Question: When faced with a problem, how can you tell if you can fix it on your own or if you need help?

Alternative Question Phrasing:

How do you know when to solve a problem on your own or to ask for help?

Follow-up questions:

What factors do you look at?
How would you come to that decision?
Are you sure there are no instances where you would ask for help?

Question Details:

Question Type:

Skills:

Basic – Critical Thinking,Basic – Monitoring (Making observations of self and environment),Basic – Science and Logic,Systems Analysis

Abilities:

Cognitive – Problem Sensitivity (Problem Recognition)

Other Factors:

Motivation/Ambition/Aspiration,Personality-Job Fit,Personality-Team Fit,Self-Awareness

Work Activity (Task):

Information Input – Estimating Characteristics of Objects, Events, or Information,Mental Processes – Evaluating Compliance with Standards,Mental Processes – Judging the Value of Things, Services, or People,Mental Processes – Making Decisions and Solving Problems

Work Context (Person-Job/Team/Org Fit):

Job Structure – Consequence of Error,Job Structure – Freedom to Make Decisions,Job Structure – Frequency of Decision Making,Job Structure – Level of Responsibility (Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Organization Results)

Work Style (Person-Job Fit):

Analytical Thinking,Dependability,Handling Ambiguity,Independence,Initiative,Social Orientation (Work Alone vs Group Work)

Question Frequency

Question Difficulty

What to look for in an answer:

You are looking to see the interviewee’s thought process on whether they can do a task or not.
There will be times you will want them to handle things on their own and there are times when you want them to come to you, their manager. Where to draw this line is up to you. The more independent and initiative-taking their nature is, the more likely they are going to try and sort things out themselves.
Some candidates will try to appear more initiative-taking and may try to sell you on the idea that they can handle all the issues they face on their own without having to bother anyone and ask for help.

Red Flags to Watch For:

Red flags are at either extreme, where the interviewee will either sort out everything on their own even if they do not know how to, or, where they ask for help at every opportunity and are unable to solve any problems on their own.

Sample Answer:

N/A

Question Source: Unknown