Explain to me something that you feel is complicated.

Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
How to Answer
Stay Away From
1st Answer Example
2nd Answer Example

This question is designed to test your communication skills. Your example is less relevant than how effectively you are able to communicate it.

You can pick any topic, work-related or not. Just make sure you're effective in how you relate this concept. Perhaps choose a topic you have had a high success rate in explaining in the past. The key to this question is in how you relay your information, taking a difficult concept and communicating it effectively with ease.

Try and steer clear of super complicated topics. You aren't familiar enough with the interviewer yet to know how they might receive the information. Find a topic or concept that they might already be familiar with, and can confirm is a difficult concept to explain. Or choose something you are confident you can effectively explain universally. Try not to get too carried away with the challenge of the concept. Focus instead on your effective communication skills and try to bring that to light.

"I feel like non-defensive communication is a tough concept for many people to grasp. Word choice and perspective are everything when trying to communicate non-defensively. Especially in the workplace, where an individual can feel vulnerable at any given moment. Everyone wants to take pride in their work, and when a situation arises where something breaks down, the last thing any member of the team wants is to be blamed, which can bruise their pride. Finger-pointing or blame will trigger defensiveness. But to observe the situation, to identify where the communication breakdown occurred, and to remove blame will identify what went wrong without placing blame. That's why we call them growth opportunities. To say, 'Hey, Chris--I noticed this happened, and wanted to talk to you about it and examine what happened.' So many of these situations boil down to communication. So non-defensive communication is integral to enhanced communication. If the defensive component is removed, then all that's left is communication."

"I think credit card reward points are a complicated subject for many people to navigate. I know Amex rewards are at the top with their rewards programs. But where and how to redeem points is pretty complicated. More than anything, I think it just takes time to research and compare what the value is for one reward versus another. Using Amex points through their travel portal offers the biggest bang for your buck than transferring those points to gift cards or other perks. You want to examine a point's worth from one perk to another, and find which reward option offers the worth of a penny or more per point. But to take any complication out of it and to keep it simple, just call Amex and let their outstanding customer service team help."