Most Common Situational Interview Questions and Answers (with Examples)

Give hiring managers insight into how you handle real-life situations by acing situational interview questions.

The purpose of an interview is to allow the hiring manager to get to know you. They want to learn about your experiences, skills, education, and career achievements, as these things demonstrate you have the knowledge to perform the duties of the role. On top of that, you have to prove you can navigate tricky situations and challenges and solve problems. 

Enter situational interview questions!

It’s critical that you take the time to get ready to answer situational interview questions because they will come up at some point, and the right answer is a great way to show you’re ready to handle any challenges the job you’re applying to might throw at you. 

So, what are situational interview questions?

Situational interview questions are designed to show the interviewer how you’d tackle real-life challenges at work that go above and beyond questions about your career accomplishments – which are super important, too. 

Let’s say that you just told the hiring manager that you successfully led a 3-year project at your last company and brought the whole thing in $20K under budget. That’s a great achievement and will go a long way toward impressing the interviewer. Don’t be surprised if they follow up with a situational interview question to dig a little deeper and find out how you solved problems along the way or made decisions when things didn’t go right. 

Some examples of situational interview questions that could come up include:

• How would you handle something like an important team member leaving mid-project?

• What would you have done if leadership cut your budget halfway through the project?

• What if your project’s deadline got moved up without any notice?

Of course, the situational interview questions you’ll encounter will be different for every job you apply to but the great thing is that you can use the same formula for answering every one of them. It’s called the STAR method. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result:

• Situation: What was going on?

• Task: What was supposed to be going on?

• Action: What did you do about it?

• Result: What was the outcome of what you did?

Using this formula allows you to fully answer the situational interview question in a concise way that focuses on results, which, as you know, is really what the hiring manager wants to know about. 

What are examples of situational interview questions?

While it is true that situational interview questions can be worded in any number of ways, there are a few that you can almost always count on hearing. If you can get ready for these, you should be able to tackle any others that are thrown your way. 

1. How would you handle a conflict with a coworker?

“I have learned from experience that conflict is usually because of a miscommunication. If I found myself in a conflict with a coworker that was causing disagreement on a project, I would be direct in my aim to resolve it. The first step would be to have a personal conversation with the other person to learn about their perspective and try to find some common ground – thank goodness I’m a great active listener. There’s always some compromise that can be reached to ensure any project stays on track.”

2. What would you do if you disagreed with your manager’s decision?

“Disagreeing with anyone on a proposed decision is often due to not fully understanding the objectives behind the decision. In this case, I would find a way to communicate my perspective and try to learn the manager’s perspective, too. Even if no compromise could be reached, let’s say it’s a not-open-for-discussion-type change, then perhaps a blending of perspectives could help ease any transitions. Either way, learning about the reason behind what was causing the disagreement can put any negatives to bed quickly.”

3. How would you manage a sudden project delay?

“Project delays are never good, but they can be minimized. I would quickly reach out to our team and the client to explain the situation, set expectations, and make course corrections to keep everything on track. By holding a team meeting, we can assess the reason for the delay and find out if any tasks can be expedited or moved around. Whatever the decision, constant communication and transparency would be key to keep everyone aligned and reduce any negative impacts on the project’s final delivery date.”

4. How would you handle a heavy workload with tight deadlines?

“This is something I actually know quite a bit about, and the key is in being organized and effectively prioritizing tasks. Sometimes, I understand that someone else – a manager or client – will have the final say on prioritizing tasks – but as long as I create a schedule and break the tasks up into manageable pieces to address the most important things first, I would be able to meet deadlines and maintain the right level of quality.”

5. How would you react if you made a significant mistake on a project?

“Take responsibility and learn from it! No one likes to make a mistake, but we’re all human, and oopsies happen. Obviously, I would take a look at what went wrong and why to try to figure out how to fix what needs to be fixed as quickly as possible so there’s no domino effect on other activities or processes, letting the relevant people know about the mistake. I’d also take corrective actions and implement some checks and balances system to ensure similar mistakes don’t happen in the future.”

Other Situational Interview Questions You May Hear

• How would you approach a project if you were unclear about the goals or expectations?

• What would you do if you realized a project wasn’t going to meet its objectives close to the deadline?

• How would you handle it if you were asked to take on a project outside of your expertise?

• How would you manage a project that suddenly had its budget cut?

• How would you handle working with a difficult team member?

• How would you prioritize tasks if you had two high-stakes projects at the same time?

• What would you do if you didn’t know how to complete a project task?

• How would you respond if you encountered an ethical dilemma in a project?

• How would you motivate a team facing a challenging deadline?

• What steps would you take if you noticed a project was falling behind schedule?

• How would you handle a sudden change in project goals from the client?

• What would you do if you disagreed with a project direction but were overruled?

• How would you handle feedback from a client that was negative?

• How would you handle a tight deadline with limited resources?

Situational vs behavioral interview questions

A lot of people mistake situational interview questions for behavioral questions. When you’re getting ready for your interview, it’s critical that you avoid doing this. 

• Behavioral interview questions focus on the past. These are often phrased with “Tell me about a time…” or “Give me an example of when you…” type questions. 

• Situational interview questions are all about the future. You’ll hear things like “How would you handle…?” or “What would you do…?” type questions.

You’d use the STAR method for both types of questions, but you have to know whether to draw on past experiences or relay a hypothetical response. For behavioral questions, use a real scenario from your past, and for situational questions, talk about the steps you’d take if you were faced with a particular scenario.

Prove you can think, adapt, and solve problems

Companies want people who are dynamic and who are agile under pressure, but being able to think on your feet doesn’t mean that’s what you should do in your interview. Prepare responses to situational interview questions and be ready to answer them when they pop up – yes, when, not if. 

Before you can start preparing for an interview, though, you need to prove your worth through your resume. ZipJob offers a free resume review and can help you highlight problem-solving abilities in a way that captures future employer’s attention. 

Recommended reading:

• How to Answer “What Motivates You?” in an Interview

• 5-Year Vision: How to Answer Interview Questions With Examples

• 12 Great Questions to Ask In An Interview