How to answer “what negative feedback did you get in your last internship”

Hey guys,

I’m currently interviewing for PE internships in germany. However, I have been asked in multiple interviews what negative (and positive) feedback I got in my last internship in an investment bank. I answered with two things: First, I was too critical of mistakes and backed this up with a backstory- repeatedly mentioned small mistakes (like not properly aligned things) in documents we received when talking with an analyst I worked with. He said that this would hurt myself by increasing the expectations other’s have of my work. Second, I would be usually among the junior people coming 15 minutes later than the average to the office. It was mentioned in my feedback, but it was also said that this was not such a huge deal because I often were one of the last persons to leave the office and worked on nearly every sunday during my internship. What is your opinion on these to weaknesses? What did you say in your interviews regarding the negative feedback question? Looking forward to the discussion.

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Definitely don't mention that you came in late. Although make sure you're not late in your next internships... some people really care about what time interns come in, even if they are working late, as you have now learned.

The first one is confusing - are you basically saying you were too much of a perfectionist? That's not a real weakness.

Even if it's not the feedback you actually got, you should say something very normal that isn't a problematic weakness. I.E. I was really eager to get my work done quickly and sometimes missed some small errors in numbers and formatting, so I am working on checking work more diligently. Or, I tend to struggle with time management, or I spin my wheels on a concept for too long when I should just ask for help.

Make sure you answer these in the correct format - state the weakness, what problem it caused, and what you are working on to fix it. 

 

Thank you for the advice! How about getting lost in details e.g. over engineering slides by creating new icons and then handing things in just before the set deadline? Would address time management…

 

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