How do I answer situational questions? 10 examples with a right and wrong answer
Situational questions are the cornerstone of any interview process. Your answers here are what make you the stand out candidate compared to everyone else being interviewed. And passing this stage means your job offer’s secured and your new salary range finalized.
What happens if you mess up here? Your competence and your future potential (plus your potential new salary) in your new employer’s eyes are called into question. And if there’s another candidate being interviewed, you might have given them an edge.
So it’s critical to get your situational questions and answers right. That’s why I’m strict when doing mock interview training with my students.
🚨Also this is my opinion only but if an interviewer isn’t asking you any situational questions and you’ve not established any credibility beforehand (like coming in via referral or you have a well-established reputation, etc.), I see it as a red flag about the company.
I go so far as to advise my students to really think through if they want to go into a company that isn’t using any methods to check for competence before hiring. 🚨
How do I answer situational interview questions?
There is no better way than using the standard problem–solution–benefit framework.
Your answer should always contain:
The Context - this could be the situation or problem you faced
Your Actions - which is usually the solution
And the Result - the benefit your employer received in the short- and long-term.
That’s the CAR method. To illustrate the answers clearly, I will write them up in the STAR method.
I’m going to share 10 common situational questions. And for each one, I’ll share a wrong answer that I frequently hear from students and the right answer which is a simplified 60-second way of answering the question.
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1. Tell me about a time you went above and beyond at work.
❌ Wrong Answer:
“My boss asked me to work overtime, so I canceled my plans and stayed until it was done.”
Why? This answer lacks on so many aspects like problem-solving, leadership, or measurable impact. It just shows that you’re easy to overload with work.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: My manager was on a medical leave when we received an urgent order for 300 additional products with specific customization requests.
Task: We needed to fulfill the order quickly to meet the client’s deadline without compromising on the quality.
Action: So I coordinated with the teams involved, optimized the production schedule, and personally conducted quality checks throughout to make sure everything completed on time.
Result: We delivered the order perfectly to the client’s expectations, and the client signed an exclusive five-year contract with our company for all their additional product needs.
2. Tell me about a time you had to prioritize something over work.
❌ Wrong Answer:
“I always put my work first because it’s important to me.”
Why? This is vague and doesn’t show real decision-making or prioritization skills. And again it shows that you’re easy to overload with work.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: I broke my leg and had to miss 2 weeks of work.
Task: I needed to focus on my recovery while ensuring minimal disruption to my responsibilities.
Action: I coordinated with my teammates, prepared all the documentation needed, delegated tasks, and set up check-ins to stay informed.
Result: Work continued smoothly, and since then, I’ve made a full recovery and won an award for my outstanding performance in the team.
3. Describe a time you were unsatisfied with your job. What could have made it better?
❌ Wrong Answer:
“Our existing ordering system caused complaints, but my manager didn’t want to fix it. If we had, I think it would have improved our work a lot.”
Why? This answer blames others and makes you look like you lack initiative.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: Our online ordering system allowed customers to purchase incompatible pieces, leading to frequent complaints.
Task: I wanted to find a way to reduce these complaints and improve the overall customer experience, so I decided to initiate a project on improving the online ordering system.
Action: I went through the customer experience myself, and suggested implementing a product compatibility checker. My recommendation was accepted, and I worked with our software engineer to develop and deploy it in less than a month.
Result: Complaints dropped by 35% instantly, and customers no longer complained about incompatible pieces.
4. Tell me about a time you reached a big goal at work. How did you do it?
❌ Wrong Answer:
“We had to double our customers, so I designed a new marketing strategy. We hit our goal.”
Why? This lacks details and doesn’t highlight key contributions from you.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: Our management aimed to double the number of guests booking a at the hotel for the summer.
Task: We needed an innovative marketing strategy to achieve this goal.
Action: I created a 3-part digital campaign focused on a content calendar, community interaction, and partnerships with local travel influencers.
Result: We exceeded our target and secured a 50% budget increase for the following year to do a bigger digital campaign.
5. Tell me about a time you saw a problem and took action.
❌ Wrong Answer:
“I saw a critical Excel file for our monthly reports wasn’t working and reported it to the team for repair.”
Why? No real initiative or measurable impact and just makes you look like a casual observer.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: Our agency uses the zipper communication approach, so sometimes clients would reach out directly to give work to someone on our team but the rest of us wouldn’t know about the work and it lead to a lot of miscommunications and double work.
Task: As the account manager, I needed to know what the team was working on so I could manage the scope and prevent costly rework efforts.
Action: I initiated creating Viber group chats with our clients and dedicated teammates and a new policy of not accepting work in individual chats.
Result: No more unscoped work and it was clearer to everyone what were the ongoing projects and who was working on it, saving the company hundreds of unbilled hours.
6. Tell me about a time you collaborated with a difficult coworker.
❌ Wrong Answer:
“She always had to get her way, so I just did what she wanted until she left.”
Why? This shows no problem-solving or teamwork skills and again that they can just overload you with work and you won’t complain about it.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: The finance manager who partnered with my team insisted on doing things her way which meant almost never meeting our set deadlines.
Task: I needed to find common ground to work effectively with her so I set out to better understand why she ran the processes this way.
Action: I started all our conversations by acknowledging her good ideas and how we could implement them. When I proposed changes to our reporting process so we can simplify them for submitting on the deadlines, she was eager to work together on this.
Result: Our report submissions moved to 100% on-time with no delays happening after.
7. Tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult manager.
❌ Wrong Answer:
“My boss micromanaged everything, so I just stopped giving my opinions and just did my job exactly how he wanted.”
Why? This doesn’t show any stakeholder management or managing up skills. And that you will just accept whatever situation you’re put into, no matter how bad it is.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: An editor constantly criticized my work, no matter how careful I was with the copy.
Task: I needed to improve my writing and reduce negative feedback.
Action: I added a second round of proofreading for an extra check that followed the editor’s style.
Result: My work was praised by multiple editors, and my error rate dropped significantly.
8. Describe a time you had to make a great impression on a client.
❌ Wrong Answer:
“I dress professionally and show up on time for client meetings.”
Why? This lacks a compelling story or impact and it’s the bare minimum expected.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: A demanding client constantly changed her brand’s video assets requests.
Task: I needed to maintain professionalism and keep her satisfied.
Action: Instead of passing her as a client as others had, I patiently understood and managed her concerns so I could deliver beyond her expectations.
Result: She was so impressed that she recommended me to her contacts in the industry, and 2 separate brands reached out about making me their exclusive video editor.
9. Tell me about a time you handled a heavy workload.
❌ Wrong Answer:
“I worked overtime to get everything done.”
Why? Hard work is great, but it’s the most generic answer you can give. We need to stand out with a different view.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: We received 2 large orders from new potentially long-term clients at the same time.
Task: I needed to ensure both orders were delivered on time without sacrificing quality, while also making sure our regular orders were delivered.
Action: I delegated 1 order to the supply chain assistant and provided guidance when needed. I set up a daily 20 minute check-in so I could see the progress and ensure that it was on-track for delivery.
Result: We completed both orders, securing both clients’ repeat business, and the supply chain assistant was praised for their leadership and development in this project.
10. Tell me about a time you had to manage a long-running project.
❌ Wrong Answer:
“It took a year to finish the product, but I kept to a strict schedule and got it done.”
Why? You are only downplaying your impact and skills by summarizing it this way.
✅ Right Answer:
Situation: My team had to develop a customized SaaS app for a major client with an initial scoped timeline of 15 months.
Task: We needed to meet all the deadlines and keep the project on track.
Action: We used Agile methodology with 2-week sprints and daily standups for accountability.
Result: The project finished 20% ahead of schedule even with 2 major obstacles surfacing during the development process.
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What if the situational interview question is about a specific skill?
Here I’ve covered only general soft skills that highlight your work ethic and how you approach problems. But you’ll definitely face questions about specific skills if you’re aiming for a more advanced or technical role.
The framework is the same, it’s just the focus that’s different.
Identify the skills you’ll be asked about. They’re usually listed in the job description.
Think of a specific time or project where you used each skill.
Identify a situation or a problem where you used the specific skill to solve it.
Figure out a measure for the benefit. I usually recommend time saved, money saved, revenue increase, customer complaints decrease, etc.
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Here’s a recap of how to face situational interview questions and answers:
Prepare for situational interview questions in advance. Identify the key skills in the job description. Then match it to your past experience.
Practice answering aloud interview questions with the framework - problem you faced, solution you came up with, and benefit to the company.
Assume that your first answer is going to be the generic answer everyone comes in with. Rethink the question and try to come up with something a bit different.
Good luck to all those heading out for interviews, and if you follow any of my advice, tell me how it goes~
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Hi! I’m Justine.
I’m the founder and writer of all things in The Bumpy Career and welcome to Interviews, a slot where I share things I’ve learned over the course of going on dozens of interviews, and helping hundreds of people prepare for theirs, so that you guys don’t have to trial and error this stuff like I did. If you’ve got any questions, feel free to drop them here.
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