Question: Describe a time when you trained or gave instruction to someone only to have them do the action wrongly. What happened and how did you handle it?

Alternative Question Phrasing:

Have you ever given instructions to someone, and then learned he/she did it wrong? Why do you think that happened?

Follow-up questions:

How did you correct him/her?
Does this happen often or was it a one off?
Has this happened to more than one person?
How did you prevent this from happening again?

Question Details:

Question Type:

Behavioral

Skills:

Basic – Monitoring (Making observations of self and environment),Basic – Speaking,Basic – Writing,Social – Coordination (Adjusting one’s own actions in relation to others),Social – Instructing (Teaching),Social – Social Perceptiveness

Abilities:

Cognitive – Deductive Reasoning,Cognitive – Oral Expression,Cognitive – Written Expression

Other Factors:

Personality-Job Fit

Work Activity (Task):

Interacting with Others – Assigning Tasks to Others (Delegation and Direction),Interacting with Others – Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates,Interacting with Others – Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others,Interacting with Others – Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others (Informing),Interacting with Others – Training and Teaching Others,Mental Processes – Judging the Value of Things, Services, or People

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

Interpersonal Relationships – Coordinate or Lead Others,Job Structure – Consequence of Error

Work Style (Person-Job Fit):

Adaptability/Flexibility,Patience

Question Frequency

Question Difficulty

What to look for in an answer:

The candidate’s professionalism when dealing with problems, their training and teaching skills, and their patience.

Red Flags to Watch For:

The candidate’s lack of patience when teaching someone is a red flag.

Sample Answer:

In giving instructions, we must always check comprehension on the part of our audience. We can do this by asking questions to validate that they understood everything. I’ve learned the hard way when I dealt with an intern last year. I was assigned as her mentor. When I asked her to do something, without validating comprehension, she made a lot of errors. So I explained to her again but I made sure she understood and knew the consequences of mistakes.

Question Source: Unknown