Give me an example of a time that you had to solve a problem without having all of the necessary information at hand to do so. How did you handle that situation?
For this question, your interviewer is looking to test your ability to be analytical and resourceful in a specific situation where you had to dig further to solve a problem. Prior to your interview, try to think of a time in the past where you encountered this specific situation and talk through it by laying out the problem and walking through the step-by-step approach you took to solve it. Be as detailed you can as you explain how you sought to solve the problem. Your interviewer will be relying on these details to see how you will perform on the job with State Street.
Many positions at State Street will require you to work independently without having all the details you need. Senior-level leadership isn't there to hold your hand through a project, so make sure your interviewer knows that you can do your job well, even if you're missing a few of the puzzle pieces.
"Back when I first joined my current organization, I was taking a role that had been vacant for many months, and I had to start with a backlog of work along with the regular daily activities. This customer service role included logging daily visitors and calls, and the interim rep only kept brief notes. After taking the time to walk through training and soon running on my own, I realized that the current workload wouldn't allow me to catch up on the backlog of work that had been missed. While I had ideas of how to play catch up on the work, I approached my supervisor with a few ideas, and we settled on having me log hours from home on our system as overtime to get caught up. I worked with our IT staff on getting set up on our network from home and was more than willing to help out with some extra hours."
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
In my most recent role at ROI Communications, I was dealing with a client that needed internet access on a construction site and was very impatient and difficult to deal with. We had discovered that for them to get access, a local provider would have needed to do a bit of construction to make the connection possible and it was going to take a week or two. Upon hearing this I knew the client was going to be furious. I am a big believer in utilizing the resources around me when I cannot directly provide a solution, so in this case, I managed to reach out to a provider that focuses on wireless connections and make amends with the client in the meantime while their permanent connection was built.
Marcie's Feedback
Wow! This was a great way to handle this situation. By reaching out to the wireless provider, you showed that you can be incredibly resourceful if needed. This example also emphasizes your ability to successfully handle a disgruntled customer. Excellent!
