"Describe a time when you have solved a difficult problem?"

Now, this is a tough interview question to answer.

In this tutorial, I am going to give you some fantastic tips and some sample answers you

can use during your interview.

So, a very quick welcome.

Welcome to this tutorial.

That's me there on the right-hand side. My name is Richard McMunn and I have been helping

people like you for about 20 years now to pass interviews.

I have been very successful at it, so please take the time to watch this video.

I am also going to give you the slides to this tutorial so you can download them for

free and then you can use them during your preparation for your interview.

So, like I say, we are going to focus specifically on the interview question:"Describe a time

when you have solved a difficult problem or a difficult sitution?"

So, I am going to give you the slides to download as I say.

All you need to do...

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OK, let me give you a couple of tips before we get into the sample responses.

4 really important tips for answering this particular interview question, Describe a

time when you solved a difficult problem?

Number 1 - make sure you are specific in your response!

What I mean by that, is many people will tell the interview panel what they would do if

this situation occurred.

But you have to tell the panel what you have done.

You have to give them an actual situation, and I am going to give you two suggestions

that you can use during your interview.

Now, when responding use the STAR technique - I am going to explain quickly what that

is in a second.

But this will make sure you're specific in your response and that you cover all of the

angles required to get the TOP MARKS necessary.

Make the situation pressurized.

So, what I mean by that, when you are giving them a specific response to this question,

add some kind of pressure to it.

Now it might be a time factor, it might be an aggravating factor.

I will give you a couple of examples in a second of what Imean by this.

But, that basically puts pressure on you, and you manage to solve the problem.

Also, demonstrate in your response and your answer, that you are capable of working on

your own.

So, this question is designed to find people who can solve problems themselves.

That they don't have to go and find their boss or their manager to ask them what to

do.

OK, so the STAR technique that you're going to use when responding to this question - first

of all, SITUATION.

So, it's SITUATION, TASK, ACTION, RESULT.

What was the situation?

Explain to the panel what the situation was, then move on and tell the TASK.

So, this means you need to explain what the task was, actually what needed to be done.

Then, explain what ACTION you took and then tell the interview panel what the result was.

So, you explain to them what the result was following your action and here is a good tip:

make sure the RESULT, the end result, is positive.

So, always remember that when answering this kind of interview question.

It's a situational or behavioural types interview question.

So, follow the situation, task action, result and you won't go far wrong.

OK, sample answer number 1to the interview question: Describe a time when you solved

a difficult problem?

This is the first one of two, and like Isay, you are going to get these slides to download

very soon.

Here we go: "In my current job I work as a customer service assistant in a builder’s

merchants store and part of my role is to take payments for customers using our online

payment facility.

One busy Friday afternoon, I was working in the store alone as my manager had taken a

late lunch break.

All of a sudden, the in-store payment system went down whilst I had a queue of five people

waiting to pay for their goods.

It was clear they all needed to pay for their goods in order to get their jobs completed

before the weekend.

I decided to remain calm and use my initiative to solve the problem.

To begin with, I communicated with all of the customers the issue I was experiencing,

and I reassured them I would resolve the issue as soon as possible.

To begin with, I asked if anyone had cash they could use to pay for their goods.

Two people were willing to pay by cash, so this then reduced the other three customers’

waiting time.

I then decided to telephone the online payment system provider to make sure they were actually

aware of the issue.

As it transpired, they had a serious problem their end and they informed me it would be

at least an hour before the system was back up and running.

I then relayed this information to the customers.

In order to resolve the issue, I quickly set up company credit accounts for the rest of

the customers which would mean they would get invoiced the following week.

They could then either settle their bills online or come into the store once the payment

system was back up and running.

By remaining calm and using my initiative, I was able to solve the issue without calling

my manager for assistance.

I feel strongly that I can be relied upon to resolve problems on my own whenever they

arise.”

So, that's a detailed, in-depth response and it follows Situation, Task, Action and Result.

Now you can use that kind of situation; I've mentioned Builder's Merchants but you can

apply that to kind of situation if you are working for someone where you have to take

payments either over the phone, or in-store.

OK, sample answer number 2 to the interview question: Describe a time when you solved

a difficult problem?

Here we go: “Whilst at work, it became apparent that two work colleagues were not getting

on.

I could overhear them being disrespectful towards each other and rumours in the office

were rife of a brewing confrontation.

I felt someone needed to work towards resolving this issue, as the situation could have a

negative impact on the team and the organisation as a whole.

I decided to speak to each person individually, in private, to first of all express my concerns,

but also secondly, to suggest a way forward in order to resolve the situation amicably.

I suggested that all three of us should meet collectively in a calm manner to discuss the

issues and resolve the situation – both of them agreed to my suggested resolution.

We met up on a Friday afternoon at 4pm in a quiet office location at work.

I started off by mediating the meeting and asked each person to speak whilst the other

one listened.

Once each person had spoken, I made a number of suggestions that were designed to resolve

the situation.

It soon became apparent that the whole situation and animosity had resulted in a simple miscommunication.

I suggested both of them get together outside of work in a friendly, social setting with

a view to building up a friendship that would, in turn, help improve their working relationship

whilst at work.

They both agreed to try this, and I am happy to say, some three months later they are now

great work colleagues who have a positive relationship.”

So, you've got two really strong responses there.

You can choose each one - again, this second one is applicable to virtually any kind of

work situation.

So, to get these slides, they are free of charge, simply click the link below the video.

You might have to click the SHOW MORE link, erm, and then it will take you to SLIDESHARE

which is owned by LinkedIn.

You can even connect with me there on LinkedIn and if you want you can see my LinkedIn profile.

You can also get access to my FREE online interview course by going to the website www.PassMyInterview.com.

So you can start learning more - I've got about 54 different training video training

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as well - yeah, good luck guys for passing your interview.

You will also notice in the comments section below, sorry, in the description I have put

a link to another free training video here on YouTube where I give you 7 further sample

answers to interview questions.

Thank you very much for watching and listening.

Yeah, hit me up in the comments section below, say hi, and also if you have an interview

coming up and you'd like me to give you some suggested questions to prepare for, please

tell me what the interview is and I will come on each day and answer them.

Thank you for watching and GOOD LUCK in passing your interview!