A commonly asked competency-based interview question is ‘What is the most challenging project you have worked on?’. These types of questions may look like one of the more difficult ones to answer. However, it’s actually a great opportunity to discuss a great challenge that you were able to turn into a big accomplishment.
Interviewers want to get more information on how well you can manage projects and challenging situations. Furthermore, they want to assess your approach to dealing with situations at work and how your skills could be of value in the position that you’re applying for.
Questions about dealing with challenges are asked for all types of jobs and all different levels. It’s therefore important that you prepare your answers in advance so that you’re able to demonstrate how you deal with challenges and describe what you learned from them.
Other ways the interviewer can ask you questions about challenging work situations:
Tell me about your greatest accomplishment.
Describe a time you had to adapt to a change in the workplace.
Describe a time where you worked on a project where a conventional approach was not suitable.
Tell me about a time you had to perform a task in which you had no experience in doing? How did you approach this situation, and what did you learn?
Tell me about a time you took the lead in a team project. How did you handle it, and what was the outcome?
In this blog, we discuss why the interviewer is asking you about working on challenging projects. Also, we tell you what you should focus on when answering this question. Furthermore, read more about frequently asked job interview questions here and check our job interview preparation checklist.