Tell Me About a Time

Tell me about a time when you faced a challenge and how did you solve it? Where do I start?

The way you answer this question can position you well for that desired job or promotion opportunity. The truth is when most of us are experiencing difficult times or downright failure, it is so difficult to see the upside until much later. This week I had the privilege of meeting in-person over coffee in London with a very successful (Bermudian) professional and we shared with each other our personal journeys toward success and noted that the difficult ones, especially the failures, were responsible for setting us up to be more resilient in our careers when the times demanded it.

Yes, it is only later that we often realize the growth that comes from often bad experiences: Learning how to do things better, differently or not at all. Failings, and their other cousins such as ‘not yet’, ‘not a good fit’, ‘maybe next year’ and the like, are actually ways to learn best so you can choose differently, do better, be better and therefore happier (I know right?). We concluded over coffee that self-belief and self-agency contributed greatly to our ‘bounce-forward’ (AKA resilience) success.

So how will you nail the question about how you face challenges and solve them? By considering reframing your failures and setbacks and see them instead as clear opportunities for your growth.