EXERCISE:  Situational Interview Questions

Situational interview questions are structured, predetermined questions that require an applicant to respond to what they would do in a hypothetical situation related to the job of interest. The hypothetical situation usually involves some kind of dilemma or choice of responses.

Example of question: A customer comes into the store to pick up a watch he had left for repair.  The repair was supposed to have been completed a week ago, but the watch is not yet back from the repair shop.  The customer becomes very angry. How would you handle this situation?

Using this example, you should write a situational interview question and develop a scoring key to evaluate answers to your question.  Administer it to friends and assess their responses.  Specifically, write a question for the job of a women's shoes salesperson.  Remember, pose a hypothetical situation that might happen on the job, and ask the applicant what he/she would do in that situation. 

Question: What did you think of the situational interview?