How To Answer “What Are You Most Proud Of?” [With Answers for 2024]

If you don’t have a lot of time to prepare for an interview, one question you should be prepared to answer is what you’re most proud of. This is a difficult question to answer since there are so many possibilities. Answering the interviewer with a confused look is the hardest thing you can do. 

In an interview, discussing your career success shows that you’re a competitive candidate. It demonstrates to an interviewer the professional motivations, values, and definitions of achievement. Both of these are important factors to remember when considering a candidate for a career opening. 

Reason Why Interviewers ask, ‘What are You Most Proud of?’

Inquiring about your most proud achievement tells a lot about your attitude and beliefs. It demonstrates how you define achievement for oneself, which is essential in understanding what motivates you. 

An applicant who describes their most proud moment as the day they make the most money in their position, for example, reveals a lot of who they are and what they value most. They improve their performance in terms of dollars and are guided by the need to make as much money as possible.

Likewise, a candidate who claims that self-teaching themselves a coding language is their proudest career achievement also provides a lot of knowledge to the interviewer. It reflects an applicant who is interested in gaining new skills and experience.

Interviewers ask new candidates what they are most proud of to learn more about them as people and their interests. 

They could recognize if you’re a motivated candidate who wants to learn and grow in the job you’ve applied for based on your response. They will also determine whether this work is a good match for you and if they can assist you in gaining new skills that would enable you to advance much further based on your response.

How to Respond to the Question?

Responding to the interviewer about what you’re most proud of is tough because your answer must apply to the role you’re interviewing for and show your strengths to improve your overall interview results. Even though your most important achievement occurred at a crucial point in your career, it must be explained succinctly.

• Reflect Your Qualifications and Career experiences

It’s a smart idea to focus on your career and educational experience and find experiences you’re proud of before putting pen to paper to formulate a sample response for your interview. 

Make a list of all of them and choose the most relevant ones for the position you’re interviewing for.

For example, you might say that getting your master’s degree at the age of 22 was a significant accomplishment, demonstrating your commitment to progress. Optionally, you might use a former job as an indicator where you conducted a high-performing program that resulted in a large amount of revenue and benefit. 

Make a list of all of your career achievements to prep for this question. Although you may have accomplished certain things in your personal life that you are proud of, an employer is most likely to be interested in learning about your professional achievements. Note down everything that comes to mind during this time of meditation, no matter how large or small. The whole brainstorming session will assist you in remembering your greatest accomplishments.

• Connect it to the Job

Keep in mind that your answers should be specific to the role you’re interviewing for. When you’re changing jobs, it’s important to choose an example that demonstrates your transferable abilities. 

Start narrowing down your list based on the position you’re applying for as of now that you also have a long list. Take a look at the job posting and do some company analysis before preparing your answer. That way, you’ll be able to see if any of your successes are more relevant to the work you’re applying for. 

Customer care, for example, is critical in several professions, so you might highlight any of your previous customer service encounters to demonstrate how you’re a strong communicator with a keen eye for information.

Choose a response that will demonstrate to employers that you have the potential to do fantastic things at their company. Instead of a minor achievement, look for something that has had a significant impact on your success. Use it as an opportunity to demonstrate that you strive for big targets. 

• Connect your Objectives with the Company.

The above tip can be extended to any interview question; when formulating the responses, keep the company’s priorities in mind.

Assume you’re interviewing for a philanthropic organization. In that scenario, you might mention how proud you are of your voluntary work and how you’d like to recommend any firms with which the company could collaborate. That’s per the company’s vision and character, and it will help you stand out as a good fit for the role. 

• Describe How you did the Work

Show how your ability set helped you to accomplish remarkable work in your answer. Describe which skills aided you in achieving your goal. You might also go into detail about the abilities you acquired along the way. The answer is an excellent chance to demonstrate that you are still looking for opportunities to advance in your profession. Highlight the fact that you’re still seeking new targets and striving for a target. Take the boss via the actions you followed to achieve this goal. 

• Talk About What You Learned

Learning from your successes is the path to great results. When you’ve achieved your goal, describe any life lessons or wisdom you’ve learned. Tell them what you learned about dedication and commitment through the process.

• Be Genuine/ Sincere While Answering

Instead of trying to downplay your achievement or making it appear more remarkable than it is, tries to be truthful and genuine in your answer. You never know if the boss would investigate more about this accomplishment later, so just have accurate information. Just use information you recall to build your reputation and demonstrate that you have the necessary skills to achieve your objectives. 

While responding to interview questions, always be honest. While offering a made-up story could seem more impressive, it would serve no one. The recruiting manager is likely to catch on to your lies, and if they’re not, you’ll be figured out if you get the position, which might jeopardize your future career at the company. 

STAR Method 

Behavioral interview questions, which call for an explanation from the personal past, are famously difficult. The STAR approach is a career interview tool that assists applicants in answering questions regarding their previous experiences, such as their most proud achievement. 

“Situation, Task, Action, Result” is the acronym for STAR. The STAR approach aims to stay on track to generate a coherent and succinct response to behavioral interview questions that include previous work scenarios. 

Situation: The first step in using the STAR approach to address interview questions is to have adequate detail about a condition that is important to the question being asked by the interviewer.

Task: In this case, describe your position and responsibilities.

Action: Define your acts while emphasizing attributes that would be useful in the position you’re applying for.

Result: Consider the results and how they affected your career.

Since it offers instructions for providing a full response specific to the topic, the STAR approach can be helpful when developing an answer for what achievement you’re most proud of. 

Example Answers

1. My most important accomplishment is to see a feature article published in Fortune magazine. My career aim was to get a by-line in Fortune magazine since I was an undergraduate. I didn’t let the fact that I sent in several pitches and got a few rejections to deter me. With a lifestyle article on gender empowerment, I persisted until tried harder, until I was eventually welcomed. This chance then widened a slew of other doors for me, and it was a brilliant alternative to my resume. 
2. “In my career, the achievement I’m most proud of is releasing a schedule-organizing service with the OnePlus store that turned up in top ten most apps installed of 2018.” That was a project that my partner and I started in our first year in college, and it had just escalated for the next seven years. This accomplishment holds a special place in my heart since it was not only one of my first running a business, but it was also the most profitable. Every fifth, our app receives 1 million downloads, and it has created 159 jobs since its inception. This app’s influence helps to fascinate me to pursue my most ambitious goals. 
3. I’m proud of leading a team of 50 people for more than 12 years consistently, with a year-over-year rise in revenue. We had begun with a group of 5 travel consultants and quickly expanded to a total of 50 by incorporating different professional positions. The workforce is encouraged by these new prospects, and we had very less staff turnover as a result. Due to my effectiveness in leading this team, I was promoted to managing director, where I managed the organization for another six years. But now I’m able to put my skills to use in a field that is very closely related to my interests.
4. “Since taking over as crew lead at my current employment, I am most proud of the atmosphere that I have built for my squad. We have a good time while getting the job done. Efficiency has gradually improved while turnover has decreased.”

Conclusion

With every other typical interview topic, it’s important to plan your responses ahead of time and use examples relevant to the position or organization you’re interviewing for. If you refuse to do that and just recite generic or meaningless answers, your probability of getting the job will be ruined. As a result, ensure to provide thoughtful responses that represent both your personality and your adequacy for the position you’re interviewing for.

References

1. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ863356