I Made a Mistake: The twist-filled, addictive new thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of I LOOKED AWAY

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I felt terrible. My face got hot and breath shallow. I’d wanted so desperately to help and now I felt like I was making things worse. As I was gaining more experience and was preparing to take on more responsibilities, my manager suggested that I take the opportunity to discuss with the client what they were looking for and how we could help them. Action:

I clarified the situation with the client first, then explained it to my supervisor and team next week. I apologized to both my client and my team for the confusion. I then shadowed my supervisor to learn how they delegated their work and improved my relationship with the team. But before everything, you should remember the distinction between self-awareness and negativity. Don’t talk down to yourself even when talking about tasks you’re not so good at. Project confidence even while stating your weaknesses. Lastly, try to phrase your weaknesses as positively as possible. Here are a few examples:

Always use a real past failure example but do your best to make it benign. In other words, don’t give the employer a reason not to hire you with the example you choose. A company is not going to hire a person who might create a fiasco or present a legal problem for them down the road. So when recruiters ask you to tell them about a time you made a mistake, you should keep these rules in mind: This is a simple structure for giving the best answers possible to any behavioral question. You’d start with the situation or challenge you were faced with, and the task you had to complete. Next, you’d describe the action you took. What solution did you come up with? And finally, the result. What was the outcome? And most importantly – what did you learn from the experience? This ensures you’ll tell a clear, easy-to-follow story that will impress the hiring manager.

Discussing what you’ve learned from your fumble shows your initiative and ability to analyze events objectively. You’re also indicating that you understand how the mistake came to be. I learned that it is much better to be realistic and honest from the outset, rather than to overpromise and underdeliver.

If you’d rather pair hands-on experience with some classroom learning, then you can opt for courses that offer that experience. But if you want to find these projects on your own, then you need to learn how to: 2) Network