'Tell us about a time you recieved negative feedback'

[mst2100]

Hello Everyone,

I recently had an interview and it didn't go great. I thought I did well, but I was clearly very nervous, and I just got rejected from the school. I have been thinking about my interview a lot, and I am trying to identify a few ways I can do better next time. One question that sticks out is the 'Tell us about a time you received negative feedback and how did you respond' question. It was asked in this interview and in a previous job interview, and I struggle with it. I'm trying to figure out what schools are 'looking for' when they ask this. Are they trying to make sure I won't fly off the handle when I am corrected? Are they looking to see if I am humble and recognize my faults? Are they trying to see if I get defensive with stuff? Where should I be taking this?

 

Here are some ways I have thought of to answer this question: 1) After accidentally hitting a door with an ambulance, my supervisor said 'Don't do that' and I said 'Understood. I will take more care next time' and have not hit anything again. (I was diving into an open garage to have equipment fixed and was being guided in by a spotter. I could not see the top of the ambulance from the driver's seat as it is 18 inches above my head and there is no sunroof, obvs, and neither I or the spotter thought to double check the height because we were focused on not scratching the side.)  This demonstrates that I accept responsibility for my actions, recognize when I have made mistakes, and take care not to repeat them. 

2) I received poor chemistry grades my freshman year and therefor was initially excluded from my intended major, biology. (I'm counting the grades themselves as feedback, here). I reached out to the chem prof for the following year and arranged to audit the first two quarters, and retake the third quarter; I reached out to professors for the bio courses I had been planning to take, discussed the situation, and they agreed to let me take my courses with the understanding that the chem requirement would eventually be met; and I thoroughly discussed the situation with my advisor and made a plan. I retook the classes, continued on in my major and graduated. This shows that I have perseverance, can manage setbacks, and don't quit. I did have more poor grades after this (which is one reason why I am a long-shot for this anyway and get nervous in the first place.

Any thoughts? I have a few additional situations I could draw on, but I'm not sure they are better than what is above.

Does anyone have a particularly good response that they have given or heard from an interviewee?

 

[nichole96]

The problem here is that you aren't digging deeply. These are both extremely surface-level examples of "negative feedback" and don't show that you can genuinely consider critique and respond to it positively. (Grades also are an indication of your work/skill and are not an example of negative feedback.)

If I'm remembering correctly, the feedback does not have to be given in the work or school environment. I think I talked about some tough feedback I got from my SO and discussed how I stepped back and made changes based on his thoughts. I'm sure you've received negative feedback from a family member, friend, or someone else that you can draw on to answer this question.

One more thing. If you're invited to interview, you aren't such a long shot. My roommate and I were academic long shots and are both currently thriving in our furthest-reach program. Don't sell yourself short!

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

We ask this as part of our job interview process and it amazes me the number of providers that give half-ass responses or actually claim that they've never had negative feedback.  Really?  I can give a whole slew of answers to this one and it doesn't have to be patient related and I'm just another nice guy.  No, really.  OK, maybe not all the time.

[mst2100]

Thanks for the feedback! I have been thinking about other examples of deeper/more constructive criticism. I have identified a few, but the are less 'clean cut', in that I didn't immediately and completely fix the problem, and instead had to revisit the issue several times, and I felt much more like a failure in the process. I'm a bit worried that interviewers will think I'm not capable of meeting the demands of PA school, and so I am working on ways of discussing what I learned from each of those experiences, while not getting defensive about my weaknesses. I appreciate your answers!

[MT2PA]

47 minutes ago, mst2100 said:

Thanks for the feedback! I have been thinking about other examples of deeper/more constructive criticism. I have identified a few, but the are less 'clean cut', in that I didn't immediately and completely fix the problem, and instead had to revisit the issue several times, and I felt much more like a failure in the process. I'm a bit worried that interviewers will think I'm not capable of meeting the demands of PA school, and so I am working on ways of discussing what I learned from each of those experiences, while not getting defensive about my weaknesses. I appreciate your answers!

Frankly this is more of what a program/job interview is looking for.  We're all human.  One telling of negative feedback does not typically illicit an immediate and perfect correction.  We aren't robots.

 

Your quote: "I'm trying to figure out what schools are 'looking for' when they ask this. Are they trying to make sure I won't fly off the handle when I am corrected? Are they looking to see if I am humble and recognize my faults? Are they trying to see if I get defensive with stuff? Where should I be taking this?'

^It's all of the above.  It's a complex question that deserves a thoughtful answer.