Answering “What Are the Most Difficult Decisions To Make?”

Interviewing for a job often involves discussing your thought process for making decisions and solving problems. Employers may ask questions about which choices are most challenging for you in the workplace and how you determine an outcome in those situations. Understanding why employers ask about difficult decisions and having a plan for how to answer them can help you prepare for upcoming interviews. In this article, we discuss how to answer questions about the hardest choices to make at work and share a few example answers to inspire your own response. Related: Decision-Making Skills: Definition and Examples

Why do employers ask "What are the most difficult decisions for you to make?"

Hiring managers typically ask about hard decisions at work to understand your professional priorities and mindset in the workplace. By asking you to identify some of the hardest types of decisions you typically encounter at work, a hiring manager can learn about your values. They can also identify what kinds of tasks you dedicate extra time and attention to during your decision-making process. This question can help hiring managers to determine if you take core aspects of the job seriously and identify if you have similar strategic priorities. Interviewers may also ask about which decisions are most difficult so they can learn how you responded to challenging situations in the past. The types of decisions you mention can indicate your level of experience handling difficult scenarios in the workplace. By discussing examples of difficult decisions you made in previous professional environments, you show hiring managers your ability to make confident decisions on serious topics within their team. Related: Interview Question: “What's the Most Difficult Decision You've Had To Make?”

How to answer "What are difficult decisions for you to make at work?"

Here are a few tips for answering questions about what kinds of decisions are challenging for you in professional situations:

1. Focus on a situation or theme

When forming your response, focus on a particular type of decision that you want to discuss in your answer. Talking about common workplace situations that apply to many jobs can help interviewers envision you on their team. You can use the STAR interview technique to identify a specific decision-making scenario and outline how your actions in that situation created a positive outcome. Related: How To Use the STAR Interview Response Technique

2. Choose an example

Consider selecting an example from your past professional experience. Think about a few of the times when you had to make a challenging decision and why it was so challenging for you. Try using your answer to reflect on your thought process and explain your decision-making style to the interviewer. This can help them understand how you may address challenging decisions in the workplace, whether they're similar to the situation you described. Related: 4 Types of Decision-Making Styles (With Examples)

3. Explain the outcome

Discuss the decision you made and the outcome of that choice. You can talk about any lessons you learned from making that choice and how you can use that experience to improve your decision-making skills in the future. Focus on ways that making a challenging choice was a benefit to your team or previous employer to show the interviewer that your ability to make hard decisions is an asset.

Example answers for "What are the most difficult workplace decisions for you to make?"

Review these examples to gain inspiration for possible ways to respond to questions about making difficult choices at work:

Example 1

"Deciding to terminate a member of the team is always one of the most challenging decisions I ever have to make in the workplace. I value the contributions everyone makes during our time working together, and I always consider other avenues and ways to mentor a team member to improve their performance before considering termination. I also understand that it's important to be fair to others on the team who meet their performance targets, and I want to be able to dedicate my time to the whole group in a productive, equitable manner. Whenever I had to consider terminating an employee in the past, I was always clear with that person about paths to improvement and the consequences of not meeting those goals. This made the decision easier because I felt confident in upholding my own accountability over the situation while empowering them with the tools to remain on the team. It also showed others on the team that I appreciate them and take all decisions about termination seriously."

Example 2

"Any decisions related to company finances are always some of the hardest decisions to make because I know they can have both short- and long-term impacts on the company. I always want to make well-informed choices with my budget to ensure that my team has the resources they need to accomplish their goals. Every time I have a finance-related decision, I like to schedule extra time to reflect and consider all options before finalizing my choice. For example, in my last position, I prepared the monthly budget for the entire education department. This included determining the project allotment for each team and deciding how much money to spend on inventory. I met with each team leader and considered which projects had the top priority based on deadlines and feedback from the community regarding the most impactful programming. I also shared my reasoning for my budget choices with the team and tracked information about expenses to make reasonable adjustments each month and optimize the value of each dollar."

Example 3

"Because I currently have a client-facing role, the most difficult decisions I make at my job often relate to resolving customer issues while also adhering to company policy. I always want to provide customers with an excellent experience, but I also have a responsibility to support the company's business model and uphold policies. When clients and customers want compensation from a situation that doesn't meet their expectations, it's often challenging to decide how to diffuse the conflict and keep them satisfied. Recently I had a client who insisted on getting a refund, even though their issue was due to their own user error. I had to decide if I wanted to issue the refund so I could attend to a store full of other customers or if I wanted to calm down the customer and explain the issue. While the first option may have saved time, I used my training and asked colleagues to assist with other customers while I deescalated the situation. Ultimately, she learned how to use her item and decided to keep it."