1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed.
-One of the most disappointing "failures" in my life did occur last semester surrounding an internship with a boutique private equity firm. I had put in over a month of grinding through the interview process, which was five, in-depth interviews over Skype. Obviously, I was very happy to make it to the last round of interviews and I was hopeful of securing the position for the summer. Ultimately, the firm wanted to recruit a student closer to graduation in order to secure him or her with an offer for full-time employment. The fact that I was a sophomore put me at a great disadvantage and was my failing factor. The real feeling of failure came from the fact that the majority of private equity firms had already filled their summer internship positions, which left me with really nothing for the summer in terms of an internship.
2) Tell us what you learned from it.
-I learned from this "failure" to accept the process of failing. The firm gave me great remarks and told to reapply next fall for the same position. I have often been very hard on myself when situations like this do not go my way. However, as I reflected on the failure I understood there was still some kind of position out there that would give me exposure to the finance world. I ended up getting a banking internship at the main office in Tallasheee for a local, smaller bank. This banking internship is not what I initially wanted, however, it will provide a great level of insight and knowledge into a necessary part of the business world. Sometimes certain situations do not play out the way we want them to, but the key I learned was to find an alternative that brings a net positive in a situation that seems negative.
3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure.
-Personally, failure is extremely frustrating in situations where you feel like all the necessary work was done and yet you still failed. Failure is just a constant reminder to the fact that some things are just not intended to work out, so you have to navigate around the situation in order to prosper from the failure. The worst action when dealing with failure is to just give up completely, but that does not mean an individual should keep pursuing the same failure over and over again. Failure is designed to be the ultimate teacher so one can learn and not repeat the same failures, but ultimately find the alternative solution to be successful.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
30A – Final Reflection
1) Summary of ENT3003 throughout the semester. -This class allowed me to gain a great deal of knowledge and personal growth surroundi...
Hi David! I enjoyed reading your blog post for this assignment. I agree that experiencing failure is extremely frustrating. Like you, I am also hard on myself when I experience failure. However, I enjoyed reading how you view failure as a learning experience. I also feel this is important because if we do not understand what happened, then we cannot improve. Overall, excellent job!
ReplyDeleteHey David,
ReplyDeleteI found your personal story regarding failure to be quite personal. Failure is so frustrating sometimes, especially when you almost make it to the finish line and your only shortcoming is your lack of experience. They only cure to this kind of failure is repetition, as it's really not a shortcoming of yourself. Good job and keep working at it!
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post for celebrating failure. Failure could be so frustrating at times even when you don't think that you deserve it. When finding an internship, I am usually pretty hard on myself too. I really enjoyed reading your opinion of why we fail. Sometimes, it's for the best and I agree with that. Great job!