Once you’ve been invited to a job interview, you should carefully prepare for the long list of questions about who you are and what you know about industry, along with your sill sets. There are also difficult questions concerning: handling conflict or crises, your past career baggage or getting fired, etc.

How to deal with difficult questions in a job interview?

First important rule to use with any behavioural questions is so called STAR rule.

STAR is simply an abbreviation of the following:

S – situation – This gives context to your answer so it might include where you                were working at the time, what your role was and any brief background information

T – task (or problem) – You need to communicate what you were trying to do or achieve in the example.

A – action – Describe what actions you took to manage the task in that particular situation.

R – result – Show how you made a difference, added value or had an impact on the bottom line.

Read more about STAR.

Look at the example below; with the use of STAR you can response successfully:

“Have you ever had a conflict at work that you couldn’t resolve? What did you do?”

 “Situation: When I was new at an accounting job I met there a woman there who had been there for a few years, and I expected her to take the lead.

Task/Problem: We had a problem communicating because of a difference in expectations from each other.

Action:  I tried to talk to her to see if we could find some common ground. Unfortunately it did not work out. My boss got involved to see what he could do and set the two of us down to see if we could work things out. We just had different personalities and work standards.

Result: We finally agreed to disagree but to treat each other with respect as professionals. We continued to work together on projects, but as professionals and not friends.”

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