Pratique du Shadowing: Tell me a time You Handled a Difficult Situation (Interview Question) - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo
Création de la leçon...
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Having that perfect fairytale ending to the interview question, tell me about a difficult situation, challenge or conflict, and how you handled it, is sort of like saying,
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oh, I just work really hard when answering what's your biggest weakness.
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Both answers seem a little too good to be true.
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Unfortunately, a lot of good candidates fall into the trap of
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thinking a flawless conflict resolution is all that's required to pass this question.
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But as soon as the interviewer follows up with additional questions, that facade starts to crack and break because let's be real,
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very rarely are workplace conflicts so cleanly resolved.
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In this video, I'll show you how having a less than ideal outcome can still make for a powerful answer,
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share how we can apply learnings from Nelson Mandela to this interview question, and provide a full sample answer at the very end.
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So let's get started.
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Hi friends, welcome back to the channel.
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If you're new here, my name is Jeff, and we're all about practical career and interview tips.
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So if you're a current student or working professional, consider subscribing for more actual content.
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The key to coming up with a realistic
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and meaningful answer to the how did you handle a difficult situation interview question is to first understand
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that the interviewer is not looking for a perfect ending.
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Instead, you wanna show number one, you are able to listen to and accept other people's point of views even if you have already formed your own opinion.
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And number two, you're able to put the needs of the business above your own
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when a conflict does arise in the workplace.
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In a way, any outcome you end your answer with is simply a byproduct of how well you did those two things.
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Starting with the ability to hold your tongue and hear everyone else out.
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This is important because any hiring manager knows that workplace conflict is inevitable
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and in many cases necessary for a healthy team dynamic.
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I'll link a study published in the Harvard Business Review on that topic down below.
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And this is where the famous quote from Nelson Mandela comes in, be the last one to speak.
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In a professional context, especially one where a conflict is involved, good managers know that letting the other person feel heard is half the battle,
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even if that person's ideas are rejected in the end.
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So a core part of your answer to, tell me a time you dealt with conflict on the job, should involve some version of you asking the other party
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to expand on the reasons as to why they believe they are correct.
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Then you show that you have fully understood their point of view by paraphrasing the answer and repeating it back to them.
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This tells the interviewer you have generally tried to put yourself in their shoes.
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This part of your answer should fall under the action category of your overall structure, which we'll come back to in a little bit.
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By the way, please let me know down in the comments if you're getting value from this video so far.
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And while down there, make sure to click that like button three times as it would mean the world to me.
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Moving on to putting the needs of the business above your own.
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This part is more self-explanatory.
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The hiring manager needs to know
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that they're hiring a team player who's willing to put aside personal differences for the sake of the organization.
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To put it bluntly, are you willing to let your pride take a hit to show
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that you can take the high road and be a professional?
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To convey this point effectively, you pinpoint the exact moment where all parties involved are at the most risk of losing face.
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Then show how you deescalate the situation by providing a platform for everyone to step down on.
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Common best practices here include suggesting a cool off period and revisiting the situation a day after,
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or even acknowledging the other direction or idea has more merits than your own and could potentially be a better solution.
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This part of your answer should be under the result category of your overall structure
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and should clearly show how the broader team or business benefited as a result of your actions.
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At this point, many of my regular viewers will know the answer structure I'm referring to.
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Yes, I am talking about a good old buddy, Carl.
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Context, action, results, and learnings.
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I've done a whole video on why Carl is a superior answer structure to the STAR method, so make sure to check that out if you haven't already.
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While context and learnings play a complementary role for this specific compared to the more important action and results pillars.
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There are several pro tips I can share here as well.
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The context part of your answer should mention a relevant conflict you might realistically face in the new role you're applying for.
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For example, if you're applying for a job in a technology company where the team structures are relatively flat,
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a meaningful conflict is how you try to influence others without authority and the challenges that you faced.
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For the learnings part, this is simply an opportunity for you to recap what you did, explain why it was a correct course of action in that instance,
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and what you would do in a similar situation next time.
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Putting all this together, here's your sample answer you can reference.
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Hopefully you'll be able to see that even though the result was less than perfect, it makes for a very convincing and meaningful answer.
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Okay, Jeff, could you please tell me about a difficult work situation and how you handled it? Of course.
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So a few weeks ago, a colleague on another team approached me asking for my help.
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She had just developed a new training program for our clients
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and she wanted to leverage some of the content my team had created.
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Usually this wouldn't be a problem, but we found out very quickly that because she had her own program landing page and we had ours,
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having the same content on both our platforms would have caused confusion for our users.
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Because there were clearly some synergies between our projects, we decided to sit down
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and having brainstorming session to figure out how we can help her achieve her goals without completely changing our existing infrastructure.
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Over the course of two days, I asked her a series of questions that helped us map out the user journey for her clients and mine.
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She was actually surprised I took the time to do this
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because usually other team members would just tell her yes or no based on her initial proposal.
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Unfortunately, even after two days, we were unable to figure out a good solution without having to deprecate one of our landing pages.
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So we agreed to consult a manager who had experience in this area.
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The manager acknowledged this was a tricky situation, and after referencing a similar project that she's worked on in the past, she gave us a solution
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that involved directing some of my existing users to my colleague's platform that will only host more advanced content.
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While this meant less traffic to my colleague and myself in the short term, this was clearly beneficial to the end user,
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and we kept the same content from showing up on two different platforms.
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Looking back, while we did need to consult a manager for this particular situation, I was pretty proud of how we exhausted all our options before exploring alternatives.
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We learned a lot from that user mapping exercise, and we actually came up with new ideas during the brainstorm sessions.
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And it taught me that next time, it's probably smart to involve a third party with experience in that area, right from the beginning, to be more efficient.
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As you can see, the candidate, who is surprisingly handsome, did a good job on both one and two.
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He first showed that he was open to hearing new perspectives, even if it meant extra work, and then was willing to suffer a short-term loss for the benefit of the client and business.
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If you're interviewing right now, feel free to check out my playlist on comment interview questions and answers that I'll link right there, and make sure to subscribe if you haven't already.
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See you on the next video.
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In the meantime, have a great one.
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Vocabulaire et conseils d’expression pour cette leçon
Cette leçon d’expression orale de niveau B2 s’appuie sur la vidéo « Tell me a time You Handled a Difficult Situation ». Les mots qui reviennent le plus souvent : answer, conflict, situation, manager. Cette vidéo contient 84 phrases et 1428 mots à répéter en shadowing. La partie parlée dure 6:57. Le locuteur parle vite, environ 206 mots par minute : attendez-vous à des liaisons et à des sons réduits. 86 % des mots font partie des 3 000 mots les plus courants en anglais ; le reste mérite d’être vu avant de commencer.
Vocabulaire clé de cette vidéo
Les 15 mots les plus avancés de la vidéo, avec leur prononciation et leur sens :
| Mot | Prononciation | Sens |
|---|---|---|
| interviewer nom | /ˈɪntɚvjuɚ/ | intervieweur, intervieweuse |
| workplace nom | /ˈwɝkˌpleɪs/ | lieu de travail, travail |
| meaningful adjectif | /ˈmiː.nɪŋ.fl̩/ | significatif, qui a du sens |
| consult verbe | /ˈkɑnsʌlt/ | se concerter |
| colleague nom | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | collègue, confrère |
| subscribe verbe | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | abonner, s'abonner |
| acknowledge verbe | /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ/ | reconnaître |
| bluntly adverbe | /ˈblʌntli/ | abruptement, à brûle-pourpoint |
| brainstorming nom | remue-méninge, brainstorming | |
| cleanly adjectif | /ˈklɛnli/ | propre sur soi |
| deprecate verbe | /ˈdɛp.rɪˌkeɪt/ | désapprouver de |
| explanatory adjectif | /ɪkˈsplæn.ə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/ | explicatif |
| facade nom | /fəˈsɑ(ː)d/ | façade |
| paraphrase verbe | /ˈpæɹəfɹeɪz/ | paraphraser |
| pinpoint verbe | /ˈpɪnpɔɪnt/ | localiser, identifier |
Les verbes à particule que vous entendrez
| Mot | Sens |
|---|---|
| come up with verbe | inventer, imaginer |
| figure out verbe | cerner |
| check out verbe | mater, regarder |
| find out verbe | découvrir, savoir |
| look back verbe | se remémorer |
| sit down verbe | s'asseoir |
La grammaire de cette vidéo
Les structures que le locuteur utilise le plus, avec les mots exacts de la vidéo :
| Structure | Dans la vidéo |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + participe passé — une action passée qui compte encore maintenant | have already formed · I've done |
| Voix passive be + participe passé — l’accent est mis sur ce qui arrive, pas sur qui le fait | is involved · are rejected |
Prononciation à surveiller
Le locuteur utilise 20 contractions et formes réduites, comme you're, I'll, haven't. Prononcez-les sous leur forme courte, telles que vous les entendez.
- Les sons « sh » et « zh »: beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, confusion /kənˈfjuːʒən/
- Mots longs — placez bien l’accent: explanatory /ɪkˈsplæn.ə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/, complementary /ˌkɑmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/
Les sons difficiles pour les francophones :
- /tʃ/ et /dʒ/ — à ne pas adoucir en « ch » et « j »: acknowledge /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ/, synergy /ˈsɪnəɹd͡ʒi/, leverage /ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
- /r/ anglais — langue recourbée, sans frotter la gorge: subscribe /səbˈskɹaɪb/, brainstorm /ˈbɹeɪnstɔɹm/, deprecate /ˈdɛp.rɪˌkeɪt/, explanatory /ɪkˈsplæn.ə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/, paraphrase /ˈpæɹəfɹeɪz/
Comment s’entraîner avec cette vidéo
- Écoutez la vidéo en entier une fois sans parler et notez les mots que vous ne connaissez pas.
- Commencez à la vitesse 0,75×, répétez phrase par phrase, puis revenez à la vitesse normale quand cela devient facile.
- Enregistrez-vous et comparez avec l’original, en faisant attention à des mots comme interviewer, workplace, meaningful.
Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?
Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.