This adaptability question assesses your resilience and flexibility. A great answer shows that you can handle unexpected changes calmly and productively, without getting flustered.

Question: “Tell me about a time you had to adapt quickly to a change.”

STAR Method Breakdown:

• (S)ituation: “We were two weeks away from launching a major software update for our flagship product. A week before the launch, a key competitor unexpectedly released a similar feature that we had planned to be our main selling point.”
• (T)ask: “My task, as the product marketing manager, was to quickly pivot our entire launch strategy and messaging to differentiate our product and ensure a successful release, despite losing our primary competitive advantage.”
• (A)ction: “I immediately called an emergency meeting with the product, sales, and marketing teams. Instead of panicking, we focused on what our update had that the competitor’s didn’t—specifically, superior integration capabilities with other platforms. Over the next 48 hours, I worked with the copywriters to completely rewrite our website copy, email campaigns, and press release to highlight our unique integration features as the new core value proposition. I also quickly trained the sales team on how to address questions about the competitor’s feature.”
• (R)esult: “The launch was a huge success. By repositioning our product, we successfully targeted a niche of power users who valued integration above all else. Our user adoption in the first month was 20% higher than projected, and the feedback specifically praised the seamless integration, proving our quick adaptation was the right move.”

For more model answers, visit our STAR Method Example: Adaptability .

This example supports the article Adaptability & Resilience Behavioral Questions .