"Early in my career, I was examining the workflow of one section of our office, and I felt there were too many steps and procedures slowing down productivity. I spent time coming up with a new system to cut out those extra steps and streamline our processes. I then introduced my concept to my manager, feeling very good about myself. They asked me how much time I spent on this project, and I told them, feeling I had done so in record time. They then asked about my progress on another project and if I'd already completed it. It was close to done but I admitted I hadn't yet finished it. At that point, I found myself receiving some uncomplimentary feedback.

My first mistake was not completing the work assigned first. The second mistake I made was not asking what the next priority was. The third mistake I made was not asking why they had the systems in place or asking if they'd ever attempted my suggested approach before. At that point, I would have learned that my idea was the previous system, which over time was replaced by a more thorough, mistake-free system that included a few more steps. Had I taken that approach, my manager would have told me to keep asking questions and thinking outside the box. But instead, I didn't ask questions and took up company time with unsolicited work. But my manager said if I learned from my mistakes, it was worth the company's time to teach me the lesson. That lesson was one I'll never forget."

It is not uncommon for someone who has recently been onboarded with a company they were eager to join to want to contribute and prove themselves. However, one common error new employees often make is to offer suggestions to implement improvements before learning why they do things the way they do and whether their suggestion has been attempted before. This can be a valuable lesson. When sharing a time you made a suggestion that was rejected, the key is to communicate what you learned from that experience and how you handled it with emotional maturity.

As PNC states on their website, "as part of our motivated team, you'll help us improve and adapt our products and services for customers. But it's not just our solutions that evolve. With training, development plans and mentoring, you can drive your career path, your way."

Structure your responses and avoid rambling or delivering long-winded, roundabout answers. The STAR method is effective for structuring answers to interview questions. Address each answer by first offering the SITUATION involved with your example. Then the required TASK. Share the ACTION you took and the RESULT of those actions.