It should be clear that interviewers do not want to hear only your success stories. So many questions asked at the interview stage help you to sing your own praises, and questions like this help interviewers understand the gaps in your skills.

Don’t shy away from this question: This is your opportunity to guide the interviewer towards what you want them to see! Interviewers also want to evaluate your self-awareness and ability to read how you situate yourself within your team. They are looking to weed out egos and people who avoid evaluating themselves critically.

Why interviewers ask this question

People who think their work is perfect tend not to see the need for change. That can make it incredibly difficult for companies who want to see gradual improvement in their employees. Companies also want employees to see the gaps in their performance before a manager has to get involved.

Ultimately, recruiters are looking to answer this question: “Can this candidate evaluate their performance or do they rely on external validation?”

The best examples to use

Aim to find examples that show real achievement but also had minor problems in its execution. Some ideas to get you started might be: A teamwork project, in which the results were good but the collaboration was messy, or a leadership project in which targets were made but the process itself could have been improved.

Avoid telling your interviewer that you have always been satisfied! Perhaps there was a moment when you thought you succeeded but didn’t learn much, or the success you achieved came more from luck or external help rather than skill, or there was an efficiency mismatch between the effort you put into the project versus the output. Dig deep, and you will always find an example.

What to avoid when answering this question

Avoid personal examples or anything that might risk you feeling emotional. Keep your criticism reflective and avoid discussing feelings of self-doubt. You want to leave the interviewer thinking that you are aware of your weaknesses, not that you need emotional support.

Finally, so many people use the “perfectionist” line, and it doesn’t work! Absolutely leave it out of your vocabulary for the rest of the interview.

How to structure your response

Your answer to this question should follow this format:

• Highlight what you wanted to achieve and why that mattered to you
• Detail what actually happened. Make sure you are upfront about your success at this stage.
• Say what you were ultimately dissatisfied with, whether it was the process, communication, lack of efficiency, or something else.
• Reflect on what you learned from this experience and what you would do differently next time. Perhaps you changed your behaviour to make a lasting difference.

When you craft this response, remove anything that might seem like

• you’re blaming others, and
• vague dissatisfaction that goes nowhere.

Your interviewer will be listening closely to the final two parts of this structure. For this reason, we recommend putting your efforts into reflections and where you felt you could have improved.

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We hope this article helped you to shape an answer to the interview question, “Describe a situation where you succeeded but still weren’t satisfied”. We have a whole list of articles on acing the interview, to help you if you’re struggling:

• Tell us about yourself.
• What motivates you at work?
• What are your goals?
• What are you looking for in a new position?
• What is your leadership style?
• Why should we hire you?
• Have you got any questions for us?
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
• How Do You Approach Learning Something New?
• Describe a Conflict You Had With a Team Member and How You Resolved It

If there is a tough interview question that you always struggle to answer, follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn, and let’s keep the conversation going.