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Anonymous A
on Sep 21, 2019
Global

Tell me about a difficult situation where you had to rely on your communication skills!

How would you answer this question in your Personal Fit interview? Receive feedback on your answer and browse through the Q&As to review the approaches of other applicants and experts.

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Coach
on Mar 24, 2020
McKinsey / ex-Interviewer at McKinsey / I will coach you to rock those interviews

While answering this question, it’s important to highlight a few things:

  • Your interpersonal skills – what interviewer is interested in is not content, but how well you can interact with other people
  • That you don’t only talk, but you can also ask right questions
  • That you can wait for the right moment to bring up your arguments (“Ninja is the art of waiting”)

Best,

Daniel

J
on May 29, 2025

Als klanten het oneens waren met iets of gefrustreerd waren, zou ik niet in discussie gaan. De discussie leidt alleen maar tot meer frustratie en onbegrip vanuit de klant naar jou toe. Erkennen problemen, leef je in in een ander, aan de slag gaan om de frustaties weg te nemen bij de klant

9
Anonymous H
on Jan 05, 2024

Mündliches Staatsexamen, bei einer Vereinssitzung bei der wir über die Mitgliedschaft einer Person entscheiden müssten, die auf der Kippe stand. 

7
A
on Jun 07, 2025

While i was working in the client, he is not supportive towards us so i have to talk with them to solved the problem .

7
Clara
Coach
on Mar 25, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

This is a question that relates to one of the following: 

  • Leadership: Leadership stories don´t need to necessarily relate to formal leadership positions, but to moments in which you inspired others towards a common goal
  • Personal impact: Personal impact stories relate to stakeholder management, by handling disagreement or conflict situations

Depends on whether you use your communication skills for convincing someone or for guiding a team!

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara

Anonymous F
on Oct 30, 2021

When I was in high school, I lost a train ticket that I was supposed to cancel. It was a worth a few thousand rupees and the ticket was not mine, so I could not ignore it. I had to muster up the courage to raise the issue with the railways officials and found that the ticket was cancelled by someone else. I had to recollect some details of the ticket, so they could locate the cuplrit and I could get the money back.

2
Anonymous E
on Sep 27, 2021

We had to tell a team member that he was not contributing to the standard of the team and that we had to kindly remove him from it. This meant being able to give context to why, as an individual, i was unhappy about his performance, and what I would have expected from him that he didn't do 

1
R
on Oct 21, 2021

I had to go pro se during a difficult and complicated custody case. Despite the judge urging me to seek counsel, I was unable to do so financially. I was required to write all my own motions and responses as well as speak to the court using the language the courts require. I was up against a very powerful attorney. After six months of hearings and a final trial, I won my case.

1
Anonymous B
on Apr 17, 2020
Anonymous C
on Oct 05, 2020
Anonymous D
on Sep 06, 2021

Ein Arzt wollte seine zugeteilte Arbeit im Projekt nicht selbst durchführen.

0
on Apr 24, 2022

I was trying to explain my point of view but the person could but the other person could not understand it

0
V
on May 15, 2022

I had to give a severe feedback to a colleague

0
on Jun 11, 2022

In my previous job I worked with a Senior that I never met and he worked in smart working by another City, in that situation I had to rely on my communication skills and interface with my Senior 2 to solve problem in the activity we had to do.

0
on Oct 24, 2023

15 seconds time rewind

0
Anonymous G
on Nov 09, 2023

I had to convince people to change their entire set-up which they have used for the past 5 years. So I had to convince and explain how they could do better. 

0
Anonymous I
13 hrs ago

I would say one of the most difficult situation I’ve had to encounter was in a case study stage in my application to my master at WU Vienna. It was a group of 5, and there was one guy, who have stated blatantly wrong arguments, and the situation had to be eased to move forward in such a time-pressured meeting. At that point, what I tried to do is asking him questions that I believed could lead him into a line of thought that would guide him into the right answer, and possibly could convince him by asking the right questions, OR find out where the different assumption has been made by the rest of us and him. With this type of questions, I found out at which point of the argument he made a different assumption, so I tried to break that part down even more and follow-up to see exactly what arguments he makes for this statement, and to see whether it is actually convincing for us. At that point, I saw him actually leaning towards our point, without even stating any narrative sentence at him. This showed to me the importance of knowing how to structure your thoughts, rather than trying to fill-in knowledge gaps. As consultants are generalist, they will obviously encounter knowledge gaps, but asking the right questions at the right time are his most essential tools for delivering value.

0
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