How often do you give yourself challenges outside of your comfort zone?
The interviewer wants to understand how eager you are to grow in your career and gauge your willingness to go outside of your comfort zone to reach new heights. The goal of your response is to show the interviewer that you have ambition and a desire to try new approaches to achieve success in the workplace.
"I welcome new challenges, whether they come from me or my employer. The last time I gave myself a challenge outside of my comfort zone was when I committed to doubling my cold calls for an entire month. I wanted to see how the increase in activity could boost my sales numbers. So, rather than making 50 cold calls per week, I made 100 calls, for a total of 400 for the month. My sales numbers nearly doubled, which I found exciting and rewarding. Although this increase meant that I worked late a few days and came into the office early on others, the reward was well worth the sacrifice in the end."
"Bravely facing challenges is the fastest way to grow in the workplace, so, although it can be uncomfortable at times, I believe that it's always a rewarding move. I recently volunteered to take on a client most of my coworkers find difficult to please. I decided to do this because I knew it would allow me to learn more about overcoming objections and creating meaningful rapport through solution-based approaches. So far, I was right! I have learned a lot about myself in the process and have grown my critical thinking and problem-solving skills exponentially."
Avoid answering in a way that makes it sound like you are idle in your professional growth. When we remain overly content with our tasks, our work-life can begin to feel mundane over time. In those instances, it's easy to start feeling unfulfilled. Instead of focusing on the lack of challenges in your current role, show that you are proactive by describing how you actively search for new and exciting challenges.
Employees who commonly face new challenges in the workplace tend to be happier and stay in their jobs longer. Think about the last time you performed a task outside of your comfort zone. Perhaps you helped a coworker reach a deadline, but the initiative required you to learn a new skill. Maybe you volunteered to lead a project when you typically do not take on a team lead position. Whatever your example is, show enthusiasm for growth within your company.
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
Quite often. Each day brings new challenges, and I am there to be a resource.
Rachelle's Feedback
Examples are your friend in an interview :) Can you think of a recent situation where you pushed and challenged yourself to learn or experience something new?
Anonymous Answer
As often as possible. I am a change agent and always jump at the next opportunity to learn something new, be challenged, and grow my knowledge and skills.
Rachelle's Feedback
Good start! Can you share a bit about the most recent initiative you took?
Anonymous Answer
The last challenge I gave myself outside my comfort zone was to obtain my Solidworks software accreditation. I wanted the challenge of increasing my knowledge of the software, which would boost my work productivity. I exceeded my expectations and completed the accreditation exams in 6 weeks. Although this meant working late many days, the reward was well worth the sacrifice.
Rachelle's Feedback
This is a solid example of giving yourself a challenge that pushed you personally and professionally. Another very specific answer - well done!
Anonymous Answer
I think challenging yourself is an important part of life and self-development.
I spend time weekly with self-reflection, asking tough questions; how has the day and week been? Where could I have been better, more thorough? Where could I have gone the extra mile?
Helping out a teammate is a way I like to add dimension. Asking them questions to help them get where they need to be. I enjoy seeing the light come on for them.
Rachelle's Feedback
It seems you are unafraid to reflect and assess your performance. When asking these tough and reflective questions and uncovering room for growth, what action steps do you take next?
Anonymous Answer
Always, I feel that if I'm always in my comfort zone, I'm not growing professionally or personally. I made a career change from a clinical background to a sales career, and this was one of my biggest steps out of my comfort zone and proving I could do something that I was initially uncomfortable with and felt that I would not be able to achieve. When I proved to myself, I could achieve this; it gave me a great sense of accomplishment.
Rachelle's Feedback
This change sounds like a significant one, showing you are unafraid of making big moves and challenging yourself.
Anonymous Answer
As often as I can. I love a challenge as it literally is a task that I need to solve. I have come across many of my accounts that are competitor-led and where my predecessors have stated that they aren't "rep friendly". This hasn't phased me, there is a reason that customer feel that way and doesn't mean I am the cause, so I approach accounts offering value and support that I can deliver and has won me a business where it hasn't for my colleagues based on uncovering a particular need.
Cindy's Feedback
Good! It sounds like you really enjoy a challenge.
Anonymous Answer
I welcome challenges. I approach them with enthusiasm.
I see a challenge as an opportunity for growth, an opportunity to gain experience as well as an opportunity to express my loyalty and my strong work ethic. My clinical coordinator had to put together 30 binders for site initiation visits. He was clearly concerned that he would not be able to get it done in time. I offered to take on this task for him knowing that I would have to commit my weekend in order to get them done on time. Each binder was approximately 500 pages. It was tedious work but I got it done.
Stephanie's Feedback
Great response! It sounds like you're comfortable challenging yourself and you're willing to go the extra mile to help your team succeed.
Anonymous Answer
I love challenges. Our COO visited our site once and had a plant overview. In our closing meeting, the COO expressed their happiness with the successful visit and appreciated the site for acquiring stage 3 operational excellence, and also commented that the site looked much better than some of the sites which already were in stage 5. They asked to push forward to qualify for stage 4 operational excellence in six months. As a leader, I accepted the challenge and we achieved stage 4 on time.
Marcie's Feedback
Wow! An excellent example that shows your openness to taking on new challenges. Maybe you can provide some more clarification to the interviewer about the different stages and what they mean? The more details, the better!
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