- ‘Have you ever had a bad experience with an employer? …
- ‘What has been your biggest failure?’ …
- ‘How do you handle stress?’ …
- ‘How do you deal with conflict?’ …
- ‘Give us an example of a time when you faced an ethical dilemma. …
- ‘How do you manage your time and prioritise tasks?
During a job interview, you may be asked situational interview questions. Interviewers do this to help them see your thought processes and how you’ve used your skills in the past.
Your answers will demonstrate how you have overcome any challenges, help with any company needs or how you work with a team.
This article will explain more about the intent behind situational interview questions as well as how to prepare for them.
How to Be Strategic and Tactical with Interviewers
Sometimes, this question surfaces some real gems. “Were actually considering piloting one of the ideas a recent candidate mentioned. Ive also had interviews where people have mentioned things that we have seriously considered but scrapped for various reasons,” says Asonye.
“This two-part question helps determine if there’s a match in expectations for the role. Particularly when you hear the answers to what they’re not looking for, sometimes you realize that the candidate is actually a better match for a different role,” she says. “But my favorite part is that it gives you the selling points you need to hit on when it comes time to close the candidate. You already know what they value, which makes it easier to tailor your pitch.”
“It’s amazing how often people answer saying they never want to do exactly what I’m hiring for in this role,” he says.
When hiring early-career PMs at Coinbase, Max Branzburg likes to throw this unexpected, pizza-chain related inquiry out there.
“I like that it allows interviewees to play both sides of the table. They could highlight the skills they’re missing or why they might not be what we’re looking for by saying something like ‘You shouldnt hire me if you want someone that is quant-only,’” Macasieb says. “But they can also turn the focus to why you might not be a fit for them. I’ve heard responses like ‘You shouldnt hire me if you have an open office floor plan.’”
Ask Specific Questions Related to the Role
While this article will cover some general strategic interview questions you can ask your candidates, don’t be afraid to throw in some more specific questions that will help you determine whether or not they will be suitable for the position they are interviewing for.
For example, if you need someone with really great people skills because they are interviewing for a high-level HR position, then you may want to ask questions that are geared towards assessing their communication, how they work with others, conflict resolution, and so on.
Asking the same strategic interview questions to every candidate is the only way to ensure that you’ll make a fair decision.
If you ask candidates different questions, you won’t have all of the same information about all of your candidates. Also, some candidates may find some questions easier to answer than others, so you won’t get an impartial view of all of your interviewees.
Choose Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions are more valuable than closed-ended questions. You learn more about your candidates during the short interview time you have allotted. They also give you a much better sense of the person.
Make sure to phrase your strategic interview questions for candidates in an open-ended way. For example, instead of saying, “Have you ever made a mistake at work” say something like, “tell me about a time you made a mistake at work. What happened, and how did you resolve it?”
Behavioral Interview questions are questions that are geared at understanding a candidate’s past behavior.
They help the interviewer understand how the candidate handles work-related situations, their work style, and their decision-making skills.
By analyzing their past experiences, you can gauge how well they will handle similar situations in their new role.
How to Answer Situational Interview Questions
The best way to prepare for these types of interview questions is to practice. Even though you won’t know exactly what interviewers are going to ask, you can look at the qualifications listed in the job description and think of examples of when you’ve demonstrated them in past positions.
Use the STAR method to structure your answers:
When I was a sales rep at XYZ Inc., there was a significant drop-off in outbound sales calls conversions.
Our sales manager tasked the sales team to come up with a new and more effective system for converting on cold calls.
I spoke to several professionals during cold calls about their needs and assessed what we could do better to satisfy those needs earlier in the sales funnel. I found that they were put off by the steep cost of our entry package and wanted to be able to test our service risk-free. Based on this research, I recommended that we qualify leads earlier on and provide a free or low-cost trial period.
My manager worked with the product team to put together a trial package that we could offer businesses for free, which increased our conversion rate by 26%. Not only that, but more than half of those who signed up for the trial ended up subscribing to our premium package, boosting overall sales by 22%.
Even if you don’t use your practice answers in your interview, getting used to using this formula will help you structure your real answers so that they sound organized and professional.
FAQ
What are the 5 hardest interview questions?
What are 10 good interview questions?
- What is your greatest weakness?
- Why should we hire you?
- What’s something that you didn’t like about your last job?
- Why do you want this job?
- How do you deal with conflict with a co-worker?
- Here’s an answer for you.
What are 10 most common interview questions and answers?
- Tell Me About Yourself. …
- Why Are You the Best Person for the Job? …
- Why Do You Want This Job? …
- How Has Your Experience Prepared You for This Role? …
- Why Are You Leaving (or Have Left) Your Job? …
- What Is Your Greatest Strength? …
- What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
