When an investigation suffers a setback, what is your initial reaction?

"As a criminal investigator, I must remain cool on the job. There have been instances where I put my heart into a case. Then, a factor outside of my control derails my progress. If this happens, I allow myself a moment to be frustrated, but always in private. I must remain professional and quickly recover so that I can remain focused on what I can control."

"I can only imagine the frustration of seeing a case suffer after putting so much heart into the details. I believe it's important for an investigator to remain collected, so I would take a minute to digest the information and then reassess my approach or strategy. In my personal life, I try to treat setbacks as lessons, so I would take what I could from the situation to learn and improve."

When responding to this question, you want to focus on how you recover and move forward in the investigation. The interviewer wants to see that you are resilient and do not let setbacks derail your investigation.

You want to avoid saying that you lose hope or focus on the investigation. When setbacks occur, the interviewer wants to hear that you have problem-solving and critical thinking skills criminal investigators need to develop a new strategy.