Prompt
You chair the volunteer committee for a community garden with 20 plots. This year 35 households applied. Twelve of last year's gardeners expect to keep their plots, as gardeners always have, and several have tended the same plot for over a decade. Most of the new applicants live in the apartment building that opened next door and have no yard of their own. How would you decide who gets a plot?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Ethical reasoning
- Critical thinking
- Communication
How to approach this question
This panel interview question tests how you allocate a scarce resource fairly when tradition and need collide: long-time gardeners expect to keep plots they've tended for a decade, and newcomers with no yard have a strong claim too. Start by naming both groups and what each stands to lose. Ask aloud whether the garden has written rules, whether plots could be split or shared, and whether more space exists nearby. Lay out options such as a lottery, a reserved share for new applicants, rotation or a cap on years held, and weigh each against fairness and the garden's sense of community. Land on a clear proposal, and explain how you'd present it so returning gardeners understand why the rules are changing.
More on resource allocation
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