When were you able to resolve a problem during your undergraduate or graduate program?
Problem-solving and dispute resolution are fundamental skills to possess as an Administrative Fellow. During your time with them, your interviewers may pose several questions that get at your ability to problem solve in an efficient and effective manner. With this question, they leave the door open to have you talk openly about a creative problem you had to resolve.
"During my master's program, I ran into a few issues working over the summer in my clerkship. It was a great experience working for an inner-city clinic that had a wide variety of patients and one of the tasks I was assigned was creating and distributing a patient survey. While the creation was fairly easy given my skills, the clinic didn't have email contact information for a lot of patients and they didn't have an online portal as other major healthcare institutions had. To gather as much patient information as possible, I worked with the scheduling staff to start collecting the email addresses of patients that were calling and scheduling appointments moving forward for those we didn't have. Outside of our schedulers, I worked to have a mailer sent out to other patients with a response sheet and a stamped envelope to return. After just two months, we had addresses for over 80% of our patients, and surveys were sent out at the end of my clerkship."
Display to the interviewer that you are capable of problem-solving within the workplace as you would join their Administrative Fellowship program. Your example should show that you can be a team player, even in the face of conflict. Prior to your interview, you'll want to think of a time or two where you had to be resourceful in solving a problem. As you lay out your example, walkthrough explaining the situation, what your thought process was, what action you took, and the positive result that came from your resolution skills.
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
When I was in the master's program, it was the first week of gross anatomy lab. I was part of a team of 6 students that had to dissect a certain list of structures each day, no matter how long it took. Since there is only so much room to dissect, we would rotate 2 people dissecting at a time while the other members mostly stood by and offered occasional help. We would dissect into the evening because the process was so intricate and complex. The long hours caused frustrations and flare-ups between different personalities within the team. I came up with the idea to break up the work and complete each day in shifts, so the whole team didn't have to be there all at once. It made the process go much more smoothly and the team worked better together without feeling overworked and the team dynamic improved.
Marcie's Feedback
Awesome! You've done a great job using the STAR method here to logically explain what the situation/problem was, what your task/role was, the action you took, and what the end result was. It sounds like you came up with a solution that resolved the issue and also improved the team's morale which the interviewer will undoubtedly appreciate. Excellent job!
Anonymous Answer
In a previous role, I faced a tight deadline with limited resources. I analyzed project requirements, gathered data, and consulted team members. We successfully completed the project within the given timeframe through strategic planning and effective delegation, exceeding client expectations.
Jaymie's Feedback
This is a great example to share! If you can share more context about the project and the role you played or the financial impact you had, that will make a strong impression.
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