Hiring Wisdom: When They Don’t Know What to Do, What Do They Do?

Jan 14, 2013

When we ask job applicants what they do when they don’t know what to do, we learn a lot about these potential employees.

To find out, ask them questions like:

Tell me about a time you had to get something done at work, but didn’t have the needed information or resources? How did you deal with the problem?
What do you do when you don’t have all the information you feel you need to make a good decision?
Has a manager ever told you to get something done and didn’t give you clear instructions or training? How did you get the task done?

The answers to these types of questions tell us how creative and resourceful the applicant is and shed some light on their decision-making process.

This was originally published on Mel Kleiman’s Humetrics blog.

Get articles like this

in your inbox

The longest running and most trusted source of information serving talent acquisition professionals.

Get articles like this

in your inbox

The longest running and most trusted source of information serving talent acquisition professionals.

Elena Volk | Apr 12, 2026

David Perry | Nov 14, 2024

Peter Crush | Jul 1, 2022

Vadim Liberman | Dec 10, 2020