Why ask candidates “Tell me how you handled a difficult situation?”

An effective team is often made up of adaptable and resilient employees who can collaborate to handle challenges. Difficult situational interview questions help you understand how a candidate could contribute to the team dynamics and whether they’re prepared for the demands of the job.

Understanding candidate potential

The first goal when asking interview questions is to assess a candidate’s problem-solving skills and ability to adapt to the changing needs of the business or a client. Additionally, it provides insight into soft skills, such as teamwork and emotional intelligence.

Alignment with role requirements

Another goal of asking interview questions about difficult situations is to gauge a candidate’s preparation for the role-specific challenges they may face. This is especially important for employers filling positions in high-pressure industries, such as healthcare and customer service.

Assessing experience with workplace challenges

The third goal in asking difficult situation interview questions is to determine how a potential employee would handle the specific challenges and decisions they might face in the role. Past behavior serves as the best indicator of future performance, and seeing how they navigated similar situations can help you assess their potential contribution to your team.

How to ask difficult situation interview questions

Interview questions that address difficult situations play a key role in vetting job candidates and helping you find the right hire for the job. As you’re planning your questions, make sure they are relevant to the job, clearly worded and focused on important aspects of the role.

Tailoring questions to the role

By making the interview questions you ask specific to the role, you can get a better understanding of how well the candidate fits your needs. For example, if you’re filling a leadership position, you may consider asking questions about the strategies the candidate uses to resolve team conflicts.

If you’re hiring someone for a technical position, you may ask them to describe a time in which they overcame a technical challenge with limited time and resources.

Balancing difficulty and clarity

While you want to ask questions that encourage the candidate to think and reflect, your goal isn’t to overwhelm or confuse them. Focus on asking open-ended interview questions that are clear and specific and start with words such as “how,” “why” and “what.”

Additionally, avoid multipart questions and, instead, stick to one topic per question. For instance, instead of asking, “How did you manage the project, and what were the results?” try, “How did you manage the project,” followed up with, “What were the results of your approach?”

Covering core competencies

Focus your questions on identifying core skills and competencies relevant to the role. Depending on the job, some key focus areas may include:

• Problem-solving
• Conflict resolution
• Time management
• Decision-making under pressure

Top 10 difficult situation interview questions to ask

You can go beyond asking, “Tell me how you handled a difficult situation,” by posing specific questions that give you important information on how the candidate manages responsibilities, deadlines and other challenging situations.

Problem-solving and innovation

To gauge a candidate’s ability to develop creative solutions to the challenges they may face, give prompts such as:

• “Can you tell me about a time you noticed and solved a problem that other people on your team overlooked?”
• “Give me an example of a complex challenge you faced and tell me how you overcame it.”

Conflict and team dynamics

Find out how your candidate contributes to team dynamics by asking these questions:

• “Can you tell me about a disagreement you had with a coworker and how you resolved it?”
• “What are some strategies you use to address tension or conflict within a team?”

Handling deadlines and stress

Assess a candidate’s reliability and ability to meet deadlines by asking:

• “How do you prioritize tasks when you’re facing multiple deadlines?”
• “What strategies do you use to stay organized during high-stress periods?”

Adaptability and growth

Get a sense of whether a candidate can grow with your company by asking:

• “Could you tell me about a situation where you had to quickly adapt to unexpected changes?”
• “Can you describe a time when you learned from a failure and applied that lesson moving forward?”

How to evaluate candidates’ responses

It’s important to develop a way to objectively assess a candidate’s answers to determine whether they’re the right hire for the role.

Using the STAR interview format

The STAR interview format is a popular technique that helps you get to know candidates and determine whether their skills and background fit your needs. This format features four parts:

• Situation: The candidate describes a challenging situation they experienced.
• Task: They talk about their role in that situation.
• Action: They outline how they addressed and overcame the challenge.
• Result: The candidate talks about the outcome of their action and explains the impact of their efforts.

Asking questions that encourage candidates to provide responses in this structure makes it easier to evaluate their creativity, problem-solving skills and alignment with your business’ needs.

Indicators of strong responses

By describing how they’ve overcome obstacles, candidates’ responses to difficult situation interview questions may demonstrate positive traits.

Depending on the situation, this could include self-awareness, flexibility, creativity and accountability.

For example, a potential hire may present a scenario where their action led to a frustrated customer experience. However, the outcome may show they reflected on their behavior and adjusted their communication style for positive interactions going forward.

Benefits of asking difficult situation interview questions

By asking open-ended questions that encourage creativity and reflection, you can gain important insights and make more informed hiring decisions.

Insights beyond resumes

A candidate’s resume and cover letter provide a helpful overview of their experience and training. However, these documents leave out important information, such as how the candidate handled day-to-day challenges, kept up with deadlines and contributed positively to their team. By asking these questions, you have an opportunity to learn more about their behavioral patterns and processes.

Improved hiring decisions

By getting answers to questions about challenging situations at work, you can get a sense of how well a candidate fits your company’s values and fulfills the role requirements. These questions also let you measure their soft skills, which are often as vital to a role as their technical knowledge and hard skills.

Enhanced candidate experience

Open-ended questions may also create a better interview experience for the job candidate by highlighting your awareness of the role’s challenges. You can build trust by encouraging transparency and showing you understand mistakes happen and that they can be turned into learning opportunities.

Asking difficult situation questions is key for better hiring outcomes, letting you understand a candidate’s experience, potential and ability to fulfill the requirements of a role. By adapting and refining your interview strategies, you can determine whether a candidate’s experience and skill set fits the role you’re filling, increasing your chances of creating a strong, productive team dynamic.