Difficult Interview Questions

"Let the beauty we love be what we do." Rumi

For most people, the most difficult interview questions to answer are ones that ask about a negative or challenging situation. While job seekers still need to prepare good answers to interview questions that are more standard and straightforward, when asked about how they handled a negative situation at work, most people are at a loss in terms of what to say.

Some Examples of Difficult Interview Questions

Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer or client.
Tell me something you didn't like about your last employer.
Describe a time when you worked with a difficult co-worker.

These are the most common examples of this type of difficult interview question. While the way the employer phrases the question may vary from interview to interview, the essential questions and the best way to handle the questions remain the same.

Employers may phrase the question in a way that is more specific to your line of work. For example, if you worked in social services, the question, "Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult client." may become, "Tell me about a time when you worked with a client who was at risk for suicide." It is, in essence the same question, but it is more specific to that particular field of work in that it asks specifically about a difficult situation that the job seeker has likely faced, given his or her line of work.

The biggest mistake people make when answering these difficult interivew questions lies in talking about a negative situation that was never resolved. Good answers to tough interview questions like this are answers that describe a situation that was challenging and you handled it well and brought about a positive outcome.

If you are still angry about a specific person or situaiton, do not talk about that person or situation in a job interview. If you dealt with a difficult situation that was never resolved in a positive way, do not talk about that situation in a job interview. Instead, talk about a situation that was challenging but as a result of your smart thinking or hard work, the situation was resolved.

The other mistake people make when answering this type of difficult interview question lies trying to avoid the question completely. Sometimes, in order to avoid mentioning a negitive in a job interview, people will say that they have never worked with a difficult co-worker, or there was nothing they disliked about their former employer.

The problem with this answer is two-fold. First, the employer will think you are being evasive. Almost everyone deals with a difficult customer, co-worker or employer at some point, so saying you have never come across these situations sounds insincere. Second, by saying your have never dealt with a challenging situation at work, you are not showing that you have the ability to deal with challenging situations in a way that is effective.

There's nothing wrong with admitting to an interviewer that you have encountered challenges at work, as long as you took appropriate steps to resolve the situation effectively. So, to come up with some good answers to interview question like this, think about situations at work that were challening, describe the appropriate steps you took to resolve each situation, and be sure to highlight the positive results of your actions.

I've posted a sample answer to these kinds of difficult interview questions in response to a reader's post on the same topic. You'll find the sample answer here and the original reader's comment is here.