How to answer How did you handle the situation.

WHY IS THE INTERVIEWER ASKING YOU THE QUESTION, HOW DID YOU HANDLE A DIFFICULT SITUATION?
Well, the best employees are those who have the confidence, and the skills and resilience to deal with difficult situations without relying on their manager or supervisor for advice.

Therefore, it is important you give a specific previous situation you have been in where YOU managed to resolve a challenging issue or problem.

EXAMPLES OF DIFFICULT SITUATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE:
– Several of your co-workers dislike each other, this is affecting the team, and you need to take action to help resolve it.

– One of your co-workers is lazy, or they don’t carry out their tasks on time, or to the required standard.

– Your manager asks you to do something that is unethical or morally wrong.

– You are experiencing, or you witness bullying or inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

– Someone takes credit for the work you have done.

– You misunderstand a project or an assignment and end up doing it wrong.

HOW SHOULD YOU STRUCTURE YOUR ANSWER?
My advice is to use the S.T.A.R technique to structure a solid answer to the question, HOW DID YOU HANDLE A DIFFICULT SITUATION.

The STAR technique is:
• SITUATION
• TASK
• ACTION
• RESULT

STEP 1 – You start off and explain the situation you were faced with.
STEP 2 – You then outline the task that needed doing.
STEP 3 – You then explain the action you took to achieve the task.
STEP 4 – And you then finish off with the results of your actions.