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"describe a time when you've overcome a challenge" type questions?

Anyone have any ideas/advice on how to answer these, both in written form and at interviews.

I'm really struggling to think of anything difficult that has happened to me! I went to a good school and 6th form, got good grades, went to a good uni, and have hopefully got a good grade.

in previous interviews I've used an example where I struggled when first learning to drive, and have explained how I had to do extra hours practice to get up to speed (hoping showing effort and commitment would impress them)

but I'm really struggling for an example, same goes for "describe a time when you've told someone off" which I've seen on a recent application...its like these companys expect you to have lived some gritty, struggle of a life! But i suppose they have to separate the candidates somehow...

so any ideas as to what they are after, and what examples I could use?

Reply 1

eulerww

3

couldnt you say you were having trouble understanding "insert really high level topic in your academic field" - but you spent time and effort reading up about it until you were confident about it?? or something - i dont know

Reply 2

Rooftopcowboy

OP

12

eulerww

couldnt you say you were having trouble understanding "insert really high level topic in your academic field" - but you spent time and effort reading up about it until you were confident about it?? or something - i dont know

I had to resit an Economics module in year1 of uni, which required me to spend all summer re-learning everything..but then I worry that showing I have failed a module before (especially one that features a lot of maths) would reflect badly on me!!

at an assessment centre I was at another candidate said they made up that they gave up smoking as their example! when they hadn't even smoked before :biggrin:

I'm just finding it hard to have an example, without giving one that makes me look like a poor candidate, but thanks for your suggestion.

Reply 3

Rooftopcowboy

OP

12

anyone? 47 have viewed this thread, and this question comes up on loads of application forms, surely someone has some ideas!?

Reply 4

FoeGeddaBowDeet

Make it up, and remember your answer. Something plausible. I would never advocate lying on an important part of your CV such as qualifications or experience but these questions are IMO stupid and unhelpful.

Reply 5

ChemistBoy

16

FoeGeddaBowDeet

Make it up, and remember your answer. Something plausible. I would never advocate lying on an important part of your CV such as qualifications or experience but these questions are IMO stupid and unhelpful.

I personally don't think that lying in a competency-based interview is going to help. You'll get found out later on.

My advice: Go out and do some volunteering, get some experience outside the educational bubble. That's the best way to answer these questions.

Reply 6

NobodyElseWill

2

what about mentioning school/6th form or uni challenge or even personal life? for exmple juggling social with studies

Reply 7

lekky

19

I always turn it into a possitive.. normally saying I used to be very afraid of public speaking but by forming the debating society and reguarly speaking infront of large groups of people, as well as meeting new people on a regular basis, I was able to overcome this fear and am now confident? SOmething along those lines

OR I go with the "I'm not a naturally organised person, and for a period of time this proved challenging. however, I have been able to overcome this by keeping a journal of everything I need to do, and developed my time management skills by running the debating society and acting as a peer supporter within college".

IE present a challenge, say how you overcame it, if possible manage to use it as a way to display something you've done at the same time (for me debating society/peer supporting).

:smile:

Have you ever felt stressed because you had a lot of work to do? Did you manage to get all the work done? How did you do it... you could use this as an example of overcoming a challenge of a large work load through your excellent time management skills.

Reply 8

crafty bison

14

They're called "competency questions" by the way. Try Googling that phrase. If you're dedicated enough you could spend several days creating a huge bank of your answers to each possible one in a big Word document, then job applications are done through copy and paste. That's what my friend's done. I'm far too lazy.

Reply 9

redalert

I had exactly this problem - my question is in the education careers thread under 'teach first - overwhelming challenge question'. Tbh I didn't get any useful responses - I think it can be very hard to find a happy medium between talking about something that you don't think is a big enough or overwhelming enough challenge and totally overdoing it. I ended up talking about the challenge of fitting in lots of extracurriculars with uni work. It was a bit cheesy but I got through to assessment centre so I guess they didn't mind too much.

I don't think there is any problem with making something up if you're totally stuck - how would they ever find out you had never given up smoking for example?? of course it's different if you tell them you once climbed mount everest or something, but the smoking one is good I think. I knew someone else who said that they used to be overweight and trained really hard to get fit. Those kinds of things are useful in that they don't reflect badly in any way on your academic ability/time management skills/public speaking skills, even though you're saying you overcame challenges in these areas. Good luck anyway!

Reply 10

LorelaiLouise

Original post by ChemistBoy

I personally don't think that lying in a competency-based interview is going to help. You'll get found out later on.

My advice: Go out and do some volunteering, get some experience outside the educational bubble. That's the best way to answer these questions.

I volunteer twice a week and have had lots of works experience with children and disabled people but am finding it difficult to think of a time where I needed to overcome a challenge in any of these areas. Wouldn't it be better to lie rather than writing nothing?

Reply 11

ChemistBoy

16

Original post by LorelaiLouise

I volunteer twice a week and have had lots of works experience with children anddisabled people but am finding it difficult to think of a time where I needed to overcome a challenge in any of these areas. Wouldn't it be better to lie rather than writing nothing?

What about dealing with challenging behaviour?

"describe a time when you've overcome a challenge" type questions?

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