We can encounter interview questions based on hypothetical assumptions in every job interview. These questions are asked to learn about your behaviours, decision-making skills, problem-solving methods, and communication style.

In technical positions, no matter how successful you are in your professional skills, the answers you give to these types of questions can seriously affect the decisions of the Human Resources or Hiring Managers of the department that the position belongs to.

So why do companies ask these questions?

First of all, let’s analyse what these questions may be aiming for:

• To learn about understanding your behaviour
• problem-solving methods, and
• thinking style.

Hypothetical Interview Questions for Understanding Your Behaviour:

Interview questions focused on understanding your behaviour are asked to learn if you have a managerial mindset if you are a team player, what kind of reactions you give when faced with problems, and your values. You can encounter these types of questions regardless of your profession.

Here are some of the interview questions you may encounter:

• Can you describe a time when you had to handle a difficult situation at work? How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?
• How do you handle conflict with colleagues or team members? Can you give an example of when you had to resolve a conflict and how you did it?
• If you were given a project to complete on your own, how would you go about planning and executing it?
• Can you describe a time when you had to communicate difficult or sensitive information to a colleague or supervisor? How did you approach the situation, and what was the outcome?
• How do you handle stress and pressure in the workplace? Can you give an example of a time when you had to manage a high-pressure situation?
• Can you describe a time when you had to communicate difficult or sensitive information to a colleague or supervisor? How did you approach the situation, and what was the outcome?
• If you were given a project to complete on your own, how would you go about planning and executing it?
• Can you tell us about a time when you had to adapt to a new work environment or team? How did you handle it, and what did you learn from the experience?

How can you answer these types of questions?

When faced with these questions, go back to the moments you experienced or imagine them. Mention where the mistake was, what you did when faced with the mistake, and how you overcame the problem, giving satisfactory answers to the questions. Your positive approach to events and how you perceive problems play a big role here. They want to know whether you act solution-oriented or result-oriented when faced with problems.

In managerial positions, not only your answers but also your communication style is effective in being able to see how you communicate with your team. Therefore, instead of giving short answers, try to show that your communication is strong with your body language and facial expressions that show you are respectful and confident, and make sure your answers are understandable, realistic, and sincere.

Hypothetical Interview Questions about Your Problem-solving Methods:

These types of questions are asked to learn about your approach to problem-solving, whether you are results-oriented or solution-oriented, especially for problems that are not encountered frequently and are more challenging. They aim to understand your stance when facing problems in the workplace.

These types of questions are commonly asked for positions such as Developer, Marketing Manager, Operations Management, and Analyst, where there may be larger issues within the company.

Some examples of questions you may encounter include:

• What was the most stressful situation you faced at work? How did you overcome it?
• Do you prefer to seek help when solving a problem?
• How would you calm down an angry customer?
• How do you react in the face of an urgent problem?
• How would you manage a team member who is not performing their tasks effectively?
• If you were faced with a complex problem that required an innovative solution, how would you go about developing a plan?
• How do you approach problems that involve multiple stakeholders with differing opinions and interests?
• How do you prioritise which problems to tackle first when you have multiple issues to address simultaneously?
• How do you stay organised and manage your time when solving a problem that requires a lot of research or analysis?
• Have you ever implemented a solution that didn’t work out as planned? How did you identify the problem and what did you do to address it?

How can you answer these types of questions?

When answering these questions, it is important to describe your problem-solving process in detail, including how you identified the issue, what steps you took to address it, and the outcome of your solution. Additionally, highlighting your ability to remain calm and composed under pressure, as well as your willingness to collaborate and seek help when necessary, can help demonstrate your problem-solving abilities.

Try to express how you can understand the problem and identify it with your experience or thoughts. Do you take responsibility when faced with problems or take responsibility in problems involving customers or team members? 

If you are prepared for these questions before the interviews, you can provide clearer answers to sudden questions.In situations where there is a disagreement with a customer or team member, one of the key points is to talk to the person, listen to the problem from their perspective, and then suggest practical or specific solutions to solve the problem.

Showing that you can empathise and that you can win the hearts of customers or your team by detecting problems early, even though problems can always occur, will highlight you, especially in managerial positions. Try to visualise the situation in your mind rather than thinking hypothetically about your answers. If you have experienced such incidents in your past experiences and think that you have succeeded, you can share this experience during the interview.

Hypothetical Interview Questions to Learn Your Thinking Style:

We have all seen the term “analytical mindset” in many job postings. In this type of question, they ask questions to learn about your thinking style, perspective on events, and how analytical you can think. You can express your creative thoughts, different ideas, and perspective with the answers you give to these questions.

They want to see if you see the glass as half empty or half full with the answers you give. These questions, which can be encountered in many professions, are particularly common in engineering, design, business development, and marketing positions.

Let’s give some examples of these questions, which can also be challenging questions asked by world-famous technology companies.

• How would you go about estimating the number of cars on the road?
• How would you approach debugging a complex software issue?
• How would you design a system to handle high-volume data processing?
• How would you handle a situation where a customer is dissatisfied with a product or service?
• Can you explain what a database means in a way that your 8-year-old cousin can understand? 
• Why are manhole covers round?
• How would you behave in a zombie apocalypse? 
• How would you optimise the route for a delivery driver who needs to visit multiple locations?
• You have to choose between three rooms: The first room; is filled with raging fires The second room; is filled with tigers that haven’t eaten anything for 3 years. The third room was filled with heavy machine gun-wielding assassins. Which room would you choose?
• How would you prioritise tasks when managing multiple projects with tight deadlines?

How can we answer these types of questions?

Kent University listed the questions for learning your thinking style and shared the answers on its website.

Don’t rush to answer these questions you may encounter; you can answer calmly by thinking a little. It’s essential to give answers with confidence, belief, and sincerity.

The purpose of asking these questions may be to learn that you have the following qualities according to the position you are interviewing for:

• leadership, managerial skills
• adaptability and teamwork skills
• your perspective and thinking style
• your analytical, creative thinking
• whether you can create practical solutions
• how do you detect the problems you may encounter in business life
• how do you overcome these questions
• whether you are solution-oriented or result-oriented

It is normal to be excited and nervous during job interviews. After matching your energy with the company representative you are interviewing, you can think of answering these questions more like having a conversation. You can give examples from your experiences and discuss what can be done in the problems you have encountered before.

When you feel stuck or struggle during a job interview, don’t hesitate to ask for some time to think. At the beginning of the interview, when they offer you something to drink, you can buy some time and control your excitement by simply asking for water.

After the interview, you can also prepare strong questions and ask them to the company. Show them that you are interested and eager to learn more by asking intelligent questions. 

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”

Coco Chanel

Good luck!