RCMP RMSI – The Situational Questions. This is the part of the Regular Member Selection Interview for which you are now preparing. How do you approach the answers? How do you prepare and practice for questions when you have no idea what the questions will be? This portion of the interview can be quite difficult, but if you know how to formulate your responses, it will be much easier.
A*R*C
The first thing you have to understand is how to respond using the A*R*C principle. What does A*R*C stand for?
Action * Reasoning * Considerations
When you are asked a Situational, or hypothetical question, the interviewer is looking for you to explain what actions you would take, the reasons why you would do that action, and what factors you took into consideration when deciding your action.
I would like to break each of these sections down in a series of posts. We will look at each of the three parts and describe exactly how to approach them using a very simple hypothetical situation.
“While on your way to work, your car breaks down which results in you being late for an important business meeting. What will you do?”
Today’s post will focus on Reasons. This is where you would explain the reasons why you would take that action. If you keep your actions too narrow, then you won’t have many reasons. So what does that look like for this situation? In the previous post, I gave a list of suggested actions that you might take. Now, let’s look at the reasons for taking those actions.
- I would contact my supervisor first so he knows what has happened and is aware that I will be late.
- I would then check my calender so I would know what other appointments I might have scheduled for the day, and also to determine if there is another time that I could reschedule the meeting for which I will be late. I would do this prior to contacting my client so that I was prepared to provide alternative options without having to make him wait.
- I would then contact the client to let him know as soon as possible that I would either be late or miss our meeting completely, so that he wouldn’t needlessly attend. It is also respectful to notify him that there will be a change. I will attempt to reschedule the meeting or offer other solutions, i.e. have the meeting over the phone or allow him to meet with someone else, to ensure that he is provided another option.
- I would call a tow truck to have my vehicle removed and taken to a service station so repairs could be done quickly and I wouldn’t be without a vehicle any longer than needed.
As you can see, I have given my reason for each of the steps outlined in my action. This will provide a well rounded response to each of these components.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Practice making up your own hypothetical situations and think about all of the steps that you would take to resolve or address the problem, and the reasons why you would do each of those steps. The more you practice laying out multiple steps, the easier it will become for you. And if you need help, reach out to someone who has been through this type of interview, or reach out to an experienced Certified Professional Career Coach who has expertise in this area.
Do you know someone who is faced with this challenge? Feel free to share this post by using the share links at the top of this page. Also, if you’d like more interview tips, feel free to check out the interview resource page.
Your newsletters were informative and helpful. Thank you!