Progressive HireVue Mock Interview
Practice 30 Progressive HireVue interview questions covering digital assessments, behavioral scenarios, and video response techniques.
Question 29 of 30
Talk about the most difficult decision you have had to make recently.
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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.
The hiring managers at Progressive want to know how you approach complex decisions. The goal of your response is to showcase your strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
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.
One common mistake that interviewees make is to give a highly personal response. This question is not the time to talk about the hardest personal decision you've ever made. Be sure to keep your answer career-focused and related to the job opportunity at Progressive.
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.
Making difficult decisions is an essential skill for anyone working in the insurance industry, where tough choices are inevitable. Provide the hiring managers at Progressive with evidence that you can move through challenging decisions.
Behavioral-based interview questions like this, where the hiring managers ask you to "Talk about...," are best answered using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the hiring company with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer.
Use an example relevant to your work, such as changing majors in university, quitting a job that wasn't healthy for you, selling your business and re-entering the traditional workforce, relocating to a new city for better opportunities, or even starting a new professional venture.
Be sure to highlight how you approached the decision and take the decision-makers through your critical thinking and decision-making process. You should also include details of how your decision worked out for the best. At the end of your response, remember to connect your critical thinking skills and how they will benefit Progressive when they choose to hire you.
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 average HireVue interview takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. This one-way video interview typically includes 3-5 questions. Depending on the HireVue parameters set by Progressive, the asynchronous interview platform will generally give you 30 seconds to prepare a response and up to 2 minutes to answer each question. It's important to note that HireVue stops recording as soon as your time limit is up, so it's better to run under time than overtime.
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.
"(Situation) The biggest decision I have ever made was to quit my last job and move to Denver. (Task) I have a lot of friends in Denver, which made the choice a bit easier, but leaving my hometown to explore other opportunities was certainly a major decision in my life. (Action) I decided, despite my fears, to move forward and make the location change. I actively looked for a new job opportunity and leveraged my existing network to make valuable new connections. (Result) Today, I have zero regrets, as I love this city. It's my home for good!"
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Jaymie
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Anonymous Answer
When I worked at a past job, it came to my attention that one of the teachers had become addicted to painkillers prescribed after he had surgery. His performance was being negatively impacted, and he needed to get some help. I spoke with him privately, and I helped him arrange a weekend treatment program that was covered by his insurance. Fortunately, he got his life back on track and received teacher of the year about six months later.
Marcie's Feedback
Wow! This is definitely a powerful example, but just make sure your examples line up with the question asked. In this case, the interviewer wants to know about a difficult decision you've made. Was it a hard decision to decide to help your coworker in this situation? Probably not, which makes it a questionable example to cite here. Do you have another example highlighting a hard decision you had to make that you can mention here?
Anonymous Answer
I recently had to make the decision to change my career path from PA back to IA. I had been contemplating the choice for about 2 years. I decided to return to an all-lines adjuster because I feel my experience and skills will be more useful and I will have more opportunities to learn and grow.
Marcie's Feedback
This is a good example to discuss here. What prompted you to contemplate making a change in the first place? In what ways will your experience and skills be more useful as an IA instead of a PA? Also, consider talking about exactly how you made the decision. Did you make a pros and cons list? Did you talk to mentors and trusted friends? Did you reflect on what you really want in your career? Adding more details will make your answer even more meaningful and memorable to the interviewer. Great job!
Anonymous Answer
My husbands' job was moving us from TN to FL. I had to close my small cleaning business that I had for 12 years. Now I am looking for a new job opportunity to grow and use the skills I have learned throughout my career.
Jaymie's Feedback
This is a great start, as you've demonstrated how hard you worked on building this business in a previous answer. Give a little more detail on which particular skills you feel will be transferrable and add value if given this opportunity.
Anonymous Answer
To be honest, the most difficult decision I have had to make recently was to take a step back from my photography business and pursue a job that is more consistent and stable. While I love photography, the income and hours are not stable enough for me and my family at this time in our lives, so it will have to go on the back burner and become something I do more in my spare time rather than be a full-time job. I am now eager to pursue a new career and provide more stability in my family as well as grow in a new area for myself.
Jaymie's Feedback
This is a very genuine response, and that would have been a difficult decision to make. Your desire to get your foot in the door and excel will be clear to the interviewer.
Anonymous Answer
My firm hired an assistant for our litigation department. He had no experience in a law office or legal setting but our management was confident that he would be an asset to our litigation department. However, it quickly became apparent to me that he was not grasping what we were trying to teach. He was becoming a burden to us, and he did not seem happy in his role. I made the difficult decision to have him removed from our department. As a result, our work moved more smoothly and I found a role for him outside of my department that suited him better.
Jaymie's Feedback
This sounds like a difficult situation to be in and one that you did not take lightly. You were able to problem-solve and find a solution that worked for both parties. Well done!
Anonymous Answer
Leaving my co-workers/friends that I've developed over the years of service at my current Employer but I'm ready for a new adventure!
Jaymie's Feedback
This would indeed be a difficult decision to make! It sounds like you're able to build relationships with coworkers and you've got a positive outlook on the future and your next opportunity.
Anonymous Answer
Situation: A difficult decision I made was to relocate from my home state of Connecticut to South Carolina. Task: What made the decision most difficult is that my family and most of my good friends still live in CT.
Action: There are a lot of positives to living in SC, and after discussing my decision to move with those closest to me I went forward with my plan.
Result: Love my new home state and my family and friends visit often and they love it here too.
Jaymie's Feedback
This is a good situation to share. You did a good job walking the interviewer through your decision-making process and then sharing the positive outcome of your decision.
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