Best Interview Advice

A common, possibly tough, interview question often asked, in one way or another, is

"Can you describe how you handled a difficult problem?"

How would you rate the following answers? Which answer do you think is the best?

Answer #1
"As a member of research team, after we had conducted thousands of experiments on a certain project without solving the problem, one of my associates, after we had conducted the crowning experiment and it had proved a failure, expressed discouragement and disgust over our having failed to find out anything. I cheerily assured him that we had learned something. For we had learned for a certainty that the thing couldn't be done that way, and that we would have to try some other way. He was encouraged by my attitude and went back to work with renewed enthusiasm. Ultimately we discovered the best material to use and increased the longevity of the product from 13 hours to over 1200 hours."

Answer #2
"Once I had to work as part of a research team. The other members of the team did not seem to know what they were doing and kept on asking me questions. They complained a lot and were not very helpful. I kept on trying different things to see what would work best, but everyone else, including my bosses, were not very supportive. After I put in a lot of long hours, I got the project done okay."

Answer #3
"We had to make this thing. It was hard, and took a lot of time, and a lot of work, but we did a really, really good job of it."

Answer #4
"As an inventor, I and my co-workers created many products and devices that involved extensive experimentation and often did not have easy solutions. And my over twenty years of that kind of experience makes me ideally qualified, the best candidate and a perfect fit for your open position. I am confident that I can handle any difficult situation that might occur."

My money is on Answer #1.

Because it is not so much what story you tell, but all about HOW you tell it. The words you use and how you deliver the story are most important.

If you disagree, I want to know. Please comment below and/or email me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org.

By the way, I wrote all four answers with Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb in mind. And most of Answer #1 is directly quoted from Edison himself.