hi there everybody and welcome to this
video tutorial which is about how to
answer the interview question describe a
time when you've solved a difficult
problem now this is a tough interview
question to answer
but in this tutorial I'm gonna give you
some fantastic tips and I'm even gonna
give you two sample answers that 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've been
helping people like you for about 20
years now past interviews I've been very
successful at it so please take the time
to watch this video I'm also gonna 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're gonna
focus specifically on the interview
question describe a time when you have
solved a difficult problem or a
difficult situation so I'm gonna give it
a slice to download like I say all you
need to do I'd very much appreciate it
if you subscribe to the channel because
then you'll get notified as soon as I
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up because that will motivate me to do
more okay let me give you a couple of
tips before we get into the sample
responses for really important tips for
answering this particular interview
question describe a time when you solved
a difficult problem number one make sure
you are specific in your response and
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 so you have to give him an actual
situation and I'm gonna give you two
suggestions that you can use during your
interview now when responding use a star
technique I'm gonna explain quickly what
that is in a second but this will make
sure that you're specific in your
response and that you cover all of the
angles required to get the top marks
necessary make the situation pressurize
so what I mean by that when you're
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'll give you a
couple of examples in a second of what I
mean by this but that basically puts
pressure on you
and you managed to solve the problem
also demonstrating 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 okay 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 them the task so this means
that you need to explain what the task
was actually what needed to be done and
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 is a good
tip make sure the results the end result
is positive so always remember that when
answering this kind of interview
question it's a situational or
behavioral type question so follow
situation task action result and you
won't go far wrong
okay sample answer number one - the
interview question describer time when
you solved a difficult problem this is
the first one of two and like I say
you're gonna 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 merchant store
and part of my role is to take payments
for customers using our online payment
facility now 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 install payment system
went down wants to add a queue of five
people waiting to pay for their goods
now it was clear they all needed to pay
for their goods in order to get their
jobs complete before the weekend so I
decided to remain calm and use my
initiative to solve the problem to begin
with I communicated to all of the
customers the issue I was experiencing
and I reassured them I would resolve the
issue as soon as possible and 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 and as it transpired
they had a serious problem there and a
name for me it would be at least an hour
before the system was back up on
running and then relate this information
to the customers but in order to resolve
the issue for them I then 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 backed up and
running now 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
you can use that kind of situation I've
mentioned to build as merchants but you
could apply that to any kind of
situation if you're working for someone
where you have to take payments either
over the phone or in store okay
sample answer number two - the interview
question describe a time when you solved
a difficult problem here we go whilst at
work it became apparent that to work
colleagues were not getting on I could
overhear them being disrespectful
towards each other and rumors in the
office were rife of a brewing
confrontation I felt someone needed to
work towards resolving the issue as the
situation could have a negative impact
on the team and the organization as a
whole I decided to speak to each person
individually in private - 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 car 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 4:00 p.m. in a quiet
office location at work I started off by
mediating the meeting and I asked each
person to speak whilst the ev1 listened
now once each person had spoken I made a
number of suggestions that were designed
to resolve the situation and it soon
became apparent that the whole situation
an animosity had resulted in a simple
miscommunication I suggested both for
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 now they
both agreed to try this and I'm 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
the second one is really applicable to
virtually any kind of work situation so
to get these slides they're free of
charge simply click the link below the
video
you might have to click the show more
link and then it will take you to
SlideShare which is owned by LinkedIn
you can even connect with me there on
LinkedIn if you want you'll see my
LinkedIn profile and you can also get
access to my free online interview
course by going to the website pass my
interview comm so you can start learning
more I've got about 54 different
training modules on there like I say
please do subscribe I'd appreciate if
you liked the video as well and then
good luck guys for passing your
interview you'll know so notice in the
comment section below
sorry in the description I've put a link
to another free training video here on
YouTube where I'll give you seven
further sample answers to interview
questions thank you very much for
watching and listening and then you know
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'll come on each day and answer them
thank you for watching good luck in
passing your interview