Preparing an answer to these behavioural-style questions will give you the best possible chance of being successful. ‘Describe a challenge you overcame’ is a common interview question, and one you can prepare for. Examples of other ways it could be phrased are:
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced? Tell me about a challenge you have overcome Tell me about a time you were faced with a challenge and had to overcome it
It may seem fairly straightforward, but the question carries a lot of weight. There are several things an employer is looking for, so it’s important to carefully craft a couple of answers before you attend the interview. It can be daunting to consider that the employer is going to draw conclusions about you from one simple answer, but it’s also a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate how well suited you are to the job and why they should hire you. The key to successfully answering behavioural questions is to help an employer see how your past has shaped you as a professional and how it informs the decisions you make today. Other behavioural interview questions include:
What is your greatest accomplishment? Tell me about a time you tried something in your job and it didn’t work Tell me about a time a client wasn’t happy – What did you do to resolve the situation?
Giving details of a challenge you faced and overcame can give clarity on:
What you see as a challenge The way you tackle difficult situations Your past accomplishments Whether you are a problem-solver How you cope in adversity The strategy you take when tackling a problem Your ability to think on your feet Whether you are a creative thinker Your ability to cope under pressure Your level of resilience when facing a challenge
The answer you give will provide the interviewer with a greater sense of the real you. Do you shy away from difficult situations and only face a challenge when you absolutely have to? Or do you seek out challenges to keep yourself motivated, gain new skills, and boost your knowledge and experience? Answers to this question can also raise red flags to the employer. For example, an answer that begins: ‘Seeing something as a challenge is a sign of weakness’ says a great deal about the interviewee’s likely work personality.
How to Choose Your Challenge
The best starting point for choosing a challenge is to go through the job description. Focus on the personal attributes the company requires the candidate to have, the nature of challenges they are likely to face in the position and the essential requirements for the job. Try to find a challenge example that will clearly demonstrate your competency in relation to the job you are applying for and which draws parallels between this one and past positions you have held. Make sure it’s a significant challenge and doesn’t clash with the job description – for example, if you are going for a job that requires you to manage many different clients at once, don’t choose a challenge that involved not being able to manage the number of clients you had. The challenge you choose will depend on your situation. If you are applying for a job in the same sector, it should be straightforward to think of a challenge that relates to the role you are applying for. If you are changing career or this is your first job in the sector, focus on the transferable skills you can bring to the role from Saturday jobs, student life or other employment. Students with no career history are likely to have a challenge involving a university deadline or a difficult project. If you really can’t think of any examples, you could go down the personal route for this one; moving away from home and having to make new friends is a challenge in itself.
Example Answers using the STAR Technique
Every answer you give to this question should follow the STAR technique to keep your response focused and ensure it ticks all the boxes for the employer. If you follow the STAR technique, you won’t have to go into huge amounts of detail – you don’t want to bore the employer before you get to the good bit. Remember, the employer is mainly interested in how that challenge has shaped you professionally and what you took away from the experience. The STAR technique is:
Situation – Give context to your answer so that the employer has a good overview of the circumstances surrounding the problem, and how the challenge arose. Task – Give details of the task in hand, so that the employer knows exactly where you fitted into the team or situation and what you were responsible for. Action – Talk about the actions involved to overcome the challenge. Here you can discuss your thought process and the approach you took to solve the problem. Result – Make sure you end on a very positive note, demonstrating that your involvement and proactive approach resulted in the problem being overcome. Quantify your answer if it’s possible to do so.
See our dedicated article for a full overview of the STAR technique Here are some biggest challenge interview question examples, using the STAR technique. We have provided you with three different answers based on an individual who has some career history to draw on, an individual who has limited career history to draw on and a student with no job history.
Example Answer 1: Individual With Career History
Situation Task Action Result
Example Answer 2: Individual With Little Job Experience
Situation Task Action Result
Example Answer 3: Student or Individual With No Past Job Experience
Situation Task Action Result Portraying yourself as a person with no flaws will mean the employer will either think you lack self-awareness or are simply not telling the truth. Similarly, responding with, “I’m brilliant with budgets so in my last job I found it increasingly difficult to tolerate those around me who struggled” does not paint a positive picture of you. It’s important to show humility in your answer and put yourself in the best light possible. The reverse of this is to make sure you don’t answer too negatively. Focus on challenges you have conquered, rather than those you are still actively battling with. If you struggle to keep your cool when working with a team of people, don’t tell the employer that you tend to storm out during meetings. Keep it professional and show what kind of employee you will be; responses that go down the route of, “My boss was useless, so cleaning up his mess every day was a challenge” will not paint you in a good light. The jury is out on whether it is ok to use a personal challenge or not. If you are going for a job as an investment banker and you have previously held positions in the finance sector or completed a higher education course, refer to a challenge in your professional life. This is not the time to talk about how challenging it was when a grandparent died. However, if you are new to the jobs market or if you are going for a role which requires you to have a high level of empathy – like a nurse, carer or special needs teacher, this kind of personal challenge example where you have to look after other people, lead and manage a situation amid adversity, might be appropriate. As long as you use the STAR technique for your answer and clearly show how you personally worked to overcome the challenge. Finally, be careful not to criticize others in your response, or accidentally alert the employer to one of your flaws – for example, saying, “I misread the question” or “I kept being late” might set alarm bells ringing.
Top Tips for Success
Here are our top tips to help you answer this interview question successfully:
Have a couple of answers prepared – not just one. Think about the buzzwords or phrases that are going to make the employer sit up and pay attention. These will usually come from scouring the job description to find out what is required from an employee in this role. Rehearse your answers as much as possible to avoid waffling on the day. Be excited. You should convey the fact that you relish a challenge and can’t wait to get your teeth into this role. Ensure your answer is something the employer will be able to relate to. If at all possible, pick a challenge that involves working with other people to overcome the problem, rather than you working alone. You need to demonstrate the fact you can communicate and lead.
Final Thoughts
Rather than being daunted by this question, see it as your chance to shine. Take the opportunity to show the employer just how perfect you are for the role. Practice your answers as much as you can before going into your interview so that you cut out the irrelevant parts of the story and perfect the vital elements. An employer wants to hire a human, not a robot – flaws and failures are a positive thing, as long as you can clearly show that you have overcome them and learned valuable lessons that inform the work you do today.
