Tell me about the last time you failed.
When answering questions on the failures or setbacks you've experienced in your career, take ownership of them. Convey your emotional intelligence by informing your interviewer how you actively recognize the learning opportunities to be gained from each failure. Doing so ensures you won't repeat those mistakes, using those learning experiences to shore up your future success. Objectify the situation, exhibiting an emotionally mature perspective, and how you navigated this terrain, ultimately leading to a successful resolution. Focus on the positives and how the overall outcome benefitted the team.
Here are some definitive culture statements from Vodafone's website which can assist in navigating this question: "Experiment, learn fast. Vodafone's behaviours are essential to enable growth where everyone can thrive and belong. This extends to embodying and encouraging these behaviours while embedding them into their teams and the wider Vodafone community. Explore successes and failures with curiosity and resilience; fearlessly recognising lessons learned. Share your ongoing learning and personal purpose with others."
When answering questions about past failures, avoid displaying defensive posturing or masking your insecurity by making yourself seem strong. Such posturing could be perceived as insecure, closed-off, unapproachable, hostile, or disinterested. Instead, be secure in taking ownership of those setbacks which were part of your learning curve to get to where you are today. True strength comes from within, by being confident, relaxed, and emotionally mature.
Make eye contact and smile, posturing yourself in a relaxed and comfortable position. The camera angle should be at eye level. If it's positioned too low, you will come across as domineering. Too high, and you'll seem too weak or small. So center it, and make sure your lighting is equally balanced.
"I took on a project that required me to learn a new software package. I misunderstood its application, or rather, I misinterpreted the instructions and took the project in the wrong direction instead of clarifying. Truthfully, it was a small part of the project and only cost me three hours of productivity, which I would like to have avoided. But I learned to seek clarification rather than following my gut. It was humbling but growth-inducing."
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