Is "How do you handle criticism?" the same as "How do you handle feedback?"

Mostly, yes. "Criticism" hints they want a harder example, so pick feedback that was genuinely uncomfortable, not a mild suggestion.

Can I use feedback from a performance review?

Yes, it's a natural source. Choose one specific comment rather than summarising the whole review, and say what you did in the months after.

Should I say how I felt?

One honest line helps, such as "my first instinct was to defend it". It makes the story believable. Then move straight to what you did.

What if the criticism was unfair?

Use a different example for the main answer. If asked about unfair criticism directly, show you listened, checked whether any part was true, and responded calmly.

Can I use the same story as for my weakness?

You can link them, since a weakness someone pointed out makes a strong example. Just make sure the weakness answer and this one don't sound word for word the same if both come up.

How do you handle criticism? How to answer with an example

What the interviewer wants to hear

Every manager has to give feedback. This question is how they find out what that will be like with you. They're listening for three signals:

You don't get defensive. You can hear "this wasn't good enough" without arguing or sulking.
You act on it. Feedback leads to a visible change, not just a polite nod.
You can tell fair from unfair. You don't accept every comment blindly, but you check before you dismiss it.

Notice that "I love criticism" isn't one of them. Nobody believes it, and it suggests you haven't had much.

The answer in three parts

Your approach, in one sentence. "My first reaction is to ask questions until I understand exactly what they mean, and then decide what to change."
One real example. The feedback, who gave it, how you reacted, what you changed.
The result. What improved, ideally something the person who criticised you noticed.

Keep it to 60–75 seconds. The example does the persuading; the opening sentence just frames it.

Choosing the right example

The best feedback for this answer is fair, specific and a little uncomfortable. If it was trivial, the story proves nothing. If it was about your character or integrity, it raises new worries.

Good feedback to use	Why it works
"Your reports are too long; I stop reading after page one"	Clear, fixable, easy to show a change
"You talk over people in meetings"	Shows self-awareness about behaviour, not just output
"Your code works but nobody else can read it"	Shows you care about others using your work
"You don't escalate early enough"	Shows judgement improving
"Your presentation lost the room in the middle"	Easy to describe a concrete before and after

Avoid feedback about honesty, reliability with money, safety, or anything that's a core requirement of the job you're interviewing for.

Example answers

The details here are made up. Use feedback you really received.

Example answer for a junior professional

"I try to listen first and ask questions before I react. In my first year as an account assistant, my manager told me my client emails were too long and the request got lost at the bottom. Honestly, my first instinct was that I was being thorough. But I asked her to show me one she'd have written differently, and she rewrote a six-paragraph email into three lines with the question first. I started putting the ask in the first line and keeping emails under 100 words. A month later a client told her I was the easiest person on the account to work with."

Example answer for someone in a technical role

"I treat criticism as information, even when it's uncomfortable. In a code review, a senior engineer wrote that my pull requests were too big to review properly. I'd been bundling a week's work into one. I asked him what size he found reviewable, and he said under 300 lines. I started splitting work into smaller changes and adding a two-line summary at the top of each. Reviews went from taking two or three days to same-day, and he started asking me to review his code too."

Example answer for a customer-facing role

"I don't take it personally, but I do take it seriously. At the call centre, my team lead listened to my calls and said I apologised so many times that customers thought we'd done something wrong when we hadn't. I hadn't noticed. I listened back to three of my own calls, counted, and she was right. I replaced most apologies with 'Here's what I'll do'. My quality scores went up the next month, and calls got shorter too."

How to say it out loud without sounding defensive

The words matter less than the tone. Defensiveness leaks out in small phrases. Watch for these when you rehearse:

Sounds defensive	Sounds open
"Which I didn't totally agree with, but…"	"My first reaction was to disagree, so I asked for an example."
"To be fair, nobody had told me before"	"I hadn't noticed it until then."
"She was quite harsh about it"	"It was direct, which helped."
"So I just did what she wanted"	"So I changed how I write them."

Say your answer out loud and listen for a speed-up or a pile of filler words right when you describe the criticism. That's where nerves show. The interview answer review shows your pace and fillers so you can spot it.

Mistakes to avoid

Claiming you've never been criticised. It sounds either untrue or like you avoid feedback.
Picking a story where the critic was wrong. "And then it turned out I was right" wins the story but loses the question.
Saying you accept all criticism. Show you think it through; good judgement matters more than compliance.
Ending on the feeling. "It really helped me grow" is weaker than the concrete change and result.

When they push back

Some interviewers follow up with "What about criticism you disagreed with?" Have a short second answer ready: you asked for examples, considered it, explained your view calmly, and agreed a way forward. One line on the outcome is enough. This is also a good place to practise with a partner who challenges you; in Speaking Coach you can set the interviewer to Tough and hear how your answer holds up under pressure.