How to Answer the 'Tell Me About a Time You Overcame a Difficult Work Situation?' Job Interview Question (2024)

FAQs

How to Answer the 'Tell Me About a Time You Overcame a Difficult Work Situation?' Job Interview Question? ›

Example: “When I was working as an office manager, the CEO of our company told me that employee productivity was down and that I needed to come up with a solution. Since there are many reasons why productivity might decline, I decided to ask the team members by conducting interviews and sending out short surveys.

Example: “When I was working as an office manager, the CEO of our company told me that employee productivity was down and that I needed to come up with a solution. Since there are many reasons why productivity might decline, I decided to ask the team members by conducting interviews and sending out short surveys.

When asked a "tell me about a time" question, it's best to try and answer with a specific example of a time that you had a challenge working with a colleague or patron. If you haven't experienced this specific situation, it's acceptable to describe how you would handle the situation if faced with it in the workplace.

Some examples of situations you can discuss include: A time when you dealt with a lot of customer complaints and how you rectified the issue. A time when you had to work long hours to meet a deadline. A time when you had to deal with a difficult colleague when working on a project.

Example Answer:

To overcome this difficulty, I proactively communicated my needs and concerns to my team members and manager. I asked for clear guidelines and expectations, ensuring that I had a clear understanding of my role and responsibilities.

The many deadlines had caused me stress and anxiety. I immediately planned a system to manage my projects. This helped me sort them based on their urgency and assign each task a timeline I could handle. I focused on completing each task, I met my deadlines, and reduced my stress levels."

Acquiring successful time management skills was the biggest challenge I faced as a student. It was an aspect of college life that I underestimated the significance of. Now that I am in the workforce, I continue to use the skills I gained, and I am always trying to improve on them as well.

For example, in customer service you might find a scenario like, “How would you handle an angry customer?” or “How do you respond when a customer asks for a refund?” Practicing how you might handle these or other scenarios common in your industry can help you call upon solutions quickly when they arise on the job.

Instead of letting the situation escalate, I initiated a one-on-one conversation to address our differences. I listened actively to their perspective and shared my own, and we were able to find common ground. As a result, our working relationship improved, and we were able to collaborate more effectively.

What is the most difficult person to work with? ›

Start your response by briefly describing the background of the situation. Clearly explain your challenges, such as tight deadlines, conflicting priorities or resource constraints. Paint a clear picture for the interviewer, ensuring they understand the gravity and complexity of the situation. Outline your approach.

“Tell me about a time you failed” example answers

In my previous company, I led a task team for one of our clients. We were on a tight deadline, and since this was a very important client, I opted to do most of the work myself instead of delegating. Unfortunately, we didn't complete the project on time.

Task: Briefly describe the task/situation you handled, giving relevant details as needed. Action: Explain the actions you used to complete your task or solve your issue. This is the place to be very detailed and specific so take your time providing this information. Result: Present the specific results you achieved.

Structure your responses using the Situation, Task, Action, and Result (STAR) method. Start by describing a specific situation or problem you encountered, outline the task you needed to accomplish, detail the actions you took to address the problem, and finish with the results of your efforts.

Use the STAR method to answer challenge questions by clearly describing the Situation, outlining the Task, explaining the Actions you took, and detailing the Result to showcase your problem-solving skills effectively.

The best way to approach this question is to be honest and transparent about a mistake you made, focusing on how you addressed and learned from it. Describe the situation briefly, explain the mistake and its impact, discuss the steps you took to rectify it, and highlight the lessons you gained from the experience.