How to Deal with Past Failures & Mistakes When Trying to Renew Your Career

It’s possible you’ve made a big mistake or two in your career or at your current job and you’re trying to restore your career or reputation.

If you walked out and quit in the middle of an important presentation to the CEO, got embarrassingly drunk at the holiday party, or lost your temper with a client, how do you recover and move your career forward? How do you face an uncomfortable job interview where you’re asked to explain things?

Keep the following five things in mind as you deal with repairing your career for future job interviews.

Be patient. If you’re looking for another opportunity for a promotion at your current company it might take some time for trust to be restored. It takes time for wounds to heal, even when that wound is to your career. Focus your attention on rebuilding trust by pursuing excellence on the job without trying to force others to recognize the changes you’ve made. They’ll be recognized in time.

Be honest. If you have a job interview be honest about what happened and your role in the situation. If you were going through a divorce when you walked out on the presentation to the CEO that might help explain the stress you were under. Take responsibility for the mistakes you’ve made and demonstrate that you are fully prepared to take responsibility for your actions.

Don’t minimize. As mentioned above, you need to own your decisions and recognize the seriousness of your actions without attempting to pass blame elsewhere or make excuses. Facing a difficult situation head on with honesty and without minimizing will demonstrate integrity and show that you’ve made positive changes to your life and career. 

Share what’s been learned. You can lead others through your vulnerability by sharing your experiences with others and passing on what you have learned. Perhaps you can become known as an expert in your company on dealing with workplace stress because you’ve struggled to manage stress in the past. If you’re open and vulnerable, your biggest failures can lead to greater successes if you offer that failure to others as a teaching, learning, and healing experience.

Describe strategies to avoid a repeat. Finally, be clear with yourself and others, including an interviewer, just what changes you’ve made in your life and the strategies you now employ to prevent a repeat of the actions that set you back in your job or career.

An embarrassing failure does not have to be the end of your career if you are humble enough to be patient and learn from you mistakes.