Step 2: Write down the required job skills & competencies.
Behavioral interview questions about critical thinking skills are a perfect opportunity for you to demonstrate why you are the right candidate for the position.
The skills and competencies you have identified in your research should be your starting point to prepare answers. Write down the required skills and rank them on importance.
Situational Critical Thinking Interview Questions:
If you are given ten projects but only have time to complete three, how do you decide which three to work on?
Workers will often need to prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance. In this situation, critical evaluation is necessary to distinguish the important from the less-important tasks using specific measures like time, effort, and value.
If I had to manage multiple time-sensitive tasks, I’d first list them all together in a single document and order them based on the urgency of the deadlines. Second, I would flag any tasks which could feasibly be delegated to co-workers for completion.
From the remaining tasks, I would identify those which are both urgent and important. The next step would be to order these based on their value by considering which tasks have the most serious consequences for failing to complete them, and also which tasks have the highest ROI.
For example, missing a deadline for a brand-new client could be more damaging than missing one for a loyal client of many years, and whose project is less urgent. Using this process, I’d select the three tasks which:
Step 1: Research.
Every interview preparation starts with doing the right research. Before you can answer interview questions in a specific way you need to get to know the position and company better. Furthermore, you should thoroughly understand the job requirements to prepare strong answers.
Read the job description carefully to find specific skills that a candidate needs to possess to perform the job successfully. Think of skills such as creative thinking, problem-solving, adaptability, a strong work ethic, and communication. Also, read the company website to get more information about their mission statement and who their main clients are. Furthermore, check their LinkedIn pages and other content/news related to the company.
Researching the job and company will help you identify the required skills, qualities, and work experience for the position you’re applying for. Your research should help you make an educated guess about what kind of interview questions you can expect.
Step 4: Prepare successful and challenging answer examples.
Strong critical thinkers are essential in the workplace. Critical thinkers use their skills to evaluate and assess information in order to make decisions effectively. During your interview, it’s therefore important that your answers demonstrate that you have successfully identified problems, proposed solutions, evaluated several options, and finally implemented a solution.
It’s also likely that the interviewer will ask you about a time you have failed to solve a problem. Interviewers ask you about failures to assess whether or not you learn from your mistakes and if you’re self-aware enough to acknowledge times you failed. Also, it helps them identify if you take calculated and smart risks when it comes to making decisions.