Describe a time you had to respond to a major office disruption (e.g., building closure, IT outage, or health & safety incident). How did you manage the situation and what was the outcome?
Situational
Crisis Management
Communication
Prioritisation
Office managers must keep operations running during unexpected disruptions. This question assesses crisis management, prioritisation, communication and operational resilience — all critical for keeping a UK office compliant and productive.
How to answer
- Use the STAR structure: Situation, Task, Action, Result.
- Open by briefly describing the disruption and its immediate business impact (e.g., who was affected, safety concerns, regulatory implications).
- Explain your priorities (safety, continuity, communication, compliance) and any relevant UK-specific considerations (e.g., reporting to the landlord, health & safety regs, GDPR if data was at risk).
- Detail the concrete steps you took: liaising with stakeholders, activating contingency plans, arranging temporary facilities or remote working, coordinating suppliers, and documenting decisions.
- Quantify the outcome where possible (downtime reduced, employees supported, costs mitigated) and reflect on what you changed in procedures afterward.
What not to say
- Claiming you panicked or did nothing structured — this role requires calm, organised responses.
- Focusing only on technical details and ignoring communication with staff and stakeholders.
- Taking sole credit and not acknowledging team or supplier contributions.
- Omitting lessons learned or failing to mention any follow-up improvements to processes.
Sample answer
“At a mid-sized marketing agency in Manchester, a burst pipe forced our ground floor to close with power to key workstations cut. My priorities were staff safety, minimal disruption to client work, and clear communication. I immediately evacuated affected areas and liaised with the building manager and facilities contractor to assess damage. I set up a temporary hotdesk area on another floor and coordinated with IT to provision remote access for 12 client-facing staff. I communicated status updates every hour to staff and sent a client-facing note explaining expected impacts and mitigation steps. We resumed full operations within 36 hours; two urgent client deadlines were met by reallocating resources. Afterwards I updated our business continuity plan, added a preferred emergency contractor contact list, and ran a short staff briefing on evacuation routes and remote-working procedures.”
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