How to answer
What would you do if a colleague made a mistake?
More often an MMI station than a panel question, and it is rarely about the mistake. It is about what you do next, in what order, and whether the person who could be harmed stays at the centre of it.
What it is really asking
Whether you will act on something uncomfortable, and whether you will act fairly. The station wants to see you protect whoever the mistake could hurt, give your colleague the chance to put it right, and know when it has to go further than the two of you.
The ethical reasoning domain page covers how this kind of station is marked.
Also asked as: “You notice an error nobody else has seen. What next?” “Someone you work with is cutting corners. What do you do?” “Would you report someone you work with?”
What interviewers hear too often
- Straight to reporting. Going over your colleague’s head in the first sentence, before you know what happened.
- Covering for them. Loyalty presented as kindness, while the person at risk is never mentioned.
- Certainty without facts. A firm verdict on a scenario you have not asked a single question about.
What a good answer does
- Safety first. If someone could be harmed now, that comes before anything else, including how awkward it is.
- Then the facts and the person. Find out what happened, and speak to your colleague directly and privately.
- Then the right person. If it is not put right, or it is serious, take it to someone with the authority to deal with it, and tell your colleague you are doing so.
Two openings
Both invented, and neither is yours to borrow.
The first is not wrong, but it skips everything the station wants to see you weigh. The second shows an order of thinking, and leaves room for the colleague.
The follow-ups to expect
- What if the colleague is senior to you?
- What if they promise to fix it, and then do not?
- Would your answer change if no harm was done?
- What would you want a colleague to do if the mistake were yours?
Test your own draft
- The harm test. Is the person the mistake could hurt in your answer, and early?
- The fairness test. Does your colleague get to explain before you decide anything about them?
- The escalation test. Can you say who you would go to, and what would make you go?
What it is marked on
Related questions
Other guides
- Start here What the interview is testing, and how the cycle runs.
- Timeline planner Put in your interview date and get a week by week plan.
- Pathway planner The whole road from school to consultant, drawn around your choices.
- Practice stations Real MMI stations with a two minute reading phase and a station clock.
- By university The interview at every undergraduate-entry school: format, timing, and what is marked.
- What is marked The six things every station marks, and how to practise each one.
- How to answer The questions every panel asks, what each is testing, and the follow-ups to expect.
- Question themes The subjects questions come from, from rural health to the profession, with prompts.
- Interview dates When each school sends invitations, holds interviews and makes offers this cycle.
- When you hear back Every school’s offer dates, and why the wait after the interview is so long.
- Formats What an MMI and a panel interview each are, and how to prepare for each.
- Interview soon? Days to go? What you can still book at short notice, and the prices.
- For parents Who your child is working with, and what I will not promise.
If you want a session
In a session I teach the structure, then ask the follow-ups until your answer holds. Thirty minutes, $40, online, credited to any package.