Situational interview questions are designed to provide hiring managers and prospective employers insight into a candidate’s ability to perform well in a variety of environments and situations. Anyone can list their skills and abilities on a resume, but demonstrating how well you can actually get the job done, solve complex problems, and resolve conflicts is what situational interviews are all about.

The most challenging aspect of situational interviews is that there are a never-ending number of situations and scenarios an interviewer can come up with. Knowing what questions you’re likely to be asked, and how to answer them, is the key to success.

What Employers Want to Know

What you need to remember is that there are only two basic things employers want to discover about you. First, are you a good fit for their company’s culture? And second, how well do you respond to problems and manage change?

They also want to know how well you’re able to get along with others and work on teams. Are you good at resolving conflicts and dealing with difficult people? Are you a leader or a follower? Do you have the ability to influence your co-workers in a positive way to engender cooperation and increase productivity? Are you flexible and able to adapt to new or unexpected situations?

Situation questions are often asked to evaluate how well you will handle stress. Can you turn criticism into something positive, or does it just make you depressed and less productive? Can you maintain your cool while dealing with demanding co-workers or clients?

Hiring managers are eager to verify that you can perform job responsibilities as well as your resume purports. Situational interviews are helpful in testing a job candidate’s technical abilities, job knowledge, organizational and management skills, and salesmanship. They also help to hire managers to test your problem-solving abilities.

Answering Situational Questions

An effective answer to situational interview questions must explain the following:

• Specific steps are taken to resolve problems (Why was this the selected course of action?)
• Project objectives
• What was eventually accomplished?
• What was learned from the experience?

It’s not always necessary to provide specific examples, but it’s recommended. If you cannot provide past examples, develop a theoretical example and describe specifically what you would do to solve the problem. Potential employers are curious to see if job candidates can think analytically and assess and address complex problems, even ones they haven’t dealt with previously.

1. Describe the work environment where you perform your best work.

This is a common question asked by hiring managers. This can be a great question if you give the right answer… but it could also be a deal-breaker. It’s important that you know the environment of the hospitality company, or department you’re applying to before you answer this question. Make sure to perform your due diligence about the company, its culture, and the working environment it provides, before you arrive for the interview.

2. Please provide an example of an improvement you made at your previous job that made a real difference.

Give a good answer to this question and you’ll stand out from the competition. Give a bad answer and you’ll end up at the bottom of the list of job candidates. You want your answer to leave a lasting impression, so structure it in a storyboard fashion. Describe the problem you faced, the steps you took to resolve it, and the results of your efforts. How did your results benefit the hospitality company you worked with?

3. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced, and how did you solve it?

When answering this question, you want to share a work-related challenge. This is a great question because it gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the various skills that make you employable and show the interviewer what you bring to the table. Suggestions for challenges you’ve faced include your previous employer losing or wasting money, reduced occupancy rates, inefficiently using time, or being impacted by a factor outside your control. If you are early in your hospitality career and haven’t faced any work-related challenges worth mentioning, you can use a personal challenge.

4. Describe a recent situation where you dealt with an upset coworker or customer.

Dealing with discontentment in the workplace and upset customers is a regular occurrence. Hiring managers and employers want to know that you’re able to resolve the concerns of customers and work well with others if they aren’t that easy to work with.

5. Tell me about your most difficult boss and how you were able to deal with them.

This is one of those situational questions that’s a bit more difficult to answer. There are several reasons an interviewer may be asking these questions, one of which may be that you’re going to have a difficult boss to work for. However you respond, you want to stay positive. You want to show you can work with demanding people, you can stand up for yourself, that you’re a problem solver and that you can get results even in a difficult situation.

6. What would you do if you were working on an important project and all of the sudden the priorities were changed?

When faced with this question, interviewees often assume the interviewer is trying to gauge how flexible they can be. In some instances, this may be true. However, the interviewer may just easily be trying to determine if you’re the type of person who will put their foot down about it. Like all situational interview questions, the interviewer is trying to determine if you can think under pressure, how you analyze a situation, and how you’re likely to interact with others.

7. Please describe for me a time when your work was criticized by your boss or other co-workers.

No one is always perfect, and the interviewer knows this. The interviewer wants to see if you can admit that you’ve made mistakes, but more importantly how you dealt with the situation and learned from it. You want to share with the interviewer an example of criticism that had a measurable positive outcome. Make sure to turn the negative criticism into a positive one.

Now that you’ve gotten the right way to answer situational interview questions, get ready to nail that interview and get the job. Well, at least we hope you do!