INTERVIEW COACH
Rachelle Enns
Rachelle is a job search expert, career coach, and headhunter who helps everyone from students to fortune 500 executives find success in their career.
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How do you react when you are dissatisfied with the quality of your work, or the outcome of your work?
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OUR COACH SAYS
The interviewer would like to know how you respond to failure in the workplace. There will always be a time when you are not happy with your work environment, but your reaction is what will determine whether or not you recover from the disappointment. Show that you have the maturity to be able to respond to dissatisfaction productively.
Since this question is framed as, 'How do you...' it is acceptable to use a hypothetical story example, giving a general overview of how you would react in this situation.
However, if you want to use a real-life example, try forming a response using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer.
Since this question is framed as, 'How do you...' it is acceptable to use a hypothetical story example, giving a general overview of how you would react in this situation.
However, if you want to use a real-life example, try forming a response using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer.
Example #1
"I am rarely dissatisfied with my work because I keep very high standards for myself, and what I deliver. With that said, should I be dissatisfied with the quality of my work, I would own up to it and try again until I was proud of the work I delivered."
Example #2
"The last time I was dissatisfied with my work, I asked my boss if there was time for me to re-do the components with which I was not happy. The deadline was tight, but I did not believe that it should affect the quality of what I delivered. She agreed, and gave me the time to revisit the aspects that I felt were not up to my usual standard."
Example #3
"When I am dissatisfied with my work, I will not submit it. There is no room in my line of work to hand in work that is not up to standard. I would not say that I am a perfectionist; however, I know what I am capable of achieving, and as a manager - I have to set a great example at all times."
Example #4
"In marketing, there is often room to play around with our work and bounce back from mistakes. I allow myself to make mistakes, tweak my work, and play around with different designs, for instance. A creative mind is always seeking improvements."
Example #5
"I like to make a great first impression, so I will rarely be disappointed in the work that I deliver. If I do not deliver to my standard or encounter an unforeseen issue that railroads me, I am quick to assess what I could have done differently and recovered from there."
Example #6
"If I am dissatisfied with the quality of my work, I work harder! I believe that the only thing standing between failure and greatness is me. I always put in 100% in everything that I do."
Example #7
"I expect a lot from my students, and they expect a lot from me in return. I fully believe in being accountable for my work. So, for that reason, if I am dissatisfied with the work that I produce, I will go back to it and re-do until I am proud of the final product."
Anonymous Answer
"I can be self-critical, but I am working on that. I am a perfectionist, I complete tasks that I begin and finish with the best of my ability. If I were dissatisfied, I would learn from my mistakes and do better next time."
Rachelle's Reply
It's important to be aware of the quality of work that you deliver, especially in the health care field. It seems you are diligent and always willing to learn, qualities that any interviewer will be happy to see.
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Anonymous Answer
"I take my job and the outcomes of my work very personally. If I am not satisfied with the quality of my results, I take accountability for it and learn from my mistakes so that I don't make them again. I have a lot of pride in a job well done, and by that same token, I appreciate when my good work gets noticed."
Rachelle's Reply
Wonderful! The fact that you take accountability for your work and also use this dissatisfaction to your advantage by using it as a learning experience will be great news to the interviewer.
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Anonymous Answer
"Legal matters are sensitive. I never send out work if I am not satisfied or not sure of the quality. I correct anything that would lessen the quality of my work or research further than I send it out when I'm sure. I have set this example with the Legal officer who reports to me"
Rachelle's Reply
Excellent! It's a nice addition that you mention how you have influenced others who report to you.
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Anonymous Answer
"I have very high expectations for my work, so I always try to do it right the first time. If I am dissatisfied with the quality of my work, I would own up to the issue and work as quickly as I can to redo the work."
Kristine's Reply
Excellent response! You will convince the interviewer you care about maintaining high standards when it comes to the quality of your work.
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Anonymous Answer
"I am disappointed in myself and will make changes to ensure a better outcome in the future."
Rachelle's Reply
Try bringing this answer to life a bit by giving an example of a time when your work didn't measure up to expectations, and you pivoted to correct the situation.
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Anonymous Answer
"If I am dissatisfied with the quality of my work, I, at times, may reference other similar material to see how I can improve myself or go to a mentor for their experience and advice on how I can improve my quality of work."
Rachelle's Reply
Excellent solutions! Your response shows a willingness to learn, grow, and find the answers that you need. Well done.
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Anonymous Answer
"I am rarely dissatisfied with my work because I keep very high standards for myself and what I deliver. There is no room in my line of work to hand in work that is not up to standard. I would not say that I am a perfectionist; however, I know that I am capable of achieving a good quality of my work and I don't stop until I am proud of the work I delivered."
Rachelle's Reply
If you have ever been disappointed with the outcome of your work, be sure to mention this experience. Otherwise, your answer is thorough and helpful.
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Anonymous Answer
"I have enough life experience to know that I could not perform at peak proficiency every day. I know that little nuances will creep into my work product. I also know that these days are few and far between. I never let myself get down or worry about my performance because I know that the next day shall bring better results than the day before."
Kristine's Reply
Good answer! You reassure the interviewer that it's rare when you are dissatisfied with the quality of your work. You show maturity and confidence by stating you know you will spring back the next day. To take your answer to the next level, explain any actions you do to improve the quality of your work in those situations or learn from and improve from those experiences.
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Anonymous Answer
"I set goals for myself and set my standards high for my work. So when I make mistakes or am dissatisfied with my work, I can be too critical of myself. However, I remind myself that everyone makes mistakes, even people with years of experience. I choose to learn from my mistakes and failures rather than dwell on them."
Rachelle's Reply
Choosing to learn rather than dwell on mistakes is an excellent approach. Good response!
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Anonymous Answer
"I am rarely dissatisfied with the quality of my work. I always try my best to deliver the result with all the resources I have been given by my employers and everything else useful I can locate to support the process. I take ownership for even the slightest mistake I make and take immediate action to stop bad consequences from happening to the business. I reflect on any work or life events in my spare time to help me to keep doing a good job or a better job in the future."
Rachelle's Reply
This is a confident answer focused on your capabilities. You sound careful and meticulous in your work, being very conscious of every decision you make.
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Anonymous Answer
"Normally, colleagues are quite happy with the services I provided. Every week, I receive thank you emails and notes, sometimes accompanied by little gestures like offering a coffee, or leaving a little chocolate box on my desk, etc. Nonetheless, sometime it happens that the outcome of the work isn't really satisfying, and I feel disappointed. The first thing I do, I try to improve the quality of work, as fix the situation, for what is possible. Then, I try to analyze all the steps, to understand what went wrong, and take "mental notes," kind of lessons learned that I will apply next time I deal with a situation of the same sort."
Rachelle's Reply
This is an excellent response! You show that you deliver exceptional work most of the time, but that you are prepared to take action when something falls flat. Great job! I have revised slightly, for the sake of clarity and flow.
Rachelle's Reply
"Normally, my colleagues are happy with the services I provided. Every week, I receive thank you emails and notes, sometimes accompanied by little gestures like offering a coffee, or leaving a little chocolate box on my desk. Nonetheless, sometimes, the outcome of my work isn't to my standard, and I feel disappointed. The first thing I do is improve the quality and fix what I can. Then, I analyze all the steps, to understand what went wrong, and take mental notes on what I can apply next time I deal with a similar situation."
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Anonymous Answer
"If I'm not happy with my work, then I will start over. I need to lead by example, so if I'm not producing good work and setting an example that shows mediocre is ok to other employees, that is not ok. I pride myself on my attention to detail and sometimes a bit OCD about it."
Rachelle's Reply
It's definitely okay to be very detailed when it comes to leading by example with the quality of work that you deliver. They say that when you lead by example, those watching only emulate your hard work by 80%. SO, if you are only giving 80%, they are giving 60% and so on. When you give 100%, it's more likely that your team is motivated and giving 80%, which is a good amount of participation from most team members.
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Anonymous Answer
"I put my all into my work so I cannot think of a time I have been dissatisfied with the quality of my work."
Rachelle's Reply
'Or the outcome of your work'...Everyone has had a disappointing outcome (despite perfect performance) and the interviewer wants to gauge how you react to situations where things don't go your way. As awesome as it is to sound confident in your responses, it's important to avoid sounding like you have it all together all the time - nobody does :) It's actually the opposite of what an interviewer wants to hear in this situation.
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Anonymous Answer
"I want my work to reflect my attention to detail and if it doesn’t meet my expectations then I want a chance to atone for my felt shortfall."
Rachelle's Reply
It's good that you mentioned you want your work to reflect your attention to detail. This is a solid response.
Rachelle's Reply
"I want my work to reflect my attention to detail. If the results don't meet my expectations, then I want a chance to atone for my shortfall."
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Anonymous Answer
"When I submit work that is below my quality standards, I feel disappointed in myself. You are only as good as the last piece of work you do so I feel it reflects badly on me.
Even if I'm the only one who feels that way, I try to learn from the situation, and if I feel there are steps I can make to improve next time, I make a note to take those steps either by asking for help or doing some research myself."
Rachelle's Reply
Asking for help or researching to prevent a repeat are all excellent ways to approach this type of dissatisfaction. Nicely done :)
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Anonymous Answer
"I set high standards for myself in the workplace, so it’s rare for me to submit work that I am not satisfied with. But in the past, when I felt that I could’ve done a better job, I own up to my mistakes, see where I went wrong, and device a plan to make it better next time. Learning from my mistakes helped me grow and become more efficient over time."
Rachelle's Reply
This is a smart approach! It's great that you are always learning and improving.
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More Interview Q&As
Explore expert tips and resources to be more confident in your next interview.
Behavioral
Common
Phone
Tough
Leadership
All Interview Topics
All Career Q&As
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