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How To Assess Adaptability In An Interview

Adaptability is a trait almost every employer wants in a candidate. Someone who can tailor their approach, behaviour and actions to respond to changes in circumstances or their surrounding environment. There is no doubt an employee with high adaptability increases the flexibility, efficiency and execution within your project team. 

But while it is a highly desirable trait, adaptability is very hard to screen for in an interview situation. Education and on-paper experience are amongst the least successful indicators and one of the least valuable questions you can ask a candidate is, “How adaptable are you?” Adaptability is best revealed by asking a series of the right questions. The answers reveal patterns, traits and evidence that provide a much more accurate picture of the candidate’s strength or weakness in an area.

So what are the right questions to ask? Here are four pertinent adaptability based questions you should be including in every interview script:

1. How is your ability to deliver results in your present job affected by factors beyond your control? And, how have you dealt with these challenges? 
2. Can you think of a time when you’ve had to adjust quickly to changes in organisational or departmental priorities? How did you respond?
3. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a new policy or procedure instituted by management. Why did you disagree? How did you handle this?
4. How have you worked around obstacles that prevented you from completing a project? Describe the obstacle and the steps or actions you took.

As with all screening questions, remember to always ask for examples. It is within these examples that the gold nuggets of information you need are revealed. Take this recent example I encountered with a candidate whilst interviewing for a project manager role.

Q: Tell me about a time when you had to abruptly change what you were doing. What did you do and how did it affect you?

A: “It is common in Projects that funding can be cut from a resourcing perspective. This happened to me recently. In this instance, it was important to go back to the data, gather the facts and investigate what it meant for the project going forward. This gave me the tools to understand the critical success factors in our project, which in turn allowed me to come up with a plan to execute what needed to happen within the new resourcing framework. This could mean reducing the scope, increasing the time frames for delivery or redistributing responsibilities according to workload. It's important to improvise in this situation, and I explored all of these options.”

This answer shows adaptability on several levels. First, the acknowledgement that funding cuts are a part of life as a project manager shows the candidate is aware this issue may arise and will have potential solutions in the back of their mind should this occur. Secondly, the detailing of multiple actions that could be taken to help deliver the project within the new constraints also demonstrates the ability to adapt quickly.

Asking the right questions and looking for consistent evidence in the answers is the key to revealing adaptability in potential employees. Remember, never be fooled by what you read about a candidate, instead be guided by what you hear from them.