The Curveball Interview Question—Don’t Let It Toss You Out

“So, tell me about your worst campaign,” asked the interviewer. The candidate, an experienced but young association professional, wasn’t ready for this question.

The “worst case” question is the proverbial curveball, thrown at the candidate to see if she can think quickly, solve problems and learn from mistakes.

Three scenarios came quickly to her mind:

1. An assistant neglected to match the names on letters with the addressed envelopes for a large mailing.
2. The applicant herself inserted the wrong year on a renewal form.
3. A temporary helper hired to fold letters and stuff envelopes, who reported for duty wearing 3-inch fake fingernails, wound up getting her blood red nail polish on the letters.

Given these three stories as my options, I like the fingernail story, because it injects a bit of humor into a serious answer, while giving her a chance to show how she addressed the problem. Perhaps she noticed the red marks on the letters early on and thus staved off a costly disaster. She may have called the agency to ask for a new temp after seeing what was happening. There are many possible approaches, but ultimately, she needs to demonstrate for the interviewer how she took charge of the situation and turned it around. Did she supervise temp staff more closely after that event? Did she change agencies? Did the mailing end up going out on time despite having to reprint some letters? Did it affect the bottom line for the campaign?

Of course, if the scene was a true disaster, she shouldn’t bring it up at an interview.

When asked to describe a negative event, job candidates should shape their answers in terms of positive outcomes, lessons learned and what they did the next time.

Watch for my next post on planning ahead for curveball questions.