What Do You Imagine Will Be The Main Challenges of This Job?
How to answer the interview question: What do you imagine will be the main challenges of this job?
Every job comes with its ups and downs. No matter how good you are at your job you will face challenges. The question “ what do you think will be the most challenging part of this job” is similar to other challenge-related questions like what’s your greatest challenge in life? Or what are the challenges you faced in your previous job? The interviewer asks this question to identify your problem-solving skills.
As an experienced employee, you are probably applying to a job that is similar to the job you performed in your last place of work. The interviewer relies on this knowledge while asking this question. You might say that you are not a magician, how are you supposed to predict the future. The interviewer is not relying on your knowledge of a future job, but on your knowledge of the previous job. If you have carried out this role in the past as you claim then you should know the tasks that were challenging to you. The interviewer simply wants to assess if you are a good fit for the role. The follow-up question after this is usually the “ why” question. After you have told the interviewer what you think will be challenging, the interviewer will want to know why you think it’s challenging. Now, this is where you tell the story.
This question is also amongst the popularly known behavioral or situational questions. Through an employee’s response to a behavioral question, an employer can predict an employee‘s response to similar situations in the future. An employee’s response will be used to evaluate his past performance. Although this is a tough question to answer, practicing before going for the interview will help you give an answer that will showcase your ability to identify potential issues and your willingness to learn.
How to Answer the question” What do you think will be the main challenges in this role”
1) Consider challenges you have faced in the past
Before going for an interview, research as many questions as possible. This challenge-related question is a very common interview question. It is also related to the strength and weakness question. Depending on how you prepare, an answer you prepare for one of these questions can even be used to answer the remaining no matter how the questions are twisted. So while preparing for a question like this, start by making a list of all the challenges you faced when you worked in a similar role. Then select a challenge that you have better control over the story.
2) Focus on the job description
In a situation the new role is not related to your experience, tailor your answer to the job description. It is important to study the job description of any role you apply for before applying. Also before going for the interview, browse about the role and get details of various components of the role. It will help you identify the necessary skills and knowledge needed to accomplish tasks. Through this, you can determine parts of the job you lack skills for and will require training or adjustments.
3) Communicate the reason why this will be challenging for you
As stated earlier just stating what you feel will be challenging to you will not be enough. The interviewer will surely want to know why, so do not wait for him to ask. Once you have stated which task will be challenging, go further to explain the reason why the task will be challenging. Choose a specific scenario that has happened in the past to explain why you view this task as a challenge.
4) Be honest
It can be tempting to lie when an employee is required to answer a question that will belittle his skills or expertise. No employee wants to reveal his weakness during an interview, so they would rather lie or twist the truth to look good. Employers ask these questions for a reason and it is not always to bring you down. It could be to see how you rise when you are on the ground or how you struggle when faced with challenges. The interviewer wants to know if you will just give up or fight to stand. Most interviewers are endowed with psychological skills, they know when a candidate is lying and when the candidate is being truthful. So do not complicate things by lying. The opportunity to get an interview with that same company might not come again, even if it does the bad impression you have created will live on in their minds.
5) Choose solvable challenges
Even though you are advised to be truthful, choosing one challenge over another will not make you a liar. This is why it is good to make a list of challenges and rate them in descending order. The least on the list is probably the right one to go for. Also, this challenge should be one that can be solved. Do not pick a challenge that can not be solved or take time to solve. If it is a skill that you lack, it should be one you can easily gain within weeks in the job rather than a skill that will probably take you months and training to acquire. The employee might not have time to wait for you to gain the skill. Also, let it not be a major challenge. For instance, an employee cannot function optimally in a particular role without some necessary skills. Imagine an accountant or auditor that is not attentive to details. The major duty of an auditor is to identify errors in an account statement. Why would an employer hire an employee that lacks the potential to carry out that major task? No employer wants to hire an employee that is a burden and pay him for doing nothing. If you are not bringing something to the table, you are obviously taking something out of it. It’s either an increase or a decrease, an employer will choose an increase over and over again.
6) Show how you will overcome the challenge
Even though this particular question is asking of a future challenge, you can use scenarios in the past to explain. Already you have highlighted the challenge to talk about, the next thing is to explain how you can overcome this challenge. You can give instances where you have faced such challenges in the past and how you overcame them. If you have no experience with the role, you can browse how to solve some of the challenges related to the role. The interviewer does not just want to hear a problem, present the interviewer with a solution too. He needs to have an idea of what you intend to do to surmount the challenge you just mentioned.
Examples that work perfectly
For an employee with no experience in the role or an entry-level employee
Before applying to this role I studied the job description on the advert and also did a little bit of research on the role. It was mentioned that the prospective candidate should be very conversant with Lagos roads and their environs. Also, knowledge of the indigenous language is a plus. I realized that this might be a little bit challenging for me since I do not know Lagos roads very well and I can not speak and understand Yoruba very well. But I am very conversant with the Google map application, and I believe I will be able to navigate through Lagos roads without hurdles. Also, I have been able to brush up my knowledge of the Yoruba language by taking some online classes.
An experienced employee with previous experience in the role
While reading through the job description I happened to notice that knowledge of the blender application is necessary. Even though that I do not have full knowledge of the blender application, I am very conversant with the Maya application which can also be used for 3D animation. I have already enrolled in online classes to learn how to use the blender application and I believe I will master the blender application within weeks of starting this job.
