Gallup Mock Interview
Master 30 Gallup interview questions covering strengths-based assessments and behavioral scenarios.
Question 3 of 30
Tell me about a time you felt successful.
The Goal
Example Answer
Example Answer 2
What to Avoid
Pro Tip
Community Answers
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
The interviewer wants to discover how you define success. They also want to understand how you systematically reached your proudest objective. The goal of your response is to show the interviewer that you are a results- and goal-focused team member who will be an excellent addition to the hiring company.
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"Last year, I made Presidents' Club for reaching the top 10 for sales revenue generation out of 500 territory sales reps. I felt a lot of pride in my hard work and was thrilled to receive this accolade. Overall, I feel the most successful at work when I exceed my goals and targets."
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"Last month, at Company XYZ's annual kickoff meeting, I was presented with a teamwork award. I earned recognition for being a helpful coworker and a resource for many new trainees starting their careers. I measure my success by how people feel when they are around me. It felt so wonderful when my employer and teammates recognized me for being a kind person who was willing to help others."
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
Avoid giving a vague response that fails to provide a memorable story-based example of your success. For instance, instead of saying, 'I feel successful every time I make a customer happy,' you could say, 'I felt successful last month when I worked closely with a disgruntled customer to ensure they did not close their account and move to our competitor.'
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
Everyone defines success differently. Your example of success does not need to be an over-the-top 'I saved the world' moment. You may feel successful when you help someone else achieve an important goal. Perhaps you finished your post-secondary education at the top of your class despite struggling with a learning disability, or maybe you felt successful when you earned an exciting promotion.
Tell the interviewer about a time you felt successful. Describe the situation and outline the actions you took to achieve this success. Then, highlight why you felt successful at that moment.
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Anonymous Answer
When I took over my territory, it was 50 out of 51 in the company and had not hit quota in over five years. I hit quota the first year and finished 16 of 51, which was a huge success.
Rachelle's Feedback
That is a major success, and you should be very pleased with yourself! What did you do to get your territory to #16?
Anonymous Answer
I love the feeling of success. I felt successful when I was recently promoted at my job and given more responsibilities. I feel I always strive to do better than the expectations of me; therefore, it was gratifying to be promoted to my current role as Sales & Marketing manager because it showed that my company saw the value in me.
Rachelle's Feedback
You really come alive in your answer; this is wonderful! You show the interviewer how they can motivate you on the job.
Anonymous Answer
I feel most successful at work when I exceed the goals and expectations given to me by management/head office. As an engineer, I strive to be competitive and always want to do better than the expectations put on me. Last year I was top 5% in my department for Key performance indicators, which made me feel a lot of pride in my work and thrilled with my accomplishment.
Kevin's Feedback
The top 5% is amazing, and you should be very proud of this accomplishment. One stat that may be nice to add is how many people were in your department. For instance, top 5% out of 100, or top 5% out of 10?
“I measure my success at work by exceeding the goals and expectations set by me, or my management. As an engineer, I consistently compete with my previous performance, and always aim to go above and beyond. Last year, I performed in the top 5% of my department for all key performance indicators. Our department houses a staff of 70. My last record was in the top 7%. So bettering my prior record gave me feel a lot of pride. But, beyond that, I measure success by rising to any challenge I set for myself, or goals others set for me. If I can accomplish any task, and continue to enjoy the work involved, and hit all targets, then that’s success. Especially where my achievements didn’t feel like work at all, because I love what I do.”
Anonymous Answer
Accomplishing my nursing degree. I was apart of a very competitive nursing program and ended up graduating with high marks. I sacrificed a lot during my undergrad as well as through the program to be successful.
Rachelle's Feedback
Congratulations! Your hard work paid off :) Try diving into more detail to bring this to life a touch further for the interviewer. For instance, what made your nursing program so competitive? What did you sacrifice, and what roadblocks did you overcome along the way?
Anonymous Answer
When I organized a fundraiser, and monetarily we were successful, the attendees to the carnival and auction had fun.
Rachelle's Feedback
This sounds like fun! When offering up 'Tell me about a time' answers, it's best if you can expand on your details. Try using the STAR framework to organize your response (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
Anonymous Answer
I was working for a company, I was supporting a hospital with getting our product onto the formulary. I offered them a great discount which they accepted, they loved the product. I had a 3-week window where I had to train 91 wards before our product was officially used. I accomplished the ward training. The customer was very grateful and the account became the market leader for our product.
Cindy's Feedback
Good use of the STAR format. You could expand by talking about some of your challenges more specifically and how you overcame them.
Anonymous Answer
One time that I felt successful was when I coached a physician on the implant of a device for a patient that was reporting at least 10 episodes a day. After a few days of receiving the implant, the patient reported zero urinary episodes at night and had significantly reduced her trips to the bathroom during the day.
Stephanie's Feedback
This is a wonderful example--good for you! My only suggestion is to add a closing sentence that rounds out your response. For example: "Knowing that I'd made a positive impact on this patient's life made me feel that I had succeeded."
Anonymous Answer
I built many Greenfield and Brownfield sites globally and always take pride in what I was able to accomplish, it was a proud movement when my site received the CEO Best performing industrial site award in 2013 and 2017. However, I felt most successful when my site won the XX Excellence Award in 2018. A great journey of transformation to achieve excellence.
Marcie's Feedback
What did you do to earn the XX Excellence Award in 2018? Go into more detail so the interviewer can truly understand how hard you had to work to achieve this and why it made you feel so successful.
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