Problem Solving Interviews
Kristin Allen
Previous Real Estate Agent and Current Nerium Business Associate
1. What are some problems you face every day in your line of work?
Communication : People are busy and its hard to get a hold of them at all and when you do, its hard to know if it was effective since everything is so digital these days
2. How do you go about fixing these every day problems?
Try to learn from what has worked well for other people
3. Have you ever tried to really find an overall solution for these smaller every day problems?
I have tried but it’s a hard problem since the solution seems to be tailored to each individual person.
4. If someone were to solve these everyday problems for you, how would you suggest they go about doing so?
If I had a suggestion I would just solve them for myself
5. Who do you turn to for help with these problems?
First to other people in the same industry, then I will branch out to other business or real estate people in general
6. What is the biggest problem you have ever faced in your career?
When we were doing BPOs for real estate and the market first started to turn bad so there wasn't enough historical presidence in the market and so we couldn't back down from the trends even though those weren't necessarily the answers the bank wanted. It was hard to be confident in our knowledge of the market without letting what the bank wanted to hear influence our reports or work.
7. What is the ultimate problem
Right now I would have to solve the fact that since my company has been expanding internationally there have been language barriers, so you must learn how to use these new resources and other business opportunities effectively.
Reflection: I got a lot of useful insight through this interview about being able to connect with other people in your same or similar line of work, and using them to help you solve problems. I also learned that when doing your job, you should make sure that you are sticking to what you know and not let other people or businesses influence your work in a negative way. People who work in the same field of work can be helpful to understanding the solutions to bigger problems.
Machelle Miller
Substitute Teacher
1. What are some problems you face every day in your line of work?
Children who act out or conflicts between students.
2. How do you go about fixing those problems?
Since they are often so young, there are situations you will get into that they won’t really understand their wrong doing, so I just try and explain that it was wrong and how/why it was wrong.
3. Have you ever tried to solve some of these problems?
To me these problems don’t necessarily seem like ones that can just be fixed. Every situation is different and all of the solutions are different as well. I often try to fix them as they come, but I have never tried to find an overall solution.
4. If someone were to solve these problems for you, how would you suggest they do so?
I think that people have tried to solve these problems many times, which is why student and school handbooks exist. I guess it’s hard to envision a solution for problems that are solely based on the individual and their will to cooperate.
5. Who do you turn to for help with problems?
My fellow teachers, or staff of the school
6. What's the biggest problem you've faced?
Overall, language barrier. Diversity is a big deal, because it’s hard to effectively teach when a student doesn’t even understand your language. This has seemed to be a bigger problem lately.
7. What is the ultimate problem that you have ever solved?
My answer would still probably be behavioral issues, but to a greater extent.
Reflection: From this interview I learned that a lot of situations/problems can be hard to solve because they are specifically tailored to each individual. I learned that it is important to have patience when dealing with people and while trying to solve problems.
Shannon Allen
Nurse at St. Joe's Hospital
1. What are some problems you face every day in your line of work?
Too many patients and not enough nurses. Some nights I am so busy that I don’t even sit down to do my charts, which can take up to 2 hours, until after my 12 hour shift!
2. How do you go about fixing those problems?
They try and hire more nurses. They’ve been working on that one for a while!
3. Have you ever tried to solve some of these problems?
I try my best to solve any problems that come my way, it’s my job! Sometimes even when I find a solution I struggle or fail to execute it
4. If someone were to solve these problems for you, how would you suggest they do so?
Well that’d be fantastic but unrealistic. I guess since all of the problems depend on each patient, it would be hard to find an overall solution.
5. Who do you turn to for help with these problems?
I have a charge nurse who is always there on my unit and is an available resource at any time if I need help or don’t know what to do. There is also a house supervisor RN at all times that covers the entire hospital in case of big problems or if we just need extra help
6. What's the biggest problem you've faced in your career?
Once I got a patient who was fresh post-op (which means fresh out of surgery) and he had lost about 5 liters of blood, which is about the amount that’s in your whole body! He had already been given lots of good blood, but I had to keep a close eye on him since he could tank at any minute. I also had to take good care of my other 4 or 5 patients at the same time!
7. What is the ultimate problem that you would have solved?
I would say I ‘solved’ the problem with my patient’s blood loss, and since I haven’t been doing this all that long, I would say that’s my biggest. But I know many nurses who have solved bigger problems!
Reflection: From this interview, I learned that it's okay to get help from other people, and often there are people who are hired to help out!
Steve Miller
Senior Computer Programmer Analyst
1. What are some problems that you face every day in your line of work?
I face many problems with people who don’t do things properly, which cause me to have to fix the issues myself.
2. How do you go about fixing those problems?
I communicate with others who have similar problems, and new ideas to fix the problems
3. Have you ever tried to solve some of these problems?
Yes. I have not yet come up with an overall solution, but I try my hardest to fix whatever I can when the problems arise.
4. If someone were to solve these problems for you, how would you suggest they do so?
Educate the other consultants. Maybe host conventions or similar workshops.
5. Who do you turn to for help solving these problems?
I can often solve these smaller problems on my own, but when I need help I have executives that can help me figure out a solution
6. What's the biggest problem that you have faced?
Communication through language barrier. Understanding different languages and accents is difficult, and now everything is online or over the phone. There isn’t much face to face communication, which just makes the language barrier harder to overcome.
7. What is the ultimate problem that you would have solved?
Transferring money into stocks. That’s a difficult part of my job for sure!
Review: From this interview, I learned that it is difficult when people don't understand their job completely. When one person takes time to do something, but does it wrong, it takes away time, because someone else will have to redo the project.
Previous Real Estate Agent and Current Nerium Business Associate
1. What are some problems you face every day in your line of work?
Communication : People are busy and its hard to get a hold of them at all and when you do, its hard to know if it was effective since everything is so digital these days
2. How do you go about fixing these every day problems?
Try to learn from what has worked well for other people
3. Have you ever tried to really find an overall solution for these smaller every day problems?
I have tried but it’s a hard problem since the solution seems to be tailored to each individual person.
4. If someone were to solve these everyday problems for you, how would you suggest they go about doing so?
If I had a suggestion I would just solve them for myself
5. Who do you turn to for help with these problems?
First to other people in the same industry, then I will branch out to other business or real estate people in general
6. What is the biggest problem you have ever faced in your career?
When we were doing BPOs for real estate and the market first started to turn bad so there wasn't enough historical presidence in the market and so we couldn't back down from the trends even though those weren't necessarily the answers the bank wanted. It was hard to be confident in our knowledge of the market without letting what the bank wanted to hear influence our reports or work.
7. What is the ultimate problem
Right now I would have to solve the fact that since my company has been expanding internationally there have been language barriers, so you must learn how to use these new resources and other business opportunities effectively.
Reflection: I got a lot of useful insight through this interview about being able to connect with other people in your same or similar line of work, and using them to help you solve problems. I also learned that when doing your job, you should make sure that you are sticking to what you know and not let other people or businesses influence your work in a negative way. People who work in the same field of work can be helpful to understanding the solutions to bigger problems.
Machelle Miller
Substitute Teacher
1. What are some problems you face every day in your line of work?
Children who act out or conflicts between students.
2. How do you go about fixing those problems?
Since they are often so young, there are situations you will get into that they won’t really understand their wrong doing, so I just try and explain that it was wrong and how/why it was wrong.
3. Have you ever tried to solve some of these problems?
To me these problems don’t necessarily seem like ones that can just be fixed. Every situation is different and all of the solutions are different as well. I often try to fix them as they come, but I have never tried to find an overall solution.
4. If someone were to solve these problems for you, how would you suggest they do so?
I think that people have tried to solve these problems many times, which is why student and school handbooks exist. I guess it’s hard to envision a solution for problems that are solely based on the individual and their will to cooperate.
5. Who do you turn to for help with problems?
My fellow teachers, or staff of the school
6. What's the biggest problem you've faced?
Overall, language barrier. Diversity is a big deal, because it’s hard to effectively teach when a student doesn’t even understand your language. This has seemed to be a bigger problem lately.
7. What is the ultimate problem that you have ever solved?
My answer would still probably be behavioral issues, but to a greater extent.
Reflection: From this interview I learned that a lot of situations/problems can be hard to solve because they are specifically tailored to each individual. I learned that it is important to have patience when dealing with people and while trying to solve problems.
Shannon Allen
Nurse at St. Joe's Hospital
1. What are some problems you face every day in your line of work?
Too many patients and not enough nurses. Some nights I am so busy that I don’t even sit down to do my charts, which can take up to 2 hours, until after my 12 hour shift!
2. How do you go about fixing those problems?
They try and hire more nurses. They’ve been working on that one for a while!
3. Have you ever tried to solve some of these problems?
I try my best to solve any problems that come my way, it’s my job! Sometimes even when I find a solution I struggle or fail to execute it
4. If someone were to solve these problems for you, how would you suggest they do so?
Well that’d be fantastic but unrealistic. I guess since all of the problems depend on each patient, it would be hard to find an overall solution.
5. Who do you turn to for help with these problems?
I have a charge nurse who is always there on my unit and is an available resource at any time if I need help or don’t know what to do. There is also a house supervisor RN at all times that covers the entire hospital in case of big problems or if we just need extra help
6. What's the biggest problem you've faced in your career?
Once I got a patient who was fresh post-op (which means fresh out of surgery) and he had lost about 5 liters of blood, which is about the amount that’s in your whole body! He had already been given lots of good blood, but I had to keep a close eye on him since he could tank at any minute. I also had to take good care of my other 4 or 5 patients at the same time!
7. What is the ultimate problem that you would have solved?
I would say I ‘solved’ the problem with my patient’s blood loss, and since I haven’t been doing this all that long, I would say that’s my biggest. But I know many nurses who have solved bigger problems!
Reflection: From this interview, I learned that it's okay to get help from other people, and often there are people who are hired to help out!
Steve Miller
Senior Computer Programmer Analyst
1. What are some problems that you face every day in your line of work?
I face many problems with people who don’t do things properly, which cause me to have to fix the issues myself.
2. How do you go about fixing those problems?
I communicate with others who have similar problems, and new ideas to fix the problems
3. Have you ever tried to solve some of these problems?
Yes. I have not yet come up with an overall solution, but I try my hardest to fix whatever I can when the problems arise.
4. If someone were to solve these problems for you, how would you suggest they do so?
Educate the other consultants. Maybe host conventions or similar workshops.
5. Who do you turn to for help solving these problems?
I can often solve these smaller problems on my own, but when I need help I have executives that can help me figure out a solution
6. What's the biggest problem that you have faced?
Communication through language barrier. Understanding different languages and accents is difficult, and now everything is online or over the phone. There isn’t much face to face communication, which just makes the language barrier harder to overcome.
7. What is the ultimate problem that you would have solved?
Transferring money into stocks. That’s a difficult part of my job for sure!
Review: From this interview, I learned that it is difficult when people don't understand their job completely. When one person takes time to do something, but does it wrong, it takes away time, because someone else will have to redo the project.