How Would You Approach Working With An Upset Customer
Key Insight: With the rise of empathy-driven development and more companies choosing to bridge the gap between users and engineers, todays tech teams speak directly with customers more frequently than ever before. This question brings to light the candidates interpersonal skills in a client-facing environment.
Sample Answers To Give An Example Of An Occasion When You Used Logic To Solve A Problem Interview Question
* Special Tip: Now you know how to answer this one, but what about dozens other tricky scenario-based questions you may face in your interview? Check up to 10 premium answers to each one in our Interview Success Package:
How Do You Identify Potential Problems
Problems cannot be solved if they cannot be seen.
Ask the candidate how they have identified different problems throughout their work and personal history. You’ll also want to inquire about frequent issues in your business’s workplace and common complaints.
Don’t just assess a candidate’s ability to realize problems. The time it takes to identify a problem is equally important. Problems become more blatant the longer they are left untouched.
An excellent type of question to use here is a scenario question. Propose a simulated setting based on your company’s environment and have them pinpoint the problem.
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Tips To Assess Problem
- During your interviews, use hypothetical scenarios that are likely to occur on the job. Its best to avoid unrealistic problems that arent relevant to your company.
- Examine how candidates approach a problem step-by-step: from identifying and analyzing the issue to comparing alternatives and choosing the most effective solution.
- Pay attention to candidates who provide innovative solutions. Creative minds can contribute fresh perspectives that add value to your company.
- When problems arise, employees should show commitment and a can-do attitude. Test candidates problem-solving skills in past situations. If they were determined to find the best solution as soon as possible, they will be great hires.
- Most complex situations require a team effort. Candidates previous experiences will show you how they collaborated with their colleagues to reach decisions and how comfortable they felt asking for help.
- If youre hiring for a technical role, ask questions relevant to the work your future hires will do. Technical problem-solving interview questions, like How would you troubleshoot this X bug? will reveal your candidates hard skills and their ability to effectively address problems on the job.
How Do You Prioritize Problems To Be Solved
A spilled drink likely won’t require as much attention as a corporate-wide virus in the systems.
Recognizing where issues lie and knowing how to distribute time can save large sums of money while avoiding catastrophic scenarios.
A candidate’s prioritization of problems also indicates their decision-making and organization skills.
To go further in-depth here, give a candidate a series of problems and have them rank them in the order in which they should be solved.
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Costs Of Making A Bad Hiring Decision
Employers want to make sure that they hire the right person for the job. For a company, making a bad hiring decision is not only about losing money, but it can also lead to a decrease in productivity and morale. Hiring a bad candidate could lead to leaving a bad impression with customers/clients, but also with coworkers.
Furthermore, time will be lost if the company needs to search for another candidate after a bad hire. Therefore, employers do everything to avoid such situations. Behavioral questions are regarded as a preventative way to make sure that the right person with the right fit for the company is hired.
Problem Solving Skills: How To Demonstrate Them At The Interview
Problem-solving is the process followed in order to identify a problem and its source, and then find a solution to it. The ability to problem-solve is really important to an employer as problems crop up in any workplace. They will want all employees to have the ability to identify issues and be part of putting the solution in place. It helps to promote independence and ownership in the workplace, and it highlights your ability to carry out a range of other skills.
Although problem-solving is often listed as a skill on its own, there is a range of skills that contribute to being an effective problem solver. These include:
- Active listening
- Project management
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Interview Questions To Determine Problem
Problem-solving skills may not be tangible but it shows up in behaviors and conversations, it is visible and you can hear it:
- How do your employees handle stressful situations?
- Do they ask each other questions?
- Do they share their opinions?
- How do they react when challenged with a different perspective?
- Do they focus more on solving problems quickly or thoroughly?
- How do they make decisions or share knowledge?
- How do they speak with your customers when they are facing a problem?
Once you have a full understanding of the above-mentioned, here are some questions you can use throughout interviews with candidates to assess their problem-solving skills.
Question : Give An Example Of A Time That You Realised A Colleague Had Made A Mistake How Did You Deal With This What Was The Outcome
This question tests their interpersonal skills. The best type of employees have great interpersonal skills and help others to succeed. Therefore, a good answer should show the candidate was diplomatic and constructive someone that helps their colleagues to solve problems and doesnt just highlight them.
Anyone that proceeds to say unsavoury things about previous co-workers should be treated with caution respect and kindness are core attributes in the workplace.
This question tests their problem-solving strategies. An impressive answer will showcase awareness of problem-solving strategies, although these may differ from person to person.
You dont want to hire someone that is constantly asking for help and knowing that a candidate has given some thought to potential strategies will provide you with assurance. Problem-solving strategies could vary from data-driven or logical methods to collaboration or delegation.
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Tips For Answering Analytical Interview Questions
While preparing your responses to these analytical interview questions, keep the following tips in mind for when it’s time to interview:
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Connect your personal strengths to the supporting examples
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Choose examples that help highlight your personality
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Provide specific details about the event and your response to it
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Come to the interview prepared with a few specific examples of situations where you were in charge of solving problems at work
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Avoid using examples that don’t allow you to go into much detail about your problem-solving abilities or process
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Don’t use examples that fail to highlight your strengths as a strategic problem-solver
While the problem-solving interview questions that you are asked during your interview will vary from job to job, the samples and tips above will help you be more prepared for your interview. Try answering a few of them on paper or practice answering with a friend before you go to your interview. If the interviewer asks an analytical question that you are not prepared for, take some time to think about your response before you proceed.
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How Do You Evaluate The Impact Of Potential Problems
Another skill prospective employees need is the capacity for foresight. They should be able to evaluate the adverse effects of a particular issue. Otherwise, they’d be able to identify the problem but have no incentive to solve it.
Try to ask questions relating to cause and effect. Ex: If occurs, then what will happen in the short term and the long run.
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Interview Questions For Assessing Time And Workload Management When Solving Problems
When asking this question to a candidate, you should be on the lookout for an answer that includes all of the following: an example story, placing their focus on how they handled the stressful situation. Basically focusing more on actions rather than feelings, and highlighting what skills allowed them to deal with the situation successfully.
The answer you are probably not looking for is Ive never been stressed, cannot even imagine what that would feel like within a work environment. Such an answer just indicates straight up that someone is lying because we all know that there is no such work environment in which stress is non-existent .
As human beings, we all have the tendency to want to arrive at a solution as quickly as possible. However, not all solutions will lead to the most optimal outcomes.
This question has everything to do with how the candidate works under pressure. As well as the extent to which they are capable of prioritizing. When faced with multiple problems, the individual should be able to prioritize between tasks that are of high importance and those that are not as urgent.
Eight Examples Of Common Problem Solving Interview Questions And Answers
Now that we understand the basic principles of problem-solving interview questions and how to respond to them, were finally ready to break down some real-world examples. So without any further preamble, here are eight examples of common problem-solving interview questions :
Can you tell me about a time when you encountered an unexpected challenge in the workplace? How did you go about dealing with it?
Explanation: With this question, your interviewer will be attempting to get a sense of how well youre able to adapt to unexpected difficulties. The critical thing to remember when youre answering this question as we briefly discussed above is to recall an incident that will be directly relevant to the role and the organization that youre applying to.
Heres an example of a high-quality response to this question:
How would you say you typically respond to problems in general, and in the workplace in particular?
Explanation: This question is primarily designed to gauge a candidates ability to remain cool, calm, and collected under pressure. The ideal response to this question, in other words, will include a brief personal anecdote that illustrates your level-headedness and your ability to make rational, clear decisions during times of uncertainty.
Heres an example of a high-quality response to this question:
Can you tell me about a time when youve had to settle a workplace dispute between yourself and a manager or colleague?
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Sample Answers To Problem
Below you will find some example questions. The examples are already written in STAR format so that you can clearly see how you can structure your answers. However, these are general examples. Do not forget to structure your own answers in a way that includes enough detail to convince the interviewer that youre the right person for the job!
The Interviewers Goal When Assessing Your Problem
There are several underlying reasons why interviewers use behavioral questions to assess your problem-solving skills. The main one, of course, is that they want to hire a person whos able to perform the job.
Instead of hiring the person that they like they need something better to figure out which candidate is the right fit for the job. By analyzing your behavior in past situations that are similar to the ones that are required in the role that youre applying for, they try to do just that. Below we discuss a couple of important elements employers consider when making a hiring decision.
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Interview Questions For Assessing Creative Thinking When Solving Problems
Of course, when hiring new people, we want to hire those who take the most innovative and creative approaches to solving problems, as well as implementing these ideas in reality. In this case, you should be looking for an answer in which the candidate is focusing on explaining the creative approach they took, rather than the problem they were trying to solve. After all, you are looking for someone who can solve problems in a creative way rather than someone who can describe the problem.
This is an example of the so-called behavioural interview questions. These questions focus on revealing how individuals act in certain situations. In this case, if youre looking for someone with high problem-solving abilities, you are looking for someone who will be able to critically assess and explain their problem-solving process. As well as highlight how problems can often be transformed into opportunities for improvement and growth.
Tips For Answering When You Don’t Have Work Experience
If you do not have work experience, it’s okay to use examples from school. Just try to keep it meaningful and highlight your resourcefulness. When answering the question, illustrate the example. Explain the situation and its importance, what went wrong, what impact the problem could have, what you did to fix it, and the ultimate results.
A good example would be, “I had a major paper due for my biology class. It was an extensive research project and accounted for a big part of my grade. I was almost finished and was just writing the conclusion when a thunderstorm hit and the power went out. My professor has a strict lateness policy and accepts no excuses, so I knew I had to hand it in the next morning on time or I’d fail the assignment. I used my phone to look up coffee shops that were open all night and that had wireless internet. I did back up my work frequently, so I only lost about a page and a half. I was able to go to the coffee shop, rewrite the sections of the paper I lost, add in my sources and proofread it. I handed it in the next morning on time, and ended up getting an A on the paper and in the class.”
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Why You Should Ask Candidates Problem
Employees will face challenges in their job. Before you decide on your next hire, use your interview process to evaluate how candidates approach difficult situations.
Problem-solving interview questions show how candidates:
- Approach complex issues
- Analyze data to understand the root of the problem
- Perform under stressful and unexpected situations
- React when their beliefs are challenged
Identify candidates who are results-oriented with interview questions that assess problem-solving skills. Look for analytical and spherical thinkers with the potential for technical problem solving. Potential hires who recognize a problem, or predict one could potentially occur, will stand out. Candidates should also demonstrate how they would fix the issue, and prevent it from occurring again.
These sample problem-solving interview questions apply to all positions, regardless of industry or seniority level. You can use the following questions to gauge your candidates way of thinking in difficult situations:
More Tips For Handling Behavioral Questions About Problem Solving
1) Select a Strong Example:
Choose an example that truly demonstrates your problem-solving skills at their best. Dont settle for a lame or boring problem or one that makes you look bad.
Go with examples that are relevant for the job description. If you are interviewing for a job with a project management component, choose a time when you overcame an obstacle on an important project. If the posting stresses analytic skills, go with that time you used your Excel macro skills to save the day.
Dont try to skate by with generalities like, I consider myself a great problem solver. I solve problems every day in my job. Youre not answering the question. Pick an example to illustrate your point.
Avoid raising red flags by talking about problems that you caused or negatively contributed to. Remember that you want to be the hero in your interview stories whenever possible .
2) Be Specific About Your Actions
To stand out from the crowd, you need to provide enough detail to give a sense of who you are and how you think. Many of my coaching clients have made the mistake of rushing through their stories and leaving out the most interesting and memorable details. Good stories offer an opportunity to connect with your interviewer. Give them some details that they can relate to.
Reminder: The STAR format isnt about scripting and memorizing stories . The example above is more scripted than you want or need. We did it this way to illustrate how the final delivery might sound.
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