What sources do you turn to when you need to solve a complicated problem?
The interviewer wants to assess how resourceful you are and your capability to think outside the box. This could also inform them if you exhibit interpersonal skills or if you prefer to go it alone. This will grant them insights into your work style, how self-guided you are in your approach, and if you know when to help and when to rely on the rest of your team. Ideally, you want to exhibit flexibility and adaptability, with the needs of the team informing your decisions. Show the interviewer that you are knowledgeable and equipped to handle these types of scenarios.
"When faced with a complicated problem, I will look to the resources that my current company has provided me. The answer is almost always in there. If it's more of a moral dilemma versus a knowledge-based dilemma, I will ask my supervisor for his thoughts and opinion since I value him as a mentor and expert in our industry."
"If there's a complicated problem, I'll write out what I think the possible solutions would be and make a note of what my gut tells me to do. Then I will weigh those potential solutions against one another and list the complications that may arise as a result of each choice. I am always open to input or suggestions from those with more experience than me and look to my mentors, their experience, and the training resources, as well as potentially talk the problem out with coworkers or my boss."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
For complex problems, I often spend some time taking stock of what resources I have before I start to address any problem. If I know there's a lot of information on the internet that I can access I may not need to use other resources. Often I'll gauge internal resources' knowledge with some informal conversations to learn more about what they know about the problem I'm facing. I'll even reach out to friends, old colleagues, or vendors/suppliers.
Once I know what's available to me and whether it's sufficient to manage the problem I'll start to formulate a plan of how to address the issue and then get resources aligned and take the project on.
For example in the case of my logistics model there wasn't a lot of internal resources available but there was a lot of documentation online, however, something like a control system configuration project, those sources would be found primarily internally.
Marcie's Feedback
Excellent! It sounds like you do a great job of taking into consideration what resources are available to you before moving forward. Mentioning the internet, colleagues, friends, and vendors/suppliers is good too. Don't forget internal documentation and training materials. Nice job!
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