Financial Analyst Mock Interview
Practice 40 Financial Analyst interview questions covering modeling, valuation, and technical competency.
Question 36 of 40
Tell me about a setback you faced on the job.
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Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
This is another question aimed at determining your level of emotional intelligence and whether you take ownership of your mistakes or fear them being discovered. Someone who is embarrassed by or ashamed of their mistakes is more likely to repeat them, whereas someone who takes ownership of their mistakes or failures takes every opportunity to learn and grow from them and finds that admitting to their mistakes is a show of strength. No one can hold over you what you already own. As Howard Marks once put it, "Experience is what you got when you didn't get what you wanted."
Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
Early in my internship, I was set loose to work with a client. Now, my mentor was constantly in my periphery but stepped away to guide another intern when I was collecting initial data from my client. I did a play-by-play when I asked questions, but I didn't ask enough questions, and the answers they provided me contained all sorts of red flags that should have generated more questions, but I failed to listen. As a result, when I started the project, I had trouble understanding the data I was working on. When I recruited the help and advice of my mentor, they asked me to go over the conversation I had with the client. They then suggested the questions I should have asked and the cues I missed. I didn't ask enough questions, and I missed important information and made mistakes. But those were mistakes I never made again.
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