another interview question

[thommo]

Hi!

I'm through to the 3rd and hopefully final stage of the interview process for a role that I really, really want. The next meeting will be with HR and I understand that it'll be one of those 'competency' based interviews where I'll be asked how I deal with certain situations etc and aked to give examples.

Can anyone give me any advice on how to answer a question along the lines of ' how do you deal with difficult clients/customers'? Now, I know that I deal with difficult people all the time but I'm just having problems describing how I do it!

Thanks so much

[countrigal]

You want to stress that you take care of it yourself, not just pass along the problem.  Can you give them an example of when you had a difficult customer and what exactly you did to resolve the issue?  It should show that you stay cool under fire, but keep a backbone when needed (not wishy-washy), and handle the customer to a positive outcome, even if that outcome is to forward them to the appropriate person to resolve the issue.

In competency or performance based questions, the best way to answer the question is to walk them through a situation similar to what they are asking about (difficult customer, last minute suspense dumped on you, etc)... tell them how you handled it, what your responses were, and what the end result turned out to be.

Good luck on the next interview.  Let us know how it comes out.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator