When you suffer a setback, how does that emotionally affect you and your work?
Everyone handles the stress and disappointment of setbacks differently. The aim of this question is to evaluate your emotional intelligence. What your interviewer hopes to assess from your answer is whether you take setbacks in stride and learn what you can from them to avoid repeating them. Or do you panic, trip over your own feet, hide your mistakes, or avoid admitting to them, hoping they'll go unnoticed? Discuss with the interviewer how you typically cope in such situations.
"I take it in stride and learn from it what I can. I don't shy away either, but carry on and try my best to be graceful in such situations. Experiencing a setback is always disappointing, and can be a bit disheartening, but I understand that it happens from time to time. If I experience a major setback, I will take a few moments to debrief with my manager and discuss what I could have done differently. Then, I move on!"
"Setbacks happen for a reason, and they do not affect me emotionally in the least. I am a very pragmatic thinker and stay focused on my project despite the challenges that come my way. I am a creative thinker, so setbacks are often used as a new jumping off point to something even better."
Virgin Atlantic covers this topic and others in a blog on "the human condition. How people react to each other, leadership and communication, stress and workload management, teamwork and decision making. The study of this is called Human Factors (HF) and we have a team of people dedicated to the subject. We caught up with three people responsible for making sure we're completely on point when it comes to Human Factors, and that it's considered in everything we do. It's a broad subject that can range from analysing events to how our pilots and cabin crew work together to handle some of the tricky situations, such as medical emergencies, that occasionally happen onboard."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I will be honest they can hit me hard. It’s the price you pay for priding yourself on excellence. When I was younger I would hide it. I know it’s not an option now. In my current role, I need to run investigations even into myself where an error has happened. I recall the detailed advice on what happened and then after giving myself a hard time, I am wiser and on to my next job.
Jaymie's Feedback
We're all human, and in this industry, you're working with the general public, so there will be times when a situation occurs that may cause you to feel upset, sad, or frustrated. The key here that interviewers are looking for is that you can take ownership after a setback, get to the root cause of the setback, make adjustments, then move on and not dwell.
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