Interview question - a snap decision

nag

Give an example of a snap decision that you made that worked out and one that didn't work out.

The examples can be from any aspect of your life, work or personal.

I recently did an interview in which I was asked this question but unfortunately, I just went blank! Sadly, I believe it was to my downfall However, anyone I've put this question to have also struggled to come up with a decent response so I'm keen to hear how someone could sufficiently answer this question.

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

jmbkay

Two examples off the top of my head:
One that did work out: Taking my three children abroad on holiday without their dad. One is diabetic, the illness was unpredictable at the time, but I felt they needed a holiday and went with my instinct. Big success.

One that did not work out: Not taking a job because it involved handling cash which I didn't feel confident about. Big regret. Would have had good job.

Both snap decisions.

edellc

snap decision that did work out
having a half hour conversation with my partner of 10years about starting a family within a week we where pregnant scary but the best thing that has happened to us
snap decision that didnt work out
went back to a previous employer who offered me a better position for more money than the one i was in ended up getting bullied this ruined me and i ended up off on long term illness and will never ever go back to that company again should of stayed in the company i was in as i was happy there as they say money cant buy happiness and i was foolish

seamus

I hate these questions. I don't maintain a categorised, cross-referenced list of everything I've done, in my brain in case someone asks me a question like this.

My brain just doesn't work like that. Same goes for "favourite" and "most hated" stuff, I don't know what my favourite movie or colour is, I don't have one, don't ask me.

Whenever anyone asks a retarded question like this in an interview, I usually end up making up some bull on the spot involving a previous workplace.

Berty

I was asked

"Can you name 3 of your weakness's?"

"......................................................."Apparently not. :mad:

The Big Red Button

A friend of mine was asked recently in an interview,

"What happens when you open a fridge?"

Her: "A light goes on."

Him: "What happens when you close it?"

Her: "The light goes off."

Him: "But how do you know that it goes off?"



Seriously, I would love to know, what responses were they looking for here?!

By the way, she was applying for a secretarial position - in NO way fridge related!

Magenta

nag wrote: »

I recently did an interview in which I was asked this question but unfortunately, I just went blank! Sadly, I believe it was to my downfall However, anyone I've put this question to have also struggled to come up with a decent response so I'm keen to hear how someone could sufficiently answer this question.

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

You could say something like "One time I bought a cheap car on impulse and it needed to be fixed" or something,

MistyCheese

OP, the ideal response to the question of where it went wrong should end with "but I managed to turn the situation around and I learned something about myself and I believe I coped very well in the end."

Now, obviously the "snap decision" is personal so it willl be something from your life but it would be best to try to keep it work-related. Something like "I was trying to make a sale and I made the snap decision to go for a hard sell. It was a decision that I soon regretted as the customer backed out and I ended up not making that sale. But I think, even though that was the wrong decision at that time, that I learned a lot about how to read a potential customer and I adjusted my sales pitch accordingly. After that I made many more sales."

As for the question about the fridge, I'd love to know what the interviewee said, if she could think of anything. It's very difficult to think on the spot but that's the whole point behind such seemingly pointless questions. Of course the answer to "How do you know the light goes off?" is "inside of every fridge there is a long, slim button which activates the light. When the fridge door is opened, there is no pressure on the button so the light comes on but when you close the door it presses up against the button which turns the light off."

I was once asked in an interview "Do you know how many registered electricians are currently working in Dublin?" and "How would you go about finding that out?"

Magenta

edellc wrote: »

snap decision that did work out
having a half hour conversation with my partner of 10years about starting a family within a week we where pregnant scary but the best thing that has happened to us

I really, really don't think this is a good example. The interviewer is not going to want to hear about your intimate conversations with your partner.

edellc wrote: »

snap decision that didnt work out
went back to a previous employer who offered me a better position for more money than the one i was in ended up getting bullied this ruined me and i ended up off on long term illness and will never ever go back to that company again should of stayed in the company i was in as i was happy there as they say money cant buy happiness and i was foolish

I REALLY wouldn't use this as an example either. You never, every say anything bad about a former employer to an interviewer, much less tell them that you took extended time off due to bullying- sorry but some interviewers will wonder if there could be more to the story and you might be a troublemaker- sorry but it's true.

bob the bob

They are looking for work examples, not stories from your personal life.

tman

bob the bob wrote: »

They are looking for work examples, not stories from your personal life.

Why say "work or personal", then? (but yeah, I wouldn't want to divulge too much personal information either tbh)

bob the bob

So as not to discriminate against people who haven't worked before.

A work example will be 10X as well received as a personal example.

tenchi-fan

agree with the others, edellc, your examples aren't appropriate!

I think this is a bit of a trick question. It is actually a brilliant interview question too, and if you had prepared fully for the interview you would have recognised what the interviewer was REALLY asking you.

1) A snap decision that worked out is actually a time you recognised and seized an opportunity, quickly weighing up the risks and benefits. For example, you heard about an internal promotion opportunity that suddenly became available and phoned HR, within a week they interviewed you and 2 other candidates and offered you the job.

2) A snap decision that worked out bad might be "I left a relatively safe job to take a more challenging role in a larger company who began hiring, however due to the downturn they pulled out of Ireland and I was left unemployed". Basically, you are showing that you considered your decision, it shows ambition and a calculated risk, and also you cannot be blamed that it didn't work out. However, you can go on to say what you did gain from the role (e.g. training courses, work experience, industry contacts, etc)

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

seamus wrote: »

I hate these questions. I don't maintain a categorised, cross-referenced list of everything I've done, in my brain in case someone asks me a question like this.

My brain just doesn't work like that. Same goes for "favourite" and "most hated" stuff, I don't know what my favourite movie or colour is, I don't have one, don't ask me.

Whenever anyone asks a retarded question like this in an interview, I usually end up making up some bull on the spot involving a previous workplace.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:


There's a reason why questions like this are asked.

seamus

Valeria Obnoxious Falconer wrote: »

There's a reason why questions like this are asked.

Of course there are...

tenchi-fan wrote: »

I think this is a bit of a trick question. It is actually a brilliant interview question too, and if you had prepared fully for the interview you would have recognised what the interviewer was REALLY asking you.

It would be far easier if interviewers talked to candidates one-to-one, like colleagues, and not like an examiner in an oral exam.

Trick questions are relied on by weak interviewers who are unable to distinguish a good candidate from a bad one. A good interviewer will just ask the question straight out - "Can you give an example from a previous employment of a time when you took a risk, and what was the outcome?"

Ultimately however, all that the question will tell is whether your candidate has good recall or not. It won't tell you whether or not someone is a risk-taker or an "innovator".

shaddupayaface

I was recently asked at an interview "what are you most proud of?"

I didnt want to go into the whole "I bought a lovely house" or "I have lovely well mannered child"

After a few moments of deciding what to say, I looked at my application form and out came "well, I'm pretty proud of myself for having the balls to apply for this challenging role because, although it's 2 grades higher than the position I am currently in, I know I can carry out this role"

I got a giggle for the two who were minuting the interview!! Was this a good answer?

nag

tenchi-fan wrote: »

A snap decision ... is actually a time you recognised and seized an opportunity, quickly weighing up the risks and benefits.

Having subsequently spoken to one of the people who interviewed me, I can confirm that this was the gist of what they were looking for. Congratulations tenchi-fan, you're hired! Too bad I wasn't able to come up with something.

I haven't spent too much time thinking about it but I have yet to come up with an answer for a snap decision that didn't work out for me.

One that did work out was during my training for my PPL. I was supposed to be doing a solo flight and shortly after getting airborne, it was apparent that the risk of continuing was too great due to the nature of the cloud cover. I immediately radioed the tower back to notify them that I was going to turn back and quickly got back into the arrival procedure for the airfield. It was pretty stressful as I didn't have that many solo hours plus the fact that everything was happening so quickly. But, I coped and landed safely.

mickman

chatterpillar wrote: »

A friend of mine was asked recently in an interview,

"What happens when you open a fridge?"

Her: "A light goes on."

Him: "What happens when you close it?"

Her: "The light goes off."

Him: "But how do you know that it goes off?"



Seriously, I would love to know, what responses were they looking for here?!

By the way, she was applying for a secretarial position - in NO way fridge related!

these are pathetic, ridiculous questions. i would walk out of an interview if asked those questions

Trashbat

seamus wrote: »

Trick questions are relied on by weak interviewers who are unable to distinguish a good candidate from a bad one. A good interviewer will just ask the question straight out - "Can you give an example from a previous employment of a time when you took a risk, and what was the outcome?"

I totally agree with this. It does really annoy me when recruiters feel the need to be "clever" with their questions. I feel alot of so called recruitment innovations actually hinder the process of finding the best person for the job.

Its call centre culture really, basically what these questions do are find the middle ground people, those who are not too braindead to be able to answer, but are also not so self aware that they realise its a degrading process.