Alcoa Mock Interview
Master 30 Alcoa interview questions covering safety culture, aluminum production, and operational excellence.
Question 20 of 30
Tell me about the most challenging problem you have encountered in your professional career.
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Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
Everyone has had their share of challenges in their career. The interviewer knows that you are not perfect; however, they need to know that you can professionally overcome work-related roadblocks.
Maybe you had a significant project that almost went sideways. Perhaps you had a conflict in the workplace that you could have handled more professionally. Explain your approach to resolving the issue and be sure to highlight the steps you took to reach that resolution.
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"The most challenging problem I have encountered in my professional career was with my most recent employer. I had an incredibly important project that made up the majority of my annual budget. The client was challenging to work with as he was rarely available for comment, due to extensive international travel. I needed this deal to work out so, for the 6-month span of the project, I made my work hours reflect his time zone. This allowed us to communicate via Skype on a daily basis. This meant a fair share of late night and early morning calls for me! It was a sacrifice; however, I would do it again. I understand that sacrifices need to be made for successful outcomes to happen."
Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"The most challenging problem that I encountered in my career was when my former company experienced a major merger. It was a lot to adjust to but, after some time, I was able to get a good pace again."
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Anonymous Answer
As mentioned before I have not had much of a professional career, however, my most recent challenge was when my supervisor had to change, and the new supervisor was not organized or prepared with the work we were meant to be doing. With this, I decided to take a day to sort out the work myself and completed all the work with two other colleagues within the deadline and no help from the supervisor.
Rachelle's Feedback
There are some subtleties in wording that I would love for you to learn and be mindful of. For instance, 'no help from the supervisor.' Rather than spotlighting the lack of help, why not choose to spotlight your excellent ability to take the lead? I have reworded below, to show the difference. Also, there is no need to continue repeating your lack of professional career. Be prepared with examples from all walks of life (school, sports, volunteer) if your career has been short. You will want to highlight the positives vs. the areas where you may be lacking :)
"In my current role, my supervisory team changed last minute, which impacted how prepared we were to meet an important deadline. To ensure that we did not let anyone down, I took an entire day to work out the issues and keep the timeline on target. I enlisted two other colleagues to help me, and we made the deadline after all!"
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