Describe a time you turned a negative situation with a customer into a positive one

During the interview process, particularly at 2nd interview, it is likely questions will be positioned at you by the interviewer on areas of your career aimed at discussing where you have encountered challenging situations or addressing weaknesses.

When questioned on these interviewers are often positioning these questions as they are keen to find out more about your work based habits and ethics during adverse circumstances.

It’s easy to champion your successes when all is going fantastically well and everything is in your favour, but how do you manage to be successful or adopt positive traits when the chips are down or you are not 100% happy in your role?  – as this will inevitably happen at some point in most roles.

What is key within an interview scenario is how you convey and communicate these to the interviewer, as extremely subtle differences in your answers can have a massive impact on how these are received and ultimately how you may be viewed.

Here are tips which will help you to avoid coming across negatively at interview.

Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses

When addressing these areas, it pays to approach it honestly – it is not unreasonable for candidates to discuss openly certain challenges and personal development areas they have faced.

Do not avoid admitting weaknesses as you feel that this will lessen your chances of securing the role - most interviewers will respect you more for awareness of weaknesses this a balanced approach to work and personal development.

Not being able to identify weaknesses can come across as either arrogant or of a lack of self-awareness or openness to personal development and workplace training.  

The idea of managing someone who feels they are already sees themselves as the perfect article is not appealing to a hiring manager!

Prepare in advance to be questioned on Strengths and Weaknesses and how you will answer them

Being questioned on this area is so common that it is worth preparing to expect to be asked them.

Everyone encounters personal areas they are aware are weaknesses at some point in their career – it is not the weakness itself the interviewer is interested in it is how you addressed them.

To answer positively ensure you are prepared to answer these four aspects

-       What the weakness is you are going to highlight

-       How it made your role more challenging

-       What steps you have taken for personal development in this area

-       How development of this has been beneficial in your role

This will demonstrate not only a self-awareness of your weaknesses but also a thirst for personal development and overcoming them with positive results.

Re-phrase answers regarding your Reasons for leaving current/previous roles positively

It is almost guaranteed that at some point you will be asked about leaving your current/most recent employers and even previous ones.

If this was due to redundancy then ensure that even, as is likely, this was a frustrating and stressful situation, that you try to display some empathy for the difficult decision your company had to make, as opposed to reflecting on it negatively – no interviewer likes to hear candidates bad mouthing previous employers, however strongly they feel.

If leaving the company was your own choice, ensure that not only are you clear on the reasons but that they are positioned as a desire (positive) as opposed to a dislike or dissatisfaction (negative).

Examples of this are as follows -

Management style

Negative – “I left as my previous employer/manager was a micro-manager”

Positive – “I’m looking for a new position with more of an autonomous management style”

Salary/commission

Negative –  “My current employer’s pay and salary is really poor”

Positive – “I’m looking for an opportunity where I can enhance my earnings further”

Career progression

Negative – “There is no career progression path at my current company”

Positive – “I’m looking to move to a company with strong investment personal development and career progression”

Workload

Negative – “I’m frustrated my employer expects me to work long hours and weekends on a regular basis”

Positive – “I’m looking for an employer with more values on staff having a positive work/life balance”

Product range/NPD

Negative – “My current company’s products aren’t very good/dated and they don’t focus on developing the range”

Positive – “I’m looking for an opportunity to work for a company with a focus on innovation/NPD/up to date with current market trends”

Service levels

Negative – “Service and delivery levels are awful at my current company and I am always dealing with customer complaints”

Positive – “Strong customer service is really important to me and I’m looking for an employer that shares these values”

Of course, interviewers may delve deeper into these answers to find out further details.

However, opening with a positive statement can suggest you have a glass half full as opposed to glass half empty demeanour, and of course you can link these positives to what the company you are interviewing for has to offer.

Companies will always respond more favourably to candidates who come across that they are at the interview for positives they will get from them as an employer as opposed to escaping from areas they are unhappy with at a current/previous employer.

Take ownership for your weaknesses and reasons for leaving

Even if you strongly believe that 3rd parties have had a strong influence on weaknesses and reasons for leaving, take ownership of your own actions during the situation and focus on discussing these as opposed to those of others.

Interviewers will respect the fact that your focus is channeled towards the areas within your control, which were your own actions as opposed to those of others, which are often outside of your control.

As difficult as it can be avoid speaking in negative terms about other employees, managers, or the company itself – as this will rarely be viewed positively.

How can you turn a negative customer experience into a positive one?

How do you deal with negativity in customer service?

How do you make customers that had a previously negative experience with them come back?

How can you bring positive experience to customers?