How to Answer "How Do You Manage a Heavy Workload?" (2024)

As you prepare for a job interview, you may plan your response to common questions like, “What’s your greatest weakness?” and “Why should we hire you?” But one slightly less common question you may want to think about before your next interview is, “How do you manage a heavy workload?”—especially if you’re interviewing for a remote role.

Hiring managers are often interested in knowing how employees handle a full plate, so to speak. They want to understand your process.

If you’re questioned by a potential employer about how you would manage a heavy workload and aren’t sure how to answer, read on!

Understand the question.

Asking how you would deal with a large amount of work can be classified as a behavioral interview question. It’s the type of question that is designed for a potential employer to find out more about your personality and determine how you’ll react to future events based on past behavior. While the interviewer is looking to find out how you’d handle a heavy workload, they’re actually trying to gain a deeper insight into your character and if you’ll ultimately be a fit for the company.

Be a STAR.

Once you’ve determined that you’re being asked a behavioral question during a job interview, it’s good to know that there’s an easy formula for answering it. It’s called the STAR format, which stands for Situation or Task, Action, and Results. Essentially, your answer should start off with a similar situation being posed by your interviewer, the action you took to remedy the situation, and most importantly, the results you achieved. Don’t forget the last part, since it’s not just about identifying a problem and your reaction to it that counts, but ultimately the results achieved that truly matter.

Know what to say.

In the case of managing a heavy workload, you’ll want to have a strategy for answering it. You can say something like:

“Everyone has faced a heavy workload at some point or another in their career. For me, being able to take a step back and observe the situation can give me greater clarity and objectivity. Instead of diving in and trying to do it all—and all at once—I’ve found that it’s best to prioritize the tasks at hand. While everything might appear to be urgent, that might not necessarily be the case. So I would organize the projects that need to be done right away, and communicate with my team and boss to make sure that we’re all on the same page in terms of prioritizing.”

Offer an example.

After you’ve shown that you understand the question by providing an answer similar to the one above, it’s story time! Cite an example of a similar situation in which you were faced with a heavy workload, what you did (i.e., the tasks you completed and why you chose those), and the results you achieved. This shows that you can handle this interview question—and a heavy workload, too!

Related Job Interview Questions:

• How to Address Major Concerns During a Job Interview
• Navigating Interview Questions About Your Unemployment
• How to Answer 3 Job Interview Questions About Communication Style
• Job Interview Question: Why Are You Leaving Your Current Job? (Samples)
• How Do You Deal with Remote Work Challenges? What to Say in an Interview
• 30 Common Interview Questions, Tips and Example Answers

Know someone looking for a job? Refer a friend to FlexJobs with this link—you’ll get a month free service and they’ll get 30% off!

Photo Credit: bigstockphoto.com