Describe a time when you solved a difficult problem at work?
Whether you are straight out of high school, college, or university and applying to jobs, this question will focus on your academic background. Difficulties always exist at work, and how you deal with those difficulties is the key for employers to evaluate your ability.
Provide an excellent example of an activity that required the use of a variety of talents and abilities. You need to show the employer your ability to deal with difficulties at work and flexible ways of handling them. The best response to this question demonstrates your capacity for teamwork, leadership, and pressure management.
Example:
I observed two of my coworkers weren't getting along when I was at work. Hence, even if the crisis hadn't yet affected the company's performance, I was worried that things would get worse unless someone intervened to fix the issue. I had the impression that someone needed to take control of the circumstance in order to promptly and amicably resolve it. It was my responsibility to bring the two parties together, ascertain the nature of the conflict, and take appropriate action to resolve it so that the group as a whole could proceed.
I first had a private conversation with each person to find out what was going on. Therefore, I was able to obtain some insightful data that convinced me that the issue was simply the result of a misunderstanding. It turned out that one of them believed the other was performing their duties effectively, which caused the other to have a heavier task. I thus gathered them both in a quiet space and asked them to reason through it while I mediated the conversation. Even though it was occasionally uncomfortable, they were both glad the issue was remedied.
In the end, both coworkers made amends, shook hands, and decided to communicate honestly in the future if the same circumstance occurred again.
