Talk about a time you missed an opportunity during your career. What was the missed opportunity and what did you learn from that situation?

How to Answer
1st Answer Example
2nd Answer Example

Siemens Healthineers believes that missed opportunities are their biggest risks when it comes to providing quality to their customers. For this question, your interviewer will be looking to hear that you are able to spot opportunities in your work based off a past missed opportunity that you now recognize. While this is a very open ended question in reference to what opportunity you reference, make sure that you talk openly and honestly about what you saw as a missed opportunity and what you took forward as the lesson from that opportunity to not miss again in the future.

"Early in my sales career, I was working in office supply sales in the field for a large office supply chain. In cold calling on potential new accounts, I was successful in a great sale of new copy and fax machines to a large manufacturer in the area. The sale brought with it extended purchases of paper and I was happy right from the start. As I worked with that company more in the future, I realized that a lot of my potential remaining business in other office supplies had gone to a competitor and they did so simply because I didn't ask the right questions and put myself in front of the right people on that initial sales call. The hard lesson learned that I still carry with me today is to always see the bigger picture and never to be satisfied completely with a sale. In our world, there is always room for more with our customers and I strive for that each and every time by asking about and seeing the bigger picture with all of my customers."

"This may sound rather cliche in the field of engineering, but I have an example of a time when I was young in my career when I left a great idea rattling around in my head rather than taking action and putting the idea into action. It was in my job right out college, where I was designing kitchen appliances with a large manufacturer. At the time, I had the idea of utilizing stainless steel in the production and finish of kitchen appliances due to the great features of the alloy. In really wanting to save myself the embarrassment from senior designers on my team, I withheld the idea. Two years later, our biggest competitor came out with a line of stainless products that caught on in the market like wildfire. Immediately, I was overcome with regret thinking about what could have been. While I've been very successful in innovative designs of a lot of great products, this example lingers in my mind on a daily basis and the lesson learned that I carry with me every day is to leave no stone unturned when it comes to bringing forth new and creative ideas."

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How to Answer: Talk about a time you missed an opportunity during your career. What was the missed opportunity and what did you learn from that situation?

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Siemens Healthineers job interview.

5. Talk about a time you missed an opportunity during your career. What was the missed opportunity and what did you learn from that situation?

How to Answer

Siemens Healthineers believes that missed opportunities are their biggest risks when it comes to providing quality to their customers. For this question, your interviewer will be looking to hear that you are able to spot opportunities in your work based off a past missed opportunity that you now recognize. While this is a very open ended question in reference to what opportunity you reference, make sure that you talk openly and honestly about what you saw as a missed opportunity and what you took forward as the lesson from that opportunity to not miss again in the future.

Written by Ryan Brunner on March 27th, 2019

1st Answer Example

"Early in my sales career, I was working in office supply sales in the field for a large office supply chain. In cold calling on potential new accounts, I was successful in a great sale of new copy and fax machines to a large manufacturer in the area. The sale brought with it extended purchases of paper and I was happy right from the start. As I worked with that company more in the future, I realized that a lot of my potential remaining business in other office supplies had gone to a competitor and they did so simply because I didn't ask the right questions and put myself in front of the right people on that initial sales call. The hard lesson learned that I still carry with me today is to always see the bigger picture and never to be satisfied completely with a sale. In our world, there is always room for more with our customers and I strive for that each and every time by asking about and seeing the bigger picture with all of my customers."

Written by Ryan Brunner on March 27th, 2019

2nd Answer Example

"This may sound rather cliche in the field of engineering, but I have an example of a time when I was young in my career when I left a great idea rattling around in my head rather than taking action and putting the idea into action. It was in my job right out college, where I was designing kitchen appliances with a large manufacturer. At the time, I had the idea of utilizing stainless steel in the production and finish of kitchen appliances due to the great features of the alloy. In really wanting to save myself the embarrassment from senior designers on my team, I withheld the idea. Two years later, our biggest competitor came out with a line of stainless products that caught on in the market like wildfire. Immediately, I was overcome with regret thinking about what could have been. While I've been very successful in innovative designs of a lot of great products, this example lingers in my mind on a daily basis and the lesson learned that I carry with me every day is to leave no stone unturned when it comes to bringing forth new and creative ideas."

Written by Ryan Brunner

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