Tell me about a problem that kept coming back in a past role and never got fixed on your watch. What kept it alive?
Why this works
Initiative shows as clearly in what someone tolerated as in what they fixed — and everyone has a problem they lived with. The honest version reveals how the candidate weighs cost against comfort, which a success story never touches.
Follow-up probes
- What did living with it cost, per week or per month?
- Did you ever raise it, and what happened when you did?
- What would have made fixing it worth your time?
What good looks like
An honest pick with real cost attached, a clear-eyed account of why fixing it kept losing to other work, and some deliberate call — even a documented workaround — rather than drift.
Red flags
Can't name one ("I fix everything"), the barrier is entirely other people or "management", or they never once raised it and can't say why.
Build the interview around it
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