advocacy.
Question 12 of 30
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
How to Answer
Example Answer
Community Answers

Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
They are curious about what level of personal accountability you possess. Taking responsibility for your own actions, and possessing an ability to learn from your mistakes or missed opportunities, is what they are looking for here.

Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
Providing examples where you dealt with disappointment is fine. How you deal with disappointment should be the point of your answer. It is one thing to have been humbled by an experience, but it is another to learn from the experience and use it as a growth opportunity. This is an opportunity to display yourself as a half-glass-full person. Use examples that reveal your ability to adapt, detailing how quickly you reacted and the logic behind your course of action. Avoid examples that reflect poorly on your performance. Describe the situation, the obstacle, and how you ultimately overcame it.

Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
"There have been times when it proved difficult to aid those who needed assistance but refused it, or were too emotionally or mentally unfit to allow it. Those times are difficult to face when they happen. So I think the main thing I would do differently is less hard on myself that I wasn't able to help everybody universally the way I hoped to. I've learned that now, but those emotionally charged hurdles held me back a little while early on. So knowing what I know now, I suppose I'd give myself a little more self-care for those cases that affected me so. When I face those situations today, this is what I do..."

Interview Coach
Jaymie
A real coach, not AI. I read every answer myself and write back with personalized feedback.
Typically responds within 24 hours.
0 - Character Count
Prepare for behavioral scenarios and policy questions that DSS interviewers prioritize.
Get StartedJump to Question

Written by Kevin Downey
30 Questions & Answers • Department of Social Services

By Kevin

By Kevin