Situational application questions

Claire_MUFC

I don't know if anyone will understand what I'm asking here, but anyway.

In a job application, the standard questions like 'What are your strengths', 'Why do you want to work here' etc have to be tailored to the job advert that you are applying for

What about situational questions like as an example, 'Describe a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer' - do these also have to be tailored to the job advert ?

Describe a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer - I'd just use the same answer for this for any job that asked about it

scheming_gypsy

they just want to know how you deal with a difficult customer.
If you beat them with their own limbs before locking them in a freezer - you won't get the job.
If you cried till they went away - you won't want the job
If you dealt with it in away that both you, the company and the customer were satisfied - then you'll impress them enough to know that you can cope in those situations.

You can't tailor them to a job you're applying for because they're asking WHEN you had to, not IF you have to.

AP007

Claire_MUFC wrote: »

I don't know if anyone will understand what I'm asking here, but anyway.

In a job application, the standard questions like 'What are your strengths', 'Why do you want to work here' etc have to be tailored to the job advert that you are applying for

What about situational questions like as an example, 'Describe a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer' - do these also have to be tailored to the job advert ?

Describe a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer - I'd just use the same answer for this for any job that asked about it

No it doesn't have to be in relation to the job you are applying for but it can help.

They are after how you did things


Listen
Action
Solve
Thank


So something like listen to the problem tell the customer what you are going to do to get things right, put these things into action and thank the customer for their patience.

jobbingmusician

Do they HAVE to be? Probably not.
Would it help if they were? Well, it can't hurt, can it! So why not take the time to make sure that your responses ARE relevant to the job you are applying for.

Extra time (and imagination ) spent on job apps is some of the best time you will ever spend, if it leads to you getting a great job. So it follows, logically, that you should do the best you can on every job app.

I think, therefore, that you are asking the wrong question. You should be asking not 'should I tailor my examples to the job?', but 'how can I tailor my examples to the job?' If you really can't find any examples that relate to that job, I would suggest that you write a few extra lines to point out how your seemingly random example DOES relate to the skills and attributes the recruiter is looking for!