Page 97 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

thought-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS Graduate/trainee management level

interviewer: Please describe a time where you have had
to solve a difficult problem.

7 Poor answer:

“Oh yes, there was this time when I had a summer job when there was a

clash on the rota. Someone needed to free up a day to enable them to attend
a medical appointment, so we needed to sort that out. We looked at the rotas
to see who might be able to substitute and obviously needed to take legislation
into account to ensure that the shifts were adequately staffed. In the end,

someone did 2 hours’ overtime to cover for him during his appointment.”

First of all, this example is very similar to the one provided in Chapter 4 on
task-based questions, but it does not adequately differentiate between ‘task’
and ‘thought’. When you use the same or a similar example to respond to two
different questions it’s important to clearly illustrate how the example relates to
the question being asked, and how it differs from your earlier use.

Also, the response lacks structure. Although we know what happened, we
don’t really know the context, and the credibility is limited. A clearer response
would follow CaR (Circumstances, Action, Results) and would have given a
better insight into the circumstances leading to the situation, the action taken,
and the results.

Another problem with this response is that we do not really know what role the
interviewee took. What did they contribute to resolving the problem, what data
did they draw on, how did they reach a conclusion? Again, the response has
limited credibility as a result.

3 Better answer:

“Yes, for a summer job I worked in a place where they operate a shift pattern,

with three shifts in a 24-hour period: 7 ‘till 2, 2 ‘till 10 and 10 ‘till 7. I had been
asked by the manager to look at the rota for what hours staff were due to be
working. One of the other members of staff had requested to be released from

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