How to answer this interview question?

So heres the question:
One of our values at HSBC is "courageous integrity" which is about doing the right thing.Please describe a situation when you have challenged adecision or an action you felt was wrong. Please consider the followingquestions in your response: • What wasthe situation?• Why did youchallenge the person?• Whatchallenges did you face in doing this?• Whatapproach did you take and why did you choose this approach?• How didthey react to your challenge?• What wasthe direct result of your involvement?• What didyou learn from this experience? (250 words max)

Original post by justdateriguy

So heres the question:
One of our values at HSBC is "courageous integrity" which is about doing the right thing.Please describe a situation when you have challenged adecision or an action you felt was wrong. Please consider the followingquestions in your response: • What wasthe situation?• Why did youchallenge the person?• Whatchallenges did you face in doing this?• Whatapproach did you take and why did you choose this approach?• How didthey react to your challenge?• What wasthe direct result of your involvement?• What didyou learn from this experience? (250 words max)

They tell you precisely how to answer the question. I suspect your problem is that you can't think of a situation where you have demonstrated 'courageous integrity', so you have 3 options -

1.

Think much harder about your life and find an example

2.

Realise that if this is a key requirement, the job isn't for you at the moment

3.

Give them a theoretical example of how you think you'd behave and hope they accept that.

To be honest, this is a poor question to ask for an entry level job, because beyond the almost inevitable 'deciding to request an A level remark when the teacher didn't want to bother', most young people won't have met a situation that gives them an appropriate answer. It's technically a decent HR question to ask because it demonstrates a number of potentially relevant skills but only for managers, so it should only be asked of managers, ie experienced hires.

Reply 2

justdateriguy

OP

8

Original post by threeportdrift

They tell you precisely how to answer the question. I suspect your problem is that you can't think of a situation where you have demonstrated 'courageous integrity', so you have 3 options -

1.

Think much harder about your life and find an example

2.

Realise that if this is a key requirement, the job isn't for you at the moment

3.

Give them a theoretical example of how you think you'd behave and hope they accept that.

To be honest, this is a poor question to ask for an entry level job, because beyond the almost inevitable 'deciding to request an A level remark when the teacher didn't want to bother', most young people won't have met a situation that gives them an appropriate answer. It's technically a decent HR question to ask because it demonstrates a number of potentially relevant skills but only for managers, so it should only be asked of managers, ie experienced hires.

Yeah its he situation i'm having trouble thinking of. This is for an investment bank internship so not much experience I could have had to experience this situation.

Anything you can think of I could make up?

Original post by justdateriguy

Yeah its he situation i'm having trouble thinking of. This is for an investment bank internship so not much experience I could have had to experience this situation.

Anything you can think of I could make up?

I can't give you answers to interview questions, I can only advise you on how you might answer them :wink:

Reply 4

josh_v

17

Have you ever had a job? No one is actually going to check the answers you give are true. Perhaps you had a boss who was trying to force someone to quit because they didn't like them? Or maybe you caught a colleague stealing? Im sure theres something

Reply 5

#ChaosKass

4

If you can't answer the question, you aren't cut out for the job. Simple as.

Reply 6

justdateriguy

OP

8

[QUOTE=#ChaosKass;67494828]If you can't answer the question, you aren't cut out for the job. Simple as.

And you can suck your mum. Simple as.

Reply 7

Blackstarr

20

Original post by justdateriguy

So heres the question:
One of our values at HSBC is "courageous integrity" which is about doing the right thing.Please describe a situation when you have challenged adecision or an action you felt was wrong. Please consider the followingquestions in your response: • What wasthe situation?• Why did youchallenge the person?• Whatchallenges did you face in doing this?• Whatapproach did you take and why did you choose this approach?• How didthey react to your challenge?• What wasthe direct result of your involvement?• What didyou learn from this experience? (250 words max)