Page 61 - How To Answer Interview Questions (II)

Job Interview Question 28

How do you make decisions?

With this question, the interviewer is looking to see what your decision-making process is like. How
do you think? How do you approach a problem? Can you think critically about it and come to a
rational, data-based solution or decision?

You can walk them through the process of how you go about making a decision—talk about how
you gather information, how you learn more about the problem, who you talk to, what books you read,
what resources you consult, and what factors you take into account when you decide.

A great way to answer this is to walk them through a difficult decision you made (with a
successful outcome).

Maybe it’s how you made the decision to fire someone, or it’s how you made the decision to
assign resources to a particular function, even though it was unpopular.

Tell your story using a STAR format:
Situation or Task –

Talk about what you were faced with. What was going on? Why was this a
problem? What goal were you not hitting that you needed to hit?
Action –