Shadowing Practice: Tell me a time You Handled a Difficult Situation (Interview Question) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Les maken...
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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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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “Tell me a time You Handled a Difficult Situation”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: answer, conflict, situation, manager. Deze video bevat 84 zinnen en 1428 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 6:57. De spreker praat snel, ongeveer 206 woorden per minuut, dus reken op verbonden en ingeslikte klanken. 86% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| interviewer zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈɪntɚvjuɚ/ | interviewer, interviewster |
| workplace zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈwɝkˌpleɪs/ | werkplek, arbeidsplaats |
| meaningful bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈmiː.nɪŋ.fl̩/ | zinvol |
| colleague zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | collega, medewerker |
| subscribe werkwoord | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | abonneren |
| acknowledge werkwoord | /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ/ | bekennen, erkennen |
| brainstorming zelfstandig naamwoord | brainstorm | |
| deprecate werkwoord | /ˈdɛp.rɪˌkeɪt/ | afkeuren |
| facade zelfstandig naamwoord | /fəˈsɑ(ː)d/ | gevel, façade |
| synergy zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈsɪnəɹd͡ʒi/ | synergie |
| complementary bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˌkɑmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/ | aanvullend, complementair |
| flawless bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈflɔləs/ | feilloos, foutloos |
| playlist zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈpleɪˌlɪst/ | afspeellijst, playlist |
| pillar zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈpɪlɚ/ | pijler, zuil |
| viewer zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈvju.ɚ/ | kijker, toeschouwer |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Betekenis |
|---|---|
| come up with werkwoord | bedenken, verzinnen |
| figure out werkwoord | uitvogelen, er achter komen |
| check out werkwoord | onderzoeken |
| cool off werkwoord | afkoelen |
| fall under werkwoord | vallen onder |
| find out werkwoord | ontdekken, onderzoeken |
| look back werkwoord | achterom kijken, terugkijken |
| put aside werkwoord | opzijleggen |
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | have already formed · I've done |
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | is involved · are rejected |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 20 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals you're, I'll, haven't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, confusion /kənˈfjuːʒən/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: explanatory /ɪkˈsplæn.ə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/, complementary /ˌkɑmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/
Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:
- Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: colleague /ˈkɒliːɡ/, subscribe /səbˈskɹaɪb/, acknowledge /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ/, facade /fəˈsɑ(ː)d/, paraphrase /ˈpæɹəfɹeɪz/
- /æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: explanatory /ɪkˈsplæn.ə.t(ɔː.)ɹi/, paraphrase /ˈpæɹəfɹeɪz/
- /g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: colleague /ˈkɒliːɡ/, exhaust /ɪɡˈzɔst/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als interviewer, workplace, meaningful.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.