Many of our projects have very strict timelines. Tell me about a time you missed a deadline or deliverable and how you handled it.
Everybody makes mistakes and it is best to pick a project where the missed deadline wasn't fatal and you were able to recover and learn from your mistake.
"We had a new leader start recently. To get her up to speed, she asked for a number of different reports in a 2 day turn around time. She needed them for an executive meeting she was going to. One of the reports was very manual and with my other responsibilities, I just wasn't able to get it done in time. I went to her office and told her that I could have this complete tomorrow, but I wasn't able to finish it for her meeting this morning. She asked what I was working on and I explained my competing priority. She recommended that I come check with her to get help prioritizing in the future. I learned a big lesson that day about using your leader as an advocate for you. I should have come to her first. I've kept this in mind in other scenarios when I've had competing deadlines."
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Anonymous Answer
When I was working at my previous company, I was the youngest in the team at the time I joined. I constantly wanted to prove myself. So, when one of our clients had set up a call to discuss the requirement, I assured my team lead that I could complete a significant portion of the work that was the assignment in 3 weeks. I could not however complete it by myself in the said time and needed to get help from the other team members to complete it. Looking back, I now realize that what is more important is to communicate and be confident in the quality of the work you put out rather than concentrating on the quantity or the time. And then on, until I got comfortable with the team, I always ensured that I communicated and introspected what would be possible before setting up goals.
Stephanie's Feedback
It sounds like you are highly motivated and really wanted to contribute to the team, despite being the most junior member on staff! In this response, you don't directly address missing a deadline, but it sounds like you were at risk of not delivering in the time since you bit off a little more than you could chew. To make sure that your response fully addresses the question, I suggest naming the fact that you realized you would miss the deadline if you continued on in this course, and exactly how you pivoted to ensure that you had the support needed to execute this deliverable.
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