How to Answer Behavioural Interview Question, Tell me about a time when you left a task unfinished

Tell me about a time when you left a task unfinished is one of the hardest behavioural interview questions to answer correctly, but it is coming up more often during job interviews.

If you have an interview coming up soon for any role or company, make sure you read this guide very well because it will help you be the standout candidate.

How to Answer Interview Question, Tell me about a time when you left a task unfinished

To answer this interview question, this is what this guide will cover:

  • Reasons why the interviewer is asking you the tough interview question, Tell me about a time when you left a task unfinished? There are three specific reasons why they are asking you this question. You need to know what those reasons are in order to answer it correctly.
  • Three (3) brilliant example answers to help you pass your interview. Choose which one answer option is applicable to you and your previous experience.

Reasons why the interviewer is asking you the tough interview question, Tell me about a time when you left a task unfinished?

There’s three reasons:

  1. They want to assess the reason or the reasons why you left a particular task unfinished.

They are asking you to tell them a situation, a specific previous situation when you left a task unfinished and they want to know the reasons why. So do not say you’ve never left a task unfinished because we’ve all done that in the past.

If you use any of the following four reasons why you left a task unfinished, you will probably fail your interview:

  • If you say you didn’t feel motivated by the particular task, then you’ll probably fail;
  • If you say you didn’t think you were suitably qualified or you hadn’t had the right training to complete the task, you may fail;
  • If you say the task was outside of your job description or outside of your job remit, you will probably fail;
  • Do not say whatever you do, you left the task unfinished because it was time to go home, It was the end of the working day.

Don’t use any of those four reasons.

  1. They are assessing your prioritizing skills.

If you can prioritize tasks based on the needs of the company, you are more likely to get hired.

  1. They want to hear whether you blame others for the task being left unfinished.

Do not blame anybody else in your answer, because you may not get hired. You must be careful how you answer this tough interview question.

Tell me about a time you left the task unfinished Sample Answers

Below are three example answers to that question, Tell me about a time you left a task unfinished.

Question: Tell me about a time you left the task unfinished.

ANSWER OPTION 1

“I was working on an important time-sensitive task for my manager when the company owner came into the office to ask for a volunteer to help with an urgent situation. Because this new task was urgent and a priority, I felt it was right to temporarily leave my task unfinished.

The company owner needed me to find a new venue for an important meeting he was having that afternoon, because the previous venue had just let him down.

Once I found a new meeting venue, I then returned to my unfinished task and to get my task back on track. I decided to stay behind late that evening for an extra hour to ensure it was completed.”

The answer above shows that you are capable of prioritizing tasks. You understand that new task is urgent and then you work hard afterwards once you’ve finished that urgent task to get your previous unfinished task completed.

Question: Tell me about a time you left the task unfinished.

ANSWER OPTION 2:

“In my previous role, I was helping a customer to choose which product they wanted to buy. I spent a long time helping them, asking them numerous questions and providing them with detailed information on all our products.

After several days of extended communications, I had to politely decline answering any further questions because I had spent so much time trying to help them.

I learned a lot from that experience, and I’ve since learned to quickly ascertain when a customer is serious about buying and when they are not.”

Question: Tell me about the time you left the task unfinished.

ANSWER OPTION 3:

“I was working on a project with several co-workers when suddenly one of them fell ill. The project had to be finished by the following day. However, my attention had to quickly switch to the health and wellbeing of my work colleague.

We stopped the project and I took my co-worker to the hospital to get them checked out as they were not fit to drive. After various health checks, they were sent home by the doctor.

When I returned to work, we carried on with the project and put in extra hours to try and get it finished on time. But despite our best efforts, we just missed the deadline by 2 hours.

However, whilst I do not like missing deadlines, on this occasion my colleague’s health had to come first.”

That’s three example answers there.

Thank you for reading this article and I wish you all the best for passing your job interview.

by Scholars Hub

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