How do I answer, "How do you handle criticism?"

"Can you describe a time when your work was criticized?"

Your answer to this question is your chance to show job interviewers:

• how you respond to stressful situations

• whether you can take suggestions and corrections with the right attitude

Showcase your positive attitude and openness toward different opinions.

• Share a moment when you embraced a different opinion.

• Emphasize that you're a team player and can grow from collective widsom.

Show that you're capable of making positive changes out of the criticism!

• Talk about how you listened and made changes when a boss, a client, or a colleague critiqued your work.

• Demonstrate how you made a significant and successful change based on the criticism received.

• Don't say that you've never been criticized at work. It might sound insincere, or come off as bragging.

• Don't give excessive detail about why you received the criticism. Focus on your positive reaction to criticism.

• Don't belittle anyone with your response, including yourself.

• If you don't have a real example to give, don't make up stories! Think of a hypothetical example and explain how you'd prefer to respond to criticism.

Taryn is a graphic designer interviewing for a job at a web design firm. The interviewer asks her about a time she was criticized by a client, and this is her response:

"I once made what I thought was a brilliant design for a client's website, but the client wasn't satisfied. I asked the client about specific changes I could make. We both agreed that the images needed to better reflect the audience's tastes, so I found some replacement images that worked better. Once the site went live, a user survey showed that the audience really related to the replacement images."

Now, ask yourself the big question and try to answer it!

"Can you describe a time when your work was criticized?"