Tell me about a time you received difficult feedback. What did you do with it?
Coachability. Dental school is four years of being corrected on things you thought you'd done well.
The trap
Sanding the feedback down until it's harmless. If the criticism doesn't sound like it hurt, the question hasn't been answered.
How to structure your answer
The feedback, quoted as directly as you can → your honest initial reaction → what you did → the outcome.
- Quote the actual feedback rather than softening it
- Admit the reaction stung if it did — that's human
- Describe the specific change you made
- Show the improvement concretely
A weak answer
A supervisor once told me I could be a little more assertive in meetings. I took it on board and made a point of speaking up earlier rather than waiting until the end, and I think I've gotten much better at contributing since then. It was useful feedback and I was glad she said it.
Sanded down until it stopped hurting. If it never stung, it wasn't feedback.
A stronger answer
I was a paralegal for nine years, and a partner handed a memo back to me and said, this is written to protect you, not to help me decide. I went and sat in my car for a while. She was right. I'd hedged every section so that nothing in it could be pinned on me. So I started leading with the recommendation in the first line and putting the caveats underneath it, and I asked her to look at the next three. On the third one she wrote better in the margin, which from her was a lot.
Quotes the sting almost verbatim, admits the reaction, changes the work, shows proof.
The second one repeats the sentence exactly the way it was said. You can hear that she's still carrying it around.
These are illustrations, not scripts. An answer you memorize sounds memorized — the point is the shape and the specificity, in your own words and about your own life.
Reading it isn't the same as saying it.
Most people can explain a good answer and still fall apart saying one out loud. Admitted asks you all 100 questions in a faculty voice, records you, and scores your pace and filler words.
Try one interview freeGet the guideMore behavioral questions
- Tell me about a time you faced a significant challenge. How did you handle it?Behavioral
- Tell me about a time you made a mistake. What did you do?Behavioral
- Describe a time you worked as part of a team. What was your role?Behavioral
- Tell me about a time you led a group.Behavioral
- Tell me about a time you disagreed with a supervisor or someone with authority over you.Behavioral
- Describe a conflict you had with a peer and how you resolved it.Behavioral