A hiring manager or interviewer may ask about a time you faced adversity in your next interview. They may ask questions like this to assess your resilience and problem-solving skills. If you’re interviewing for jobs, learning more about why a potential employer may ask about adversity can help you prepare a strong answer. In this article, we describe why the interviewer may ask questions about adversity, explain the steps you can follow to form an effective answer and supply sample answers you can use as inspiration when creating your own.
Detail the action you took to face adversity
Describing the actions you took to face adversity is an important part of your answer because it shows resilience and initiative. Explain what you did to improve or remedy the situation you were in, and how you overcame the obstacles to success.
INTERVIEW QUESTION: Tell Me About A Time You Handled A Difficult Situation? (The BEST Answer!)
Provide context for the specific situation
The first step when using the STAR method for answering interview questions is to provide context to the hiring manager. In this step, you can explain the situation and details about the adversity you faced. Though this is an important step, its best to keep this portion of your answer concise to provide space for elaboration.
Example:“When I was in college, I decided somewhat last minute to do a semester of studies abroad. The program included classes and an internship, and when I arrived in the foreign country, I realized my skill with the language was not advanced enough for the classes and internship. I thought about returning home, but I didnt want to let lack of ability hold me back.”
Example answers
When answering this interview question, its important to describe specific experiences that provide evidence for your resiliency and problem-solving. These are some examples of effective responses:
Describe the positive results you produced
For the last part of your answer, detail the specific results you produced with your actions. The results may include an improved workplace, new systems or strengthened professional relationships. This is also an opportunity to explain how overcoming adversity strengthened you as a professional or individual.
Example:“Because of my hard work and dedication, I overcame the language barrier and passed the fluency test with a near-perfect score. I switched my major to language studies and am now fluent in four languages, which strengthens my professional abilities and makes me a great asset to any team.”
Why do employers ask about the adversity you’ve faced?
During an interview, the hiring manager wants to learn more about who you are and how you might contribute to the organization. These are some reasons they might ask you questions about the adversity youve faced:
7 sample answers to “Describe a situation in which you had to overcome adversity” interview question
I’ve suffered from severe allergies from young age. For a time I was extremely upset about it, because I knew I had no guilt–I just was born with these problems, and they made my life difficult at school, and also at home. But eventually I decided to do something about the situation. Instead of relying on doctors, who only kept prescribing medication with adverse side effects, I decided to study the subject and try to overcome my allergies with lifestyle changes. I continually switched to plan based diet, and completely eliminated fizzy drinks, and caffeinated beverages. And I started to run three times a week. In a few months time, I almost stopped experiencing the allergy symptoms, and quit taking the medication, slowly getting rid of side effects it had on my everyday life. Today I can interview with you without having to blow out my nose five times each minute. I am proud that I overcame the adversity, and I have definitely learned a lot from this experience.
I recall such an example from my last job in retail. Due to the pandemic–something I had no impact on, the revenues of the store dropped by 50% from month to month, and the owner considered closing down the entire operation. But I did not give up, because I saw value in the products we were selling, and wanted to help the owner. So I suggested them to open an online store, and also offer a delivery service, and said I’d help with both, since I had experience. You should remember that I was just an employee–so it wasn’t my store, or my profit. But I tried to help regardless. Eventually we did it, started a free delivery in the city, but it didn’t help. The pandemic got even worse, and eventually the store went out of business. That’s one of the reasons why I am interviewing for a job with you today.
I’ve been overcoming it for the past seven years. Living as a single mother of two, I barely have any free days. I work in the job, then back home, helping children prepare for school, taking care of the household, and at the end of the month, I barely pay my bills. But I do not want to cry here. I am aware that many people have it much worse. At least I have a job, and I try to get even a better one with you now, which will certainly help me in my situation, to handle the adversity. I will continue to fight against the adversity, trying to win a better future of both myself and for the children.
I would say that my studies are a good example. You know, I hanged around with wrong guys at high school–it was the foolishness of teenage years. Got into some problems, neglected school, my academic record worsened a lot. But I didn’t realize the implications back then. Later on, when I tried to get to vet school, I did not get any interview invitations, because of my GPA. But I did not give up. I did a gap year, volunteered in animal shelters, zoos, and I even started my own non-profit, promoting better treatment of pigs on local farms. Needless to say, when I submitted my application next year, the GPA suddenly wasn’t the central point. They saw all my activities, realized how active I was, and decided to give me the chance in the interviews. Long story short, here I am today, with my degree from veterinary medicine, applying for a great job with you.
I was living in a terrible relationship for four years. My partner was extremely jealous, and they treated my like garbage. But I wasn’t ready to protect myself, to quit, because I was afraid of their threats. Eventually I decided to seek help of a psychologist and they recommended me an NGO helping women in my situation. Step by step, I managed to escape the relationship, move to a different city, and now I finally feel free and ready to experience something good in life. The job I am trying to get with you right now is the next important step on my journey.
I remember a fitting situation from my last managerial job in a small IT company. We struggled with workforce. As you can imagine, we could not compete with big tech companies in terms of salary offer and employee benefits. We struggled to attract any talent to the company. And I didn’t have a budget to make anything huge happen. But then I came with an idea to recruit foreign programmers. We made a compelling offer, and started looking for people in countries where our salary offer was actually attractive. Eventually I managed to get five new people onboard, working distantly, with excellent skills and attitude. It was a good experience and I definitely learned a lesson. We should never give up. We just have to look for a different way to achieve our goals, if the original way doesn’t work…
Speaking honestly, I do not think that I had to overcome any real adversity in my life. Sure enough, I had my battles. I have some health issues, I struggled in relationships, and had to work extremely hard to get where I am at the moment. But… I realize what’s going on in the world. More then 10,000 children die of hunger in the world every day. Tens of millions of people live in war zones, and terrible conditions, basically fighting for survival. I mean, I really don’t see a point in calling anything I had to overcome adversity. It just isn’t the case. In fact I am extremely lucky, and I am eternally grateful for all the opportunities I’ve been given in life.
Why Do Employers Ask This Question?
Dealing with adversity is a hugely important skill, required for every role in every company.
Customer service roles involve dealing with irate customers, a fast-paced environment and being under a lot of pressure at times. Whereas those in back-office positions may face tight deadlines, or even personal prejudices with colleagues questioning their credentials.
Moreover, the ability to overcome adversity in management roles is crucial. Here, you will be expected to deal with challenging employees and demanding targets.
Describe Work History for Context
While you are preparing for interview questions, practice describing your work history. Doing this gives the interviewer context thats helpful in understanding your answers to questions about adversity. This way, you dont have to interrupt your adversity-related responses with an explanation about the jobs to which youre referring for each example about handling adversity. For example, when you give answers to questions about adversity, you wont have to stop the flow of your response with something like, “This was a job where I was assistant to the president of the company and my duties included scheduling, prioritizing meetings and delivering presentations to the board members.” If you provide context by describing your work history upfront, when you give examples of overcoming obstacles at work, you dont have to rehash what you have already described in the initial description of your work history.
Depending on how long you have been in the workforce, it should take 60 seconds or less to give the recruiter or hiring manager a synopsis of your professional experience. You neednt give precise dates, but you should indicate how many years you worked for each job on your resume or application. When you are describing your work history, make sure both you and the interviewer have a copy of your resume to which you can refer during your 60-second summary of work experience.
FAQ
What is an example of overcoming adversity?
Good adversity examples for a resume include overcoming disability, rejection, poverty, or struggle in order to succeed.
What are some examples of adversity?
Here are a few examples – car trouble (which can be a big thing), job stress, relationship stress, your daily commute (big where I live), an annoying neighbor, and lots of things that make up the day-to-day hassles in life. These are the “death by a thousand cuts” types of adversity that can grind at us if we let them.
What is an example of adversity in the workplace?
Types of workplace adversity
Physical adversity: Sleep deprivation, illness and injury are all examples of physical adversity that may affect your performance at work. Emotional adversity: This type of adversity is an emotional challenge in the workplace, like feeling unsure about your responsibilities in your role.
What type of situations have you’ve been in where you were faced with adversity?
Example Answers – Interview Question Adversity
I Failed an Exam in My First Year of University. …
The Speaker Cancelled the Day Before a Huge Event I Had Organized. …
I Moved Into an Industry Where I Had No Prior Experience.
