Do you consider yourself an overachiever? Why or why not?
The interviewer wants to know if you resonate with being an overachiever. Overachieving can lead to fast-tracked success in your personal and professional life; however, it's also a fast way to experience burnout. The goal of your response is to assure the interviewer that you are a focused professional, ready to make an impact while also maintaining a healthy balance between work and rest.
"I like to take my goals and targets and achieve more than expected. With that said, I do not struggle with feelings of perfectionism. I like to gain feedback from my managers so that I can improve. It's important that I achieve and not fail; however, I still understand that failure is a part of life. When I do not achieve a goal, I pick myself back up and try again rather than internalize the failure."
"I was most certainly an overachiever when attending university. I was the first in my family to attend post-secondary schooling, and thus, I put a great deal of pressure on myself to achieve perfect grades. This overachieving led to burnout quickly. Although I am proud of my GPA, I placed a lot of energy, after graduation, into securing a better balance between achieving my goals and making myself happy. Now, in my personal and professional life, I can maintain a high output of performance without exhausting myself."
Avoid giving a response that makes you look like an invincible workaholic. Being an overachiever can sound great at first. However, many hiring companies now know that overachieving can lead to burnout. Instead of attaching your entire self-worth to your successes, be ready to show the interviewer that you understand the importance of healthy achievement and realistic goal-setting.
First, define what you believe to be overachieving. By definition, overachievers 'perform better or achieve more success than expected.' There are a variety of indicators that you are an overachiever. These include:
- You judge your worthiness on how well you perform a task or complete a goal
- You are hyper-focused on avoiding failure
- You often overcommit and stay late to achieve more at work
- You struggle with taking feedback or criticism because it feels like a failure
- You are always focusing on what's next
- Your friends and family often refer to you as a perfectionist
It may seem now that it isn't a great thing to be considered an overachiever. If you do resonate with being an overachiever, this is entirely okay! It's essential, however, that you express to the interviewer that the rewards of your overachieving nature outweigh the sacrifice.
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 do have overachieving tendencies, such as liking to execute things better than they have been done before. I look for areas where I might improve processes or programs to be more efficient and serve people better. This may mean putting in additional hours to get things done for a successful and seamless rollout. However, never to the point where I get to a breaking point.
Kevin's Feedback
You give some great examples of ways that you give your best without sounding like an overachiever with disruptive habits. I've revised your messaging slightly for clarity and flow.
I consider myself an overachiever. I try to consistently go above and beyond in my work, whether I am raising the bar for the work standard for any given task, or where I am simply trying to beat my own previous best. I’m always on the lookout for kaizen opportunities to increase efficiencies and enhance our experience. Whether I put in additional hours, or hustle and bustle, I’m known for managing my time as efficiently as possible. I have a strong track record for getting things done for a successful and seamless rollout. However, I never push myself to the limit where I’m nearing a breaking point. I’ve known some who take this too far, and this strength for them is also a weakness. I’ve no problem striking balance and never burn out on the work at hand. Efficient and sustainable is the name of the game.
Anonymous Answer
I set my own goals and targets and always attempt to achieve more than expected. I always push myself and try to exceed my last goal/success. Winning is important to me, but I also understand this may not always happen, and I am happy to stop, re-evaluate, and try again and/or ask for constructive criticism.
Rachelle's Feedback
Exceptional! It will be very obvious to the interviewer that you are driven, enthusiastic, and ready to learn/grow.
Anonymous Answer
I am an overachiever in the sense that I exceed expectations and constantly want to keep growing and improving. However, I don't identify with the side that implies that I am a perfectionist. While I value quality work, there is a lot of learning to be done in failure, and I understand that it's hard to achieve perfection every time.
Stephanie's Feedback
This response shows a great deal of self-awareness! You could strengthen your response by weaving in a specific example (for example, you mention the desire to continue growing and improving; you could provide a specific example to illustrate how this shows up in your life.)
Anonymous Answer
Yes. Because of everything I do, I want to add the extra value which is me. I want the customer not only to feel they have got what they want but let them know I am there as an advocate supporting their work and needs constantly and not just on the call with them.
Cindy's Feedback
Ok, great start. I would recommend expanding don't the point you make about adding the "extra value which is me." You might sharpen up this excellent point by explaining your particular skills or talents so the interviewer can envision them in action, in his or her workplace. This will go a long way to demonstrating fit for the position.
Anonymous Answer
Yes, I consider myself an overachiever. I aim to exceed expectations. I make it a point to offer or volunteer to help on a variety of projects. I don't want to fail, and to avoid failing, I am consistently looking for ways to improve whatever project I am working on. I am a great listener because It is important for me to make a positive contribution to my team.
Stephanie's Feedback
That's great that you always aim to go the extra mile! To strengthen this response, I suggest providing a specific example of a time when you exceeded expectations at work.
Anonymous Answer
Yes, I am always an achiever in my career. I always like to achieve and exceed my goals and targets. I led big impactful projects, set up green field sites worth 500M in Baxter, and led 6 major global industrial transfer projects in my last job.
I strongly believe to do everything right the first time and to always involve my team. I seek feedback and always want to do my best. I have received many awards and recognitions. I received company excellence awards in 2017 and 2018 and CEO awards for the best-performing unit in 2013 and 2017.
Marcie's Feedback
Excellent! It definitely sounds as though you are an overachiever and that you work hard to accomplish your goals. Mentioning the awards and recognitions you've earned is a nice touch, too.
Anonymous Answer
I always strive to perform as best I can in whatever situation that I am in. Like working hard to achieve my KPIs and hitting my sales targets, or while in the gym. At university, I worked very hard to achieve my first class degree, because this is what I wanted. But if I had got a 2:1 instead, it would have been ok, as long as I knew that I had always done my best. That is what is most important to me, knowing that I tried as hard as I could. I like to get things right the first time, but understand that I won't always be perfect, and neither will anybody be! and you can definitely learn from these mistakes. I welcome feedback from managers to work on areas that can be improved.
Marcie's Feedback
Great! You appear to be very balanced. You strive to achieve your goals but also understand that you won't always be perfect. You've also done a great job in this answer of mentioning specific examples, which makes your answer even more meaningful. Good job!
Anonymous Answer
On the outside, I'd say some say I am because I've done well for myself. Where I would differ from an overachiever is I seek out feedback so I can get better. If I make a mistake, I do not beat myself up, I make it right and do my best not to make the same mistake again. Failure is only failure if you do not learn something and feedback is only feedback. It has nothing to do with who I am.
Stephanie's Feedback
You provide some great details about yourself, but unfortunately, you don't really answer the question itself. I suggest answering directly. For example, "I do consider myself an overachiever, although maybe not in the most traditional sense of that word." Then provide 1-2 specific reasons why you could be considered an overachiever. When have you gone above and beyond? Why has this characteristic been important to you?
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