Situational Interview
A situational interview asks candidates to explain how they would handle specific workplace scenarios you describe. Rather than asking about past experience, you present realistic challenges and listen to their reasoning. It assesses practical thinking, conflict resolution, and decision-making under pressure—skills hard to verify from a CV alone.
Situational interviews are structured conversations where you pose hypothetical problems candidates might face in the Pensum and role you're hiring for. You listen to their proposed solution, their reasoning, and how they'd handle pushback or constraints.
Swiss employers use situational interviews alongside traditional questions to predict job performance. They work well for SMEs because they're quick to conduct, require no special tools, and reveal how someone thinks in real time—not just what they claim they've done.
When you use situational interviews
Situational interviews fit best when hiring for roles involving customer contact, team collaboration, or problem-solving under pressure—sales, customer service, project coordination, and operations roles. They're also useful when you have multiple similar candidates and need a tiebreaker.
You typically use them in the second or third interview stage, after screening CVs. Running one costs you 20–30 minutes and requires no preparation beyond knowing your team's real pain points. Many Swiss SMEs combine a situational question with one behavioural question (past example) in a single interview.
- Best for roles needing judgment calls: customer service, operations, team leadership
- Run them in mid-stage interviews, after CV screening
- Takes 20–30 minutes; no special equipment needed
- Reveals thinking style, not just credentials
- Works for remote and in-person candidates equally
- Combines well with behavioural and technical questions
Your obligations and what to avoid
You have no legal obligation to use situational interviews, but if you do, you must ask all candidates for the same role the same questions in the same way. Changing your scenario halfway through or treating different candidates differently breaches equal-treatment principles under Swiss employment law.
The most common mistake is asking vague or loaded questions. "How would you handle a difficult customer?" is too open. "A customer in Bern calls with a billing error on their invoice; they're angry and threatening to switch providers. You've never seen this issue before. What's your first move?" is much better. Vague questions produce unhelpful answers and are hard to compare fairly across candidates.
- Ask every candidate for the same role identical questions
- Document candidate responses for fair comparison later
- Avoid yes/no scenarios—ask open questions requiring explanation
- Never ask questions that reveal protected characteristics (age, family status, health)
- Don't change your scenario mid-interview based on the candidate's answer
- Use real workplace challenges, not invented edge cases
Designing and scoring your scenarios
Ground your scenario in a real problem your team faces. If your warehouse team often juggles urgent orders with planned stock counts, ask a candidate how they'd prioritize when both landed on the same morning. If your office gets conflicting requests from different managers, ask how they'd handle that.
Score by listening for: Does the candidate ask clarifying questions? Do they identify the core problem or jump to a solution? Do they consider other people's perspectives? Do they admit uncertainty or pretend to know? These signals matter more than whether they pick Option A or B. Write down what each candidate said so you can compare fairly after interviewing all candidates.
- Base scenarios on real situations your team has faced
- Include constraints: budget limits, time pressure, or missing information
- Listen for curiosity (do they ask clarifying questions?)
- Note how they balance competing priorities or stakeholder interests
- Compare answers across all candidates for the same role afterward
- Don't score based on your preferred answer—score on thinking quality
Frequently asked questions
- Can I ask the same scenario question to candidates for different roles?
- Not if you want fair comparison. A scenario for a sales role tests different judgment than one for operations. You can reuse the same *technique* (situational questions) but customize the *scenario* to each role's actual demands. Reusing the same scenario waters down your assessment.
- What if a candidate gives an answer I disagree with?
- That's fine. You're not scoring right vs. wrong answers—you're assessing their reasoning. A candidate might solve the scenario differently than you would and still demonstrate good judgment. Document what they said and why, then compare their thinking across multiple scenarios before deciding.
- Are situational interviews legally protected in Switzerland?
- They're not specifically regulated, but they fall under general Swiss employment law principles: equal treatment (ArG), fair assessment, and no discrimination. A lawyer should review your scenarios if you're hiring for sensitive roles (data access, compliance). The key is consistency: ask the same question the same way of all candidates for the same role.
General information for Swiss employers, not legal advice. Have a lawyer confirm anything with legal consequences.