Tell me about a time you wish you had handled a workplace situation differently.

Question

Rachelle Enns · Accepted Answer

"(Situation) I recently had a client come into the office and yell at one of my staff members, embarrassing her. (Task) As the Manager, it was up to me to react professionally. (Action) I focused on calming the client down when I believe that I should have stuck up for my employee first and foremost. Verbally abusive behavior is intolerable, and I wish I would have reacted differently, perhaps asking the client to apologize for their behavior and leave. (Result) A valuable staff member is worth much more than a bad client. I later apologized to my staff member for not reacting on her behalf quickly enough."

Rachelle Enns · Answer

Workplace personality differences will almost always be present, whether you work with a large team or a small one. The interviewer would like to see that you can make the best of any situation, regardless of personality differences. The goal of your response is to spotlight your collaborative qualities. Show the interviewer that you act professionally irrespective of the personality or behaviors of those around you.

Rachelle Enns · Answer

Most people cannot handle every difficult situation with the utmost grace at all times. No matter who you are, there is undoubtedly a work-related situation that makes you cringe a bit when you look back. Answer this question by giving a story-based example of a time you reacted to a scenario in a way that you typically try to avoid. Outline the situation and describe why you reacted the way you did. Focus the bulk of your response on the actions that you took to repair the situation. Also, include details about the lesson you learned.

Rachelle Enns · Answer

Behavioral-based interview questions that begin with 'Tell me about a time...' 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 interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer.

Rachelle Enns · Answer

The example you give should not be a weighty one but have enough impact to show the interviewer that you can bounce back from a misstep in the workplace. Avoid examples that include a display of immaturity or make it look like you have a temper.

Rachelle Enns · Answer

"(Situation) My team recently hired a new junior administrator. (Task) As the more senior administrator on the team, I was tasked with training this new employee. (Action) Throughout the training, I did what I could to overlook the person's bad attitude, assuming that they had been well-vetted through the interview process. Shortly after his onboarding, he ended up quitting. (Result) I wish that I would have listened to my gut and told my boss about the concerns that I had. It would have saved the company a lot of time and money. What I learned from the situation, however, is that I will respectfully speak up from now on."

Rachelle Enns · Answer

"(Situation) A few months ago, we were very short-staffed. (Task) I hired someone because one of my top performers recommended her for the job. (Action) Despite my better judgment, I did not follow my usual interview process. I skipped a few important steps, believing that this particular hire would be a great one. (Result) This new hire was not a strong performer, and I ended up terminating her employment shortly after I hired and trained her. I now know to never stray from my hiring process, no matter the referral source."

Rachelle Enns · Answer

"(Situation) Last year, one of my larger clients changed the scope of their project multiple times. It was a highly frustrating process for everyone. (Task) As the Marketing Manager, it was up to me to reign in the client and the project. (Action) I spent additional time with this client until we finally agreed on a specific campaign. (Result) In the end, the project took twice as long as it should have. Immediately after, I implemented a stronger discovery process so that we could better outline our clients' needs and assess their commitment to the process before getting started."

Rachelle Enns · Answer

"(Situation) A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling overwhelmed with a new product that our company rolled out. (Task) I spent so much time learning the features and benefits that I allowed my cold calling to slide. (Action) Rather than cold call the typical 100 companies that week, I called about 25. The impact on my weekly numbers was apparent. The next week, I tripled up on my cold calling. (Result) What I realized from the situation was that I need to keep the call volume going, despite added responsibilities."

Rachelle Enns · Answer

"(Situation) Recently, there was a shopper in my store who was acting suspiciously. (Task) As an associate on the floor, I take my job very seriously and always keep an eye out for suspicious activity. (Action) I told security about my concern but, because there is so much store to be covered, they were not able to be as attentive to the situation as I would have liked. (Result) This person ended up stealing a few pieces of merchandise. If I could revisit that situation, I would have personally approached the person and asked to help them find what they needed, letting them know I was paying attention. I should have been more visible in that situation."

Rachelle Enns · Answer

"(Situation) I noticed a star student behaving out of character a few months back. (Task) As his primary teacher, I should have had a conversation with him right away. (Action) However, I felt rushed with marking papers and preparing for finals and did not give this student the attention that I should have. (Result) I found out shortly after that this person was going through a very tough time at home. If I could have done anything differently, I would have approached him and asked him if he needed to talk and perhaps directed him to the guidance counselor at the school. I have recently vowed to be much more attentive, even during my peak stress times."

Anonymous User · Answer

"We had a customer that had an issue with their alarm system. I had to get help from another co-worker, and I asked him directly instead of going through his manager. He got in trouble for helping me when I was trying to help the customer. If I had to do it over again, I would have gone through his manager first to get his manager's approval before asking him to help me figure out a solution."

Anonymous User · Answer

"We hired for a financial controller some years back. the first 2 interviews were with our external auditors and the incumbent FC. I was called into a 3rd interview. I felt the guy was intimidating and overbearing but I didn't say anything. All the other interviewers liked him and were willing to hire him so I didn't think my feelings were important. He turned out to be a big mistake. I wish I'd have spoken up."

Anonymous User · Answer

"During my Ph.D., I noticed one of the master's students was behaving out of character. I was in a hurry grading papers and did not give this student the attention that I should have. I found out shortly after that this person was going through a very tough time with his scholarship grant and he hadn't finished his minor in another department.

If I could have done anything differently, I would have approached him and asked him if he needed to talk, and perhaps directed him to the guidance counselor at the university. Since then, I've been much more attentive, even during my work peak times."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I was working on a project with a PhD as a research assistant. The PhD showed me there were two parts to the task, and I could choose to do one or cover some parts of the other task if I wanted to. I looked at the two tasks and thought I was familiar with one, so I chose the familiar one to make sure I could give results without covering the other task. In retrospect, I would have finished the familiar one first and tried to squeeze in time for the other one. I should have been brave and confident enough to try a new challenge."

Anonymous User · Answer

"When I was working in a pharmacy there was one customer who was being very impolite and verbally abused one of my staff. I was too carried away with my task at hand to go in and alleviate the situation. Later the store manager was called over to resolve the issue. If I could do it over again I would have stepped in and fixed the situation myself."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Situation- A few weeks ago, I was a bit overwhelmed with tasks.

Task- Had to turn in a quote to a customer by 5 pm, but another customer also needed a delivery the same day.

Action- Our drivers were unable to make the delivery, so I took the material out, then tried to get back and finish the quote in time.

Result- Made the delivery and was able to turn in the quote but not to the satisfaction and standard it needed to be.

Solution- I should have asked for help from my team."

Anonymous User · Answer

"When I was working as a news gatherer in New York City, I had the opportunity to cover a protest. My editor thought this was not necessary, but I wanted to do it because I thought, "this is NYC and every story counts". There was also a company get-together that day where people would mingle and get to know each other better. Even though I got a good story and nice photos out of the protest, I later regretted focusing solely on work and not engaging in an activity that would have helped me cultivate my work environment."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I once had an experience where I was working with a new facilitator for an event. She was not my project manager contact for the event, but she took over many pieces. Throughout the end of the event, I noticed her tone was fairly crass, and as much as I offered my assistance, she wasn't taking it. I let this go and never told my project manager or direct manager of her treatment to avoid causing any drama. Later that year, my direct manager came to the same event and encountered a similar experience with this new facilitator. She ended up being really frustrated, which is when I told her about my previous experiences working with her.

If I could have re-done the experience, I would have communicated my experience with my peers and manager sooner. This experience actually made me feel closer to the people I worked with and had I known if I spoke up sooner, they would've had my back, I wouldn't have been so timid. I take this experience with me as a reminder to collaborate with my peers, no matter their level, and always make sure that if I can contribute to someone's growth, I'm pulling a seat for them at the table."

Anonymous User · Answer

"When I used to work at the doggie daycare, I worked at the front desk and was a team lead which meant I was in charge of the employees. My co worker was assisting a customer and explaining our prices. The client was getting upset because we were not in their price range and they proceeded to yell at my co worker in front of other customers. In that moment, all I did was calm the customer down and asked them to leave, but I wish I had also stuck up for my co worker."

Anonymous User · Answer

"One time, I had a patient I was caring for that frequently made snide remarks about the night nurse that was caring for her"” I tried to calm her down during these tangents & apologized that the nurse made her feel that way. There was no reason for her to feel that way about the nurse, she just simply didn't like her. I think about that situation now and think I could have handled it differently by not putting up with a patient talking badly about one of my teammates. I wish I would have stopped her during her tangents, instead of apologizing, and inform her that it puts me in an uncomfortable place because she is my coworker, and if she would like to talk to a manager about something that the nurse did, I'd be happy to relay the message to my superiors."

Anonymous User · Answer

"My first month as a GL Accountant in the Reconciliations Team, I had just a couple of hours of training and suddenly I had assigned to me around 70 accounts to be reconciled. I thought I could manage with everything, and even when my manager asked me if I need help, I couldn't recognize that I needed help. The three previous days to the closing, I was very stressed to finish, and I had to do overtime for those three days. I should've done it differently and admitted that I needed help when my manager asked me. This would've avoided the stressful three days I had."

Anonymous User · Answer

"(Situation) Last year, one of my client _______ changed the scope of their project multiple times. It was a highly frustrating process for everyone. Initially, they wanted me to compare their system's performance with the existing database systems of PostgreSQL, MYSQL, and SQL server but later they wanted me to compare with five other DBMSs such as TimeScaleDB, OpenTSDB, and InfluxDB which was not part of the project. (Task) As the project lead, it was up to me to reign in the client and the project. (Action) I spent additional time with this client until we finally agreed on a specific project goal. (Result) In the end, the project took twice as long as it should have. Immediately after, I implemented a new specification process so that I could better outline the clients' needs and assess their commitment to the process before getting started a new project."

Anonymous User · Answer

"¢	S: I previously have undertaken a technology internship at _______ which provides digital products for event management. I was given the task of restructuring data in terms of dates for a client. When in the client meeting, my manager noticed I hadn't put the years correctly."¢	T: He apologized to the client in the meeting and told me about this afterward. It was embarrassing, but it was my mistake that I had to rectify quickly to get the correct data to the client."¢	A: I quickly changed the dates to what was required, double-triple-checked it to make sure there were no mistakes, and sent it to my manager. "¢	R: He relayed this to the client and all was resolved, I learned the importance of proofing your work, but also that the best apology is to take ownership and change your actions. I wish I had double-checked my work in the first place, I never made that mistake again."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I was working with a consultant to install new relays at one of our utilities' substations when my boss told me he was expecting me to install another piece of equipment during the same day. I mistakenly told the relay consultant that it would only take 45 minutes when it actually took 2 hours. I wish I had told him I hadn't installed this piece of equipment before and was unsure of how long it would take."

Anonymous User · Answer

"We had a monthly staff meeting, There were some staff members who were not getting along. In the meeting, I ask if anyone had anything they wanted to bring up. Some of the staff did not like a particular employer. They started making complaints about her and other staff members were joining in. I allow it to go on a little too long. What I should have done is stop the meeting and have talked to each staff member separately to see what the issue was between these employees then determine how to resolve the situation."

Anonymous User · Answer

"My security campaign."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I was working in retail and a customer was trying to get away from stealing. I didn't want to have an argument with a customer, so I let him go. I raised this issue to the manager and we are now more careful. Perhaps, it would be better if I went to speak with the customer and point it out because stealing is not acceptable behavior."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I was part of a disciplinary hearing for one of the employees and I was the one who asked the disciplinary team to give him another chance, unfortunately, he didn't improve in his behavior I wished I agreed to dismiss him then because he had caused alot of money loss before he left the organization."

Anonymous User · Answer

"In my last role, my team recently hired an assistant to the billing department. As the more trained employee on the team, I was tasked with training this new employee. Throughout the training, I did what I could to overlook the persons' bad attitude, assuming that they had been well-vetted through the interview process. Shortly after her onboarding, she ended up quitting. I wish that I would have listened to my gut and told my supervisor about the concerns that I had. It would have saved the company a lot of time and money. What I learned from the situation, however, is that I will respectfully speak up from now on."

Anonymous User · Answer

"When I was younger, I was put in a team with another individual who was senior to me. That individual had very strong technical skills, but they showed a hostile attitude. I hesitated to even talk to them. In retrospect, I wished I had not taken their personality traits so personally."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Early in my career, I had a tendency to speak out with little information to go on. This gets me to a lot of embarrassments and issued apologies. I wish I would have stepped back and assessed the situation before I speak. However, those situations shape me into what I became today. It developed me to become a better listener and deliberate decision-maker."

Anonymous User · Answer

"A prisoner asked me to remove him from the block as he is feeling scared because of another prisoner. I had minimum required staff to open the door present at that stage but to ensure the safety of my team members I asked for a backup staff. but I was a bit late as another prisoner already punched the first guy and the situation went worst from there. I wish I could have let the prisoner come out as I had the resources to handle it but the thought of being extra safe made the situation worse."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I remembered a student earlier in my career who had taken the Board exam many times without success. I later came to know that the student had some learning difficulties. I regret that I did not give this student extra attention and do something differently, at the time, that I should have. If I could have done anything differently, I would have approached him or directed him to the student support center. With years of experience, I now have become more attentive to my students and their needs."

Anonymous User · Answer

"In my second year in clinicals, an ailing patient was in the hospital. My supervising attending was DNR which I was against but he managed to get it signed. I convinced her to null the DNR resulting in a conflict with my attending. I went to the patient and evaluated her. I realized her quality of life would be very poor. I got a new DNR and after signature, I apologized to my attending. My desire to save everyone clouded my acceptance of her choice."

Anonymous User · Answer

"A few months ago I nudged a co-worker who was falling asleep in a meeting. He ended up being dismissed a month later, but perhaps I shouldn't have intervened because by helping him, I was just delaying what was inevitable."

Anonymous User · Answer

"After joining, we decided to undertake a legal audit to asses compliance levels and potential risks. This had never been done in the company. After completion, the report was presented to the EXCO team. The chairman who is also a director - shareholder got to know about the exercise and was upset why I didn't include him. I learned that when joining an organization, its good to understand the dynamics and politics not to be blinded by structures and how things should be done."

Anonymous User · Answer

"In graduate school, an assignment to write a paper was assigned to the class. I did not have the experience that the other students had. I handed in my paper, and when the papers were handed back to the class, everyone got an A while I got a D. I asked the professor about the grade to learn that I had not used footnotes in my paper. The professor allowed me to re-write the paper using footnotes, and my grade was changed to an A. Subsequently, the class had to write another paper for the final examination grade. At the time, I did not know that my first paper was regraded to be an A and I left the final paper without knowing my course grade. After the second paper, when grades were posted, I got an A in the class. I never made that mistake again in any class."

Anonymous User · Answer

"There was a time when I was younger that I had spoken out of turn, not knowing the situation and wished I had listened and considered the entire issue before reacting. I, of course, apologized for not listening and speaking out of turn."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I had a co-worker who was attending a different nursing program than me but was having difficulty. She exclaimed to me many times that she was having a hard time. She ended up being kicked out for not being able to pass her skill test. She was beyond devastated. I wish that I had offered to help her and given her problems extra attention. I will take any nursing student I know under my wing and teach them all that I can."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I had a patient come into the pharmacy and shout at one of my colleagues. I focused my time calming the patient down when I believe that I should have stuck up for my employee first and foremost. Verbally abusive behavior is intolerable, and I wish I would have reacted differently, perhaps asking the customer to leave. A valuable staff member is worth much more than an abusive patient/customer. I later apologized to my colleague for not reacting on her behalf and being supportive."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I was assigned to train a new employee on month-end reporting. The person seemed to have a negative attitude and was not putting in the effort to learn the system. I tried to be patient and took my time to answer any questions she may have had. Shortly after she was onboarded, she ended up leaving and I wish I had listened to my instinct and state my concern to the boss. I would have saved the company a lot of time and money."

Anonymous User · Answer

"In my previous position, I trained site staff with the wrong information. A senior member of staff accompanied me to my next visit to the site, and she trained the staff with the correct information. I apologized to the staff and learned the protocol very thoroughly. I promised the staff that such mistakes would not be repeated. I lived up to what I promised, and I never made a similar mistake. The site staff was willing to depend on me for any clarification or answers to questions they may have!"

Anonymous User · Answer

"I was recently promoted to Team Lead from sales mid-day when I was transferred another sales members call with the intent of closing the deal. Upon securing the client's transaction, I was met with frustration from the salesperson as they were unaware of my recent promotion and became frustrated from the incentive perspective. The VP of Sales quickly explained my new role and how I will be assisting the team moving forward. Wish the VP would have notified the sales team earlier."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I recently hired a new team member whom I felt was going to need extra coaching and time to orient- had we not been short-staffed, I would not have chosen him for the position. As a result, I have had to put in extra time for training, and he is now on a corrective action plan, and the rest of the team is suffering from his extra work. In the future, I will be more careful to follow my instincts about hiring talent."

Anonymous User · Answer

"During the summer of 2019, I worked as a receptionist at a sports facility. Some of my tasks for this job included greeting clients by name, making sports court bookings, and accepting payments. In order for customers to enter the facility, they had to scan their card to open our security gates. Often the gates shut quickly, so we had to be vigilant to ensure they did not close on clients. During one of my shifts, I was accepting the payment of a customer, when the door shut abruptly on a client. The client was extremely angry and walked over to the desk yelling about their injury. Their anger caused me to freeze to the point that I was unable to speak beyond apologizing considerably. I wish I had stayed calm in the moment, explained that I did not close the door on him, asked if I could call someone for support, then outlined that I would report this to maintenance so this issue could be resolved. Having dealt with this scenario has taught me that I do not want to freeze in stressful scenarios in the future, but remain calm, as this will allow me to think clearly and act effectively."

Anonymous User · Answer

"I had to work with a team member I was not used to working with. I had more of a type A personality, whereas he had a type B personality. I was more competitive and aggressive than he was and at times, was impatient with his more relaxed style of working. To combat the differences in working styles, I made sure we communicated well and found common ground between both work perspectives. Through this experience, I learned to be more open minded and spent time revisiting personality styles."

Anonymous User · Answer

"Our team was working on TC automation and getting new tasks every two weeks. Since I reviewed the code, I could observe others' performance. One of the team members was artificially expanding his tasks and creating a large number of repeating TCs. At the same time, our backlog had a lot of other urgent stories that we needed to work on. I was busy with my tasks but tried to convince him that it would be more useful for the team if he focused on a higher priority task. Unfortunately, our conversation didn't lead to the results that I wanted. He continued working on the same tasks. If I was in the same situation again, I would've done two things differently. I would have brought it up to the product owner and explained why I didn't think that the tasks he was working on were priorities. I would have spoken up about my concerns during the planning session and proposed a postponement of these tasks so he could be reassigned to something more urgent."

Anonymous User · Answer

"At my current job, I once installed a service for a customer, and the job took more time than expected to complete. It was close to the end of the workday, so I ensured that the service was working, but I failed to explain the customer's services thoroughly. This resulted in the customer leaving me with a low score on our company's review system. Since this situation, I ensure that I take my time to thoroughly complete every job, which has resulted in higher review scores and better service."

Anonymous User · Answer

"As a cloud computing learner, it was important to me to learn terraform so that I could be involved in remedy requests. In order to learn it, I created two AWS security groups and an application load balancer for webpage using terraform. It took a lot of time to create those resources. I also took a deep dive course that really delayed task delivery. I could have been more efficient if I contacted the right people with terraform skills and gotten direction from them."

Anonymous User · Answer

"When a new receptionist was recruited, I was given the job of training her. I created a handbook detailing the things that needed to be done along with basic instructions on how to do them. I included a daily to-do list which I used as a guideline so that everything would be completed by the end of the day. The new receptionist seemed like she was not interested in training and kept looking at her phone. I gave her some filing to do which she did not complete and left at the bottom of the tray. When I returned the following morning I saw that filing still was not completed. I should have dealt with it differently by informing my line manager that she was constantly on the phone and didn't seem to be interested in the role."

Anonymous User · Answer

"When I was a new pharmacist, a patient came into the store and yelled at one of the technicians because we didn't have his newly prescribed medication. He didn't allow my technician to offer him help by locating the medication at another pharmacy. He continued screaming at her, embarrassing her in front of other patients, and using profanity. My mentality is the customer is always right, so it was up to me to react professionally. I focused on calming the client and trying to offer a solution despite his continuous disrespect. At some point, I was able to calm him down and send him to the nearest pharmacy that had the medication in stock. While I made sure he was happy and satisfied, I did not defend my technician. I believe that I should have defended her first and foremost as this patient's verbally abusive behavior was intolerable, and I wish I would have reacted differently, perhaps asking the client to apologize to my technician for his behavior before offering my assistance. Later I apologized to my technician for not reacting on her behalf and thanked her for her continuous hard work. A valuable staff member is worth much more than a disrespectful patient."

Anonymous User · Answer

"At ________, working as a Security Support office, I noticed that the security guard was turning up late at the duty. Initially, I ignored it, thinking that would be just one occasion, But he made that habit of arriving 5-10 minutes late every day. I had to involve my manager to send the written warning to the guard to be punctual. I wish I would not have ignored it in the first instance rather than becoming his habit."

Anonymous User · Answer

"We had a focus-group discussion with one of our clients, and one of my coworkers asked a question about compensation. It was very awkward for everyone in the room because compensation is a topic that should not be brought up with a client. I was sitting beside her, and I could have given her a signal to stop asking the question, but I didn't. In the end, it became a problem and she got into trouble. That incident taught me to be more engaged and open to calling out a coworker."

Tell me about a time you wish you had handled a workplace situation differently.

How to Answer: Tell me about a time you wish you had handled a workplace situation differently.

24. Tell me about a time you wish you had handled a workplace situation differently.

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