How to succeed in your JOB INTERVIEW: Situational Questions

TRANSCRIPT

Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you about job interview questions; specifically, we are going to talk about a type of job interview question called "a situational interview question". "Situational" is quite a large word, and you know, it's nothing to be afraid of, if you get this type of question. What we are going to learn today is how to recognize a situational interview question, and how to answer one. Okay? And I'm going to share a whole bunch of tips on the best ways to answer these types of questions.

All right, so to get started, I've shown some examples of a situational interview type of question. So, let's read these together.

The first question: "You hear someone making a racist joke in your office. What would you do?"

"You disagree with the way your supervisor says to solve a problem. What would you do?"

"You have been placed in charge of a team for a new project. What are your first steps to get the team going?"

Okay? So, I want you to think about these questions, and: What do they have in common? Okay? If you said that these questions were talking about an imaginary situation or a hypothetical situation, you're correct. When we answer these types of questions, we're talking about something we would do if a situation happened. So, this is not based on our experiences; this is based on, you know, what we might do if this situation happened to us. Okay? So, again, there are many different types of interview questions; this is just one type that you might get. And these are just some examples; there are many more examples of situational interview questions.

So, how do we know these questions are situational interview type questions? Well, there's a couple of keywords which can really help you recognize and identify these types of questions. If you hear the word: "If"; if you hear the word "would", these are really good hints. So, for example: "What would you do?" That's a... right there, we know: "Okay: 'What would you do?' it's a situational question." Again: "What would you do?"

Another common clue or another way we can tell that a question is situational is they often start with the word: "You", because they want you to imagine yourself in this situation. So, for example: "You hear someone making a racist joke in the office." Or: "You have been placed in charge of a team for a new project." This hasn't actually happened to you yet, but this is something that might happen to you in the future at this job. So, the interviewer wants to know: "If this happened, what would you do?" Okay?

Okay, so now what we're going to do is we're going to look at some more examples of situational interview questions, and we're going to do a practice listening activity to help you practice recognizing these types of questions.

Okay, so now that you know a little bit more about situational interview questions, let's practice listening for them. Okay? So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to say some different types of interview questions, and I want you to decide: Are they situational or not? Are they situational or something else? Okay? So, I want you to take out a piece of paper and get your pen or pencil ready, and I want you to make a picture on your paper that looks like this. Okay? So you can write: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, a column for yes and a column for no. Okay? And when... so, you can pause the video, and then when you're ready, you can unpause it and we can begin. Okay.

So, now that you have your piece of paper and your pencil ready, and you've put this on your paper, let's get started. I'm going to say a question, and if it's situational, I want you to put a checkmark under "Yes"; if it's not situational, I want you to put a checkmark under "No". Okay? And to help you with this, remember: Situational questions usually have keywords in them, like: "If", "would", or they might begin with a sentence that starts with "You". Okay? So, let's... let's practice.

Question number one: "What would you do if you knew your boss was absolutely wrong about an important work-related issue?" […]

[eastweststory]

Job interviews can be especially hard in a foreign and many students are nervous about it. Lots of practice and preparation are essential. These are very useful and realistic questions. Very helpful lesson!

[carlostirado]

I just wanted to say, Thank you! for thinking about us: the second language speakers" "you are awesome!!! My interview is for tomorrow!

[carloszerim]

I love the way you say often "the most important thing is"... thank you

[jaguzmanx]

*That was very helpful. We often take this information for granted before going to a job interview. Preparation is the key. Confidence plus preparation are the perfect receipe for success. Thanks a lot for your video Emma!*

[nilamkafle]

Today is my ielts speaking exam. Wish me best luck
From Nepal.

[luismunoz]

I really love you Emma. You're the best english advisor and absolutely beautiful !
💘

[sabbirahmad]

You are the best English tutor. I love to watch your class.Thank you, Emma.

[textorecebido]

Thank you teacher. You are my favorite english teacher in you tube. Go on with this good spirit of service.

[alisharif]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR AWESOME LESSONS EMMA, THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HELPFUL, BUT YOU'RE AN AMAZING TEACHER.

[aimablesibomana]

thx my teacher every day i grown up ability to speak without fear because of you

[ahmedal-sagri]

I press like and wrote a comment before watching this video because I trust that lesson to be amazing

[esdieml]

I really enjoy watching your videos, you're such a great teacher....I wish my maths teachers could be like you. I also want to thank you guys, 3 years ago I started this jorney for learning a new language, my English isn't perfect but I keep learning and I got a job because of you and some other resources!

[noorazeeliaabdulmanan]

just knew that there's a difference between behavioural and situational interview questions. thank you!

[RealEverydayEnglish]

I love to help people with their English too!!

I actually made one of my recent videos speaking Spanish to show my students that I make mistakes too! They loved it 😁

[geneticalgorithm]

Hello, Emma thanks for all your English videos. I'm learning a lot. Have a wonderful day!

[jocimar]

She really did it! Amazing person :D glad to see that you read our feedback.

[muridosman]

Thank you Emma for your brilliant job it's because viewers watching your videos for improve English speaking especially Asian guys so when talk to you English that time add subtitles then easy for understand. I'm From Bangladesh I'm also your subscriber and viewer. Thank you again

[angelobermudez]

Thank you very much, Emma. These videos are really helpful. 😊

[connycrum]

Thank you, Emma. You’re the best English teacher ever!

[mahmoodmahmood]

Thanks Emma
You are best teacher
Always you use easily and clear way in explain