Interviewers May Also Ask You To Analyse Problems
Dr Rob Yeung is a business psychologist who trains interviewers and designs assessment programmes for international organisations. He is a regular writer on management topics for the national press including The Guardian and Financial Times.
INTERVIEWERS MAY ALSO ASK YOU TO ANALYSE PROBLEMS
Professional services firms may also ask candidates to analyse problems and suggest solutions – pretending, for example, that you had been posed a question by a client who is willing to pay you for your consultancy advice.
In such a situation, the interviewer is looking for your ability to:
- Apply logic to break a complex problem into a number of more easily solved component problems.
- Gather and analyse information.
- Make suggestions while thinking on your feet.
Again, you are expected to talk the interviewer through your chain of logic and ask questions of the interviewer, so make sure that you:
- Listen carefully to the question. If the question involves multiple points and sub-questions, ask whether the interviewer would mind you jotting down some of the key points on a sheet of paper to act as a reminder.
- Ask whether you are allowed to ask the interviewer questions along the way or whether you are expected to work the answer out on your own.
