State Street Mock Interview
Practice 31 State Street interview questions covering custody operations, fund accounting, and financial services expertise.
Question 15 of 31
Tell me about a time you faced uncertainty. How did you handle it?
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Rachel Hills Lowe is a PR and Communications Professional with experience interviewing candidates for copywriting, marketing, and communications positions.
Ambiguity is an inevitable part of most jobs and especially those within financial services. Your interviewer wants to know that you are comfortable with uncertainty and can use solid logical reasoning skills to find the best path forward. While some employers are OK with answering every little question you might have, know that most places don't want to have to hold your hand through every project. Using an experience as an example, demonstrate your ability to run with a situation even if you don't have each piece of the puzzle.
Rachel Hills Lowe is a PR and Communications Professional with experience interviewing candidates for copywriting, marketing, and communications positions.
"I think that uncertainty keeps the job exciting, so I can assure you I'm comfortable not having every piece of information. Working for a tech startup a few years ago, each day presented new challenges and uncertainties that we had to tackle. Our first time onboarding a new client was particularly challenging, as we didn't already have precedents in place. I handled this uncertainty through diligent preparation in the weeks leading up to our kick-off call. I did extensive research on the client, made sure I was comfortable with our project management tools and created various contingency plans. Overall, onboarding went great, and we developed a close relationship with this client filled with productive work together. Even though they were our first client and we had no blueprint to follow, I approached the situation by listening closely to the clients' pain points and developing subsequent deliverables to address each one."
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Anonymous Answer
In my first year of playing baseball at the University of Maine, my head coach decided to take a job at another school. At the time I was there on a big scholarship. The new coach that had taken over was someone I had no existing relationship with and did not really give me the time of day to build one. I was unsure of how he would handle the current team situation. In particular, I was unsure of whether he was going to revoke my scholarship. During this time I tried my best to perform well, keep my grades up and try to stay on his radar. Unfortunately, it did not work out for me the following season, but I learned that it is important to always keep my head up and work hard and persevere.
Marcie's Feedback
Wow! This definitely sounds like a stressful situation. Your response shows that you handled it the best way possible: by performing well, keeping your grades up, and trying to show him your value. You might also mention that you didn't allow this to discourage you and that you rose to the challenge and tried your hardest to succeed despite a lot of it being outside of your control. Great answer!
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