A typical interview query is “What Is the Biggest Challenge You’ve Faced In Work?”
During an interview, a hiring manager might ask you about challenges you’ve faced at work in the past. The best answer to this question will highlight your professionalism and problem-solving skills. If you are prepared for this question in advance, you will feel more confident and have a better chance of impressing the hiring manager. Why employers ask this question, how to answer it, and a list of sample responses are all covered in this piece. Biggest Challenge You’ve Faced In Work?”
Why companies ask about your biggest challenges
Employers who pose this interview question to you are curious to know what difficulties you have faced in the past and how you overcame them. They also want to assess your problem-solving skills to see how effectively you would manage similar challenges in the position you are applying for. To identify any difficulties you’ve had in previous employment, think about any issues that you managed to address or get through.
What has been the largest issue at work, and how have you handled it?
Give a candid response that exemplifies your skills as a worker when a hiring manager asks about the toughest difficulty you’ve faced at work. To respond to this interview question, take the following actions:
1. Consider the challenges you’ve already faced.
When considering how to handle this situation, consider any work-related situations that were challenging in previous jobs of yours. This can be applied to any situation when you ran into trouble or had to find a solution. While it’s important for the story you give to showcase your problem-solving skills, you may also showcase your analytical skills if there was ever a time you identified a problem that no one else did.
2. Tailor your answer to the job description.
Make sure the answer you provide is appropriate for the duties of the position you are interviewing for. If you’re applying for a work where you’ll be dealing with customers, think about instances in the past where you managed difficult customers well.
Before the interview, spend some time studying the job posting or job description so you can tailor your response to the demands of the role. Next, identify which difficulties you have already overcame in your current or previous employment that are connected to the post for which you are seeking.
3. Clearly describe the difficulties.
Before you reply, consider what made it such a big deal for you. Make sure your answer explains the strategy you used to solve the problem. So that they can comprehend how you handle circumstances like this, provide them as much background information as you can. Tell the interviewer what you learned from the experience and how you plan to apply it to your new job with the company.
4. Tell the truth
Instead of attempting to make it appear as though you have had an easy career, be open and honest with the interviewer about your earlier struggles. By doing this, you show that you are carefully considering the situation and that you have nothing to hide in regards to your past struggles.
5. Watch out how you come across in your responses.
Use caution while providing examples and stories in your response. Don’t discuss difficulties you had, particularly if you caused them, during the interview. Instead, consider highlighting situations in which you showed courage or excelled at working with a team. Your anecdotes must emphasize your triumphs as an employee rather than your shortcomings after all.
6. If necessary, draw on examples from the outside world.
If you don’t have a lot of work experience and can’t talk about any challenges you experienced at work, use an example from your education, volunteer work, or any sports you participated in. If you do this, make sure to relate your past actions to your professional experience and the job description you are applying for. Be careful not to include any personal anecdotes about your health or other aspects of your private life, regardless of your level of employment experience.
Examples of answers
It can be beneficial to consider some responses in case the recruiting manager asks this question during the interview. After viewing how you can answer the question correctly, you can choose how you want to react. When responding to this interview query, take into account the following instances:
Example: “A former coworker abruptly left her job at my most recent job. She was currently the team leader for a large new project. When she left, my supervisor urged me to take over. Despite never having performed her job duties before, I had prior leadership experience. With the help of my leadership and problem-solving skills, I advanced the project, motivated the other members of the team, and completed both her and my tasks. This assignment was successfully finished on time.”
Picture 2 “In one of my most recent projects, we had a customer who wasn’t happy with her purchase. I took the time to meet with her and hear about her concerns. As soon as she was quiet, I provided her a couple options to help us solve the problem. She thanked me for my time, picked the best option for her, and then made another transaction with us. I made an effort to fix the issue while also ensuring that we kept her as a client.”
Picture 3 “As a freshman in college, one of my biggest challenges was keeping up with the workload compared to what I was used to. When I began to feel overloaded, I put time management and organization into practice. I also sought advice from my teachers, joined study groups, and made an effort to create a structured schedule, all of which helped me focus on the work at hand. I want to use what I’ve learned from this in my new job with your company.”
