If the interviewer specifically asks for something related to work, try to at least pull the story from something that happened a long time ago. At the same time, you probably also want to shy away from any colossal failures related to the kind of work you’re applying for. Don’t try to weasel your way out of this by talking about that one time you got a B in a college class. I’m going to have to think about that for a second.” Then, think about it for a second and follow these four steps. Take a deep breath and say something like, “Wow, that’s a great question. So, what do you do?įirst things first, stay calm. You want to impress, but you’re explicitly being asked to talk about something you failed at. How do you answer this honestly while also not scaring away your potential future employer by bringing up that time you lost your company a lot of money? While not the most common job interview question, the failure question-should you get it-is rather perplexing.