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Give an Example of a Time in Which You Had to Be Relatively Quick in Coming to a Decision
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:30:08 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
This situation happens often in the IT industry, but one recent example was when we had a core backbone switch die. It died at the worst possible time - during a crunch production period - as they always seem to do, and I needed to get it back up and running quickly. I analyzed the logs and system status, and using my previous experience, I made some quick decisions that rectified the problem and got the equipment back up only minutes later.
Give Me a Specific Example of a Time When You Used Good Judgment and Logic in Solving a Problem
Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:11:51 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
I had a client come into the bank where I worked and request a $5, 000 personal loan to “pay off some bills.” In the customary review process, I determined that what was really needed was a $25, 000 debt-consolidation loan. Rather than giving the customer a “quick-fix” to the problem, I logically solved the problem in a way that was in the best interest of both the bank and the client.
Describe an Instance When You Had to Think on Your Feet to Extricate Yourself from a Difficult Situation
Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:16:40 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
When I was a resident assistant at my college, a student I did not know asked me if he could use my phone to call another room. Although I did not know the student, I allowed him into my room. He used the phone and in the course of his conversation, he stated that he had just come from a fraternity party and was high from taking some drugs. After this conversation, I had to enforce the student conduct code by writing him up. He became very hostile toward me and would not give me any identification or information. I stood in the doorway to prevent him from leaving. I noted the serial numbers on his keys, so when the situation got to the point where I felt unsafe, I allowed him to leave. I still performed my job without jeopardizing my or his physical welfare.
Describe a Situation in Which You Used Persuasion to Successfully Convince Someone to See Things Your Way
Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:30:51 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
Recently my company asked for bids on a phone system for our new training center. Two companies came in very close with their bids, and most of my department wanted to go with a vendor that we have used in the past. After I looked over the proposals, it was clear that this was the wrong decision. So, I talked individually with each member of our staff and changed their minds. We got the best product, saved money, and provided the highest quality.
Describe the Most Complex Project You've Been Involved With
Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:03:49 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
When I was working as a data-entry examiner in claims, I was asked to participate on a team to help create a manual to document the process for data entry of claims. At the time, documents and training material were scattered across several resource files, but nothing straightforward, simple, and comprehensive had been designed for the insurance company’s largest client, the state of Nevada. From the start, I knew this would be a complex project because when we began mapping the decision trees and process, the map grew exponentially, and we found ourselves overwhelmed by the amount of research needed. To handle the project, I broke it down into four main categories and assigned them to individuals to research. I also selected one person to be the master editor and to keep us motivated and on track. I set deadlines so we could pace ourselves over the next few weeks to produce a value-added deliverable. We also rotated the work assignments when completed so we could check each other’s work for consistency and hammer out any policy differences and interpretations as they came up. In the end, we finished the 200+ page manual in about three months. All of us were extremely proud of the document we created. If I could do one thing over again, I would have probably have made the manual a Web-based document so it could be searched and browsed.
I had to give a marketing presentation while attending community college. The project was about Anheuser-Busch. We were assigned to report on key management personnel (CEO, Chairman of the Board, President, key VPs), divisions and subsidiaries, major products/brands/services, key financials for the most recent year (sales revenue, expenses, total income, net income, sales growth or loss for the last year), market share, key competitors, mission statement, product positioning, and number of employees. The steps I took included visiting the company’s Miami branch to interview employees and gather visual aids for the project. I spent considerable time organizing and writing the presentation. Then I spent time reviewing my speech over a period of several days. As a result I was calm while giving the presentation and earned an A for the project. The one additional step I perhaps wish I’d taken would have been to talk to some consumers and storeowners about the product.
My senior research was my most complex assignment. It took two semesters to complete and was made up of many components including gathering significant amounts of primary and secondary research. I had to make many critical decisions along the way that would affect the outcome of my research. I made these decisions independently with minimal influence from my professor. I was very successful and happy with my final product, an 80-page comprehensive report.
Can You Give Me an Example of Your Team-Leadership Skills?
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:43:47 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
Can you give me an example of your team-leadership skills?
Designing the staffing plan for my company is an excellent example of my team-leadership skills. I needed the input of corporate leadership and front-line employees to design a model aligned with the company goals and culture. I’m very proud of this project because I brought front-line workers into the brainstorming process when the initial discussion with department heads suggested this would never happen. I met initially with the executive committee for input and to learn their key priorities, then met several times individually with each department head to discuss the process and what would best serve their departments. I routed preliminary and final drafts through the executive committee and led consultation through several other committees. Before the deadline, I submitted an excellent plan that is consistent with the company’s needs and culture. The plan contributed to an inclusive environment, as demonstrated by the fact that front-line employees have become more involved in decision-making, and morale is at an all-time high.
As a store manager, I had to convince 150 associates during a meeting that to get a bonus, they would have to improve their safety record. Over the next six weeks, we talked about this issue daily, and I communicated my expectation with my management team. After the six-week period, our accident reduction was more than 100 percent, which solidified the associates’ bonuses of several hundred dollars each.
How Have You Used Communication Skills to Manage Employees?
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:31:53 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
I inherited a long-term poor performing sales rep who would not follow through on the plan of action we discussed during our field ride-along. He was also a poor listener who would always try to turn situations around and blame others for his failures. I found that communicating with him in writing left the ball in his court, and he could refer back to my written communications when needed. Putting things in writing also left a paper trail to show the rep’s progress. The experience taught me that you have to treat each rep individually and find out the best way to communicate with each.
I had a very difficult employee who constantly challenged my authority. I took the time to understand this employee in meetings, as well as by gathering information from clients and coworkers. I conducted regular meetings with her and brought to her attention some of her greatest strengths and my expectations. I opened the lines of communication with this employee and found that her greatest strength was to help people. I accepted her for her uniqueness and constantly praised her for her great accomplishments. I brought to her attention areas she needed to improve. In the end, it’s a great success story. She has earned my trust, and I trust her ability to represent the organization in a very professional manner. She now takes the lead in team meetings and helps others see their full potential. She is now one of our best team players.
Tell Me About a Situation that Tested your Coping Skills
Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:38:44 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
Two years ago, my brother committed suicide. I am a call-center representative, and people call with all sorts of problems that seemed very trivial to me in the state of mind I was in after my brother’s death. It was very hard to separate my pain and sadness from my professional life. I would mentally prep myself each day knowing that the people I was talking to did not know what happened. I had to detach myself so I could provide excellent customer service. I sought out special projects to complete for my manager until I was ready to return to the high pressures of my demanding job.
Arriving at the language school I was attending in Costa Rica in the middle of the night with very minimal Spanish-language skills, I found my way to a very small town with no street addresses or names and found my temporary residence. I was scared, but I handled the situation very well, very calmly. In very stressful situations, I am always the one in the group to stay calm and focused. My friends, family, and professors have always said that I am an oasis of calm in a storm.
Describe a Time When You Stood Your Ground for a Principle you Believed In
Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:40:17 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
When I was a bureau chief and reporter, my editor wanted an in-depth interview with the family of a young girl who’d fallen through the ice at a nearby lake and was in a coma with brain damage. We clashed on the morality and sensitivity of doing such a story for the sake of headlines, and I ultimately convinced the editor that shining a spotlight on a family so obviously grief-stricken was not a good course of action. We held the stories until after the girl recovered and was no longer in critical condition.
Tell me About a Time You Went Above and Beyond to Get a Job Done
Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:10:46 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
We had to lay people off a couple years ago, and the vice president asked me for my recommendations while I was out on vacation. Because I had been meeting regularly with the directors and had been leading a workforce planning effort, I had very clear data from them regarding those areas where reductions could be made with the least disruptions to key services. I took the time during my vacation to share that data with the VP. The result was that the decisions were made in a timely way and the impact on services was minimal.
Although I had already punched out, I stayed behind to help a colleague solve a problem. A customer was very angry, as he had waited a long time for his coffee. My colleague was new, and she was quite slow. I came out and explained things to the customer. Although he was very angry at first, I just listened to him and told him that we try to bring our best out to each customer who walks in to our store. After a one-hour discussion, he left with a happy face and was satisfied.
While working at a large retailer, I was one of three people to work in the electronics department. One day upon arriving at work, I was told the district manager was coming the next day to do a store inspection. The two other people who worked in electronics were both over 55. Neither could lift heavy objects, and one refused to work at all. As a result, the electronics department was usually left to me to keep in order and stocked with product. I had about five hours of work time to get the entire department in order. After the five hours passed, there was still a substantial amount of work to be done. I asked the store manager if I could stay and work after hours while the overnight stockers were there. He said that because of the employment budget, he could not let me. So I was faced with bringing the entire store’s rating down or not getting paid. I worked without pay, and three hours later, the department was in tip-top shape. The electronics department got a score of 95 out of 100.
I don’t believe in trying to get by with the least possible effort, and I am always willing to go beyond the call of duty to perform an assignment successfully. My anthropology class was given a group project in which each group had to teach a topic to the class for 50 minutes. I was a freshman and everyone in my group was either juniors or seniors, so I was very nervous and felt that I needed to prove myself. My topic was Botswana. I went online for hours, as well as to the library trying to find as much info as possible, but there just wasn’t enough to fill a 50-minute presentation. Instead of working with the little material that I had, I continued to search in other libraries. I ended up writing a very good paper. In addition, I taught myself how to use PowerPoint, and came up with a substantial slide show. I met with my group, and they were amazed at the work I had done. My team earned an A for the project.
Tell me About a Time you Had to Sell or Persuade Someone on an Idea of Yours
Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:31:43 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
The business team had a very tight deadline for getting FDA approval for a line extension of a newly marketed pharmaceutical product. The team wanted to do something very quickly, focusing only on efficacy and safety and not including any outcomes. I convinced the team to include some outcomes related to convenience, satisfaction, and sleep quality. I had to convince them that this information was critical for us to gain market access, especially related to managed-care formularies. The FDA approved the line extension.
Annually, a year-end tournament capped off lessons at my tennis club. However, students had started losing interest in the tournament. Three years ago, I figured out a way to motivate the kids to play in the tournament by making it much more age-friendly. I suggested to the head coach that we all pitch in to buy prizes for the students and trophies for the winners and have other games and exercises going on while the tournament took place. The result was a 40 percent increase in participants and a significant increase in the crowds of family and friends that came out to watch.
In one of my marketing classes, we had to read case studies of problematic business scenarios, evaluate them, and tell what changes we would make in the way the company was managed. The cases were very confusing, and students had a hard time separating issues. I went to my professor to suggest role-playing the characters in the cases and proceed as if it were real life - to give students a better understanding. At first she snubbed my idea and thought that students would not take it seriously. However, I was very persistent. I told her that since I am a very visual learner and knew that it would help me, I therefore felt the approach could make a difference in the class. She still refused. I then asked her to give me just one case to try my idea. I said that I would take one of the roles, and a volunteer could take another. I said that if the idea failed, I would never mention it again. She gave me my chance, and it worked! My idea grabbed the attention of the class. Instead of reading the boring cases and going around the room sharing our thoughts, I got the class involved and excited about the material that we were learning.
As an account executive, I persuade potential advertisers all the time. But I specifically remember persuading the owner of a tanning salon to advertise in the middle of the winter after he had already declined at the beginning. I used my personal experience as a sorority member to explain to him that winter is the best time to advertise tanning salons because sororities have formals, and members want to look tan in their dresses. He knew sororities were a huge part of his business and agreed to advertise for the rest of the school year as long as I kept him up to date on good times to run specials for sororities.
I was the leader of my macroeconomics group in college. As leader, I had to delegate parts of the assignment to other group members. Not only did I do a written section for each paper, but I also gathered all of the props we needed for our oral presentation, and I typed all of the five papers assigned. I was also taking four other classes at the time. By the fourth paper, I decided to persuade some of the other group members to edit and finalize it. I learned a lot about delegation and leadership when I discovered that they were happy to help out.
Tell Me About a Time When You Made the Best of a Negative Situation
Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:03:25 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
During my first spring break as a college student, I was helping one of my friends from high school move to a new place. While I was there for the weekend, I did something that was extremely irresponsible. I received a ticket for racing. I had never before gotten into any major trouble. My drive home to tell my parents what I had done was the longest drive I have ever had to make. After explaining to them what happened and being ordered to perform 250 hours of community service by the court, I felt like burying myself. I did not want to see the light of day. However, instead of feeling down and out, I was determined to repay my debt to the community and rebuild my reputation. For the entire summer, I worked outside in the heat throwing away furniture and odds and ends at a thrift store for six to seven hours a day, six days a week. I not only repaid my debt, but I also lost 45 pounds while working in the heat and working out at the YMCA every day during the summer. Thanks to this experience, I improved myself mentally and physically.
When I was in the third grade my mother decided to start up her own restaurant and bar. The business took up a lot of her time. She would go into work at 8 a.m. and then come home around 2 a.m. the next morning. When my father was transferred to another city, my mother decided to stay behind and take care of the business. The only way my brother and I got to see at least one parent for a significant amount of time was go to the restaurant for periods of time during the day. The business became our second home. Some nights we would sleep in the office until 2 a.m., and some days we would sit in the office all day and help our mother with office work. Some days one of her waitresses, cooks, or bus boys would pick us up from school, and we’d and go stay with our mother for a couple of hours and then be sent home when the dinner rush came. We would go to the bar on Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. after a busy Friday night and help the cleaning crew sweep the beer-soaked peanut shells off the floor. I never thought it was weird or wrong that we spent so much of young lives in a bar. It was a place to see my mother. I learned things about the restaurant business that not many other children get to learn at such an early age. Not even some adults have learned as much as I have much about the restaurant business. I watched and learned from my mother, and I feel today that those years of observation have made me who I am in the workplace. I learned that you have to be nice to people. Even though I rarely saw either of my parents for three years, that absence has forced me to realize that you are not always going to have mommy and daddy take care of you, and eventually you have to be self-sufficient and not depend on anyone because they are not always going to there.
I was in my 10th-grade year in high school when I began getting into a lot of trouble both at home and at school. I was becoming a disruption in my classes, and my grades began to fall dramatically. My parents were worried about me, and so was I. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life. With about three weeks left to go in the year, I was expelled from school. I was sent to an “alternative school, ” which did not provide any classes to actually further my education, so I stopped going. My parents began to home-school me, and during the summer of my 10th-grade year, I began taking college classes. I realized that high school was not for me, and at the beginning of the next year, I enrolled full-time in community college. I learned at this point that it takes hard work, dedication, and determination to succeed. Over the next year and a half, I earned my associate’s degree at just 17. From there I transferred to a four-year university, where the same values paid off.
Give Me an Example of a Time You Had to Rise to the Occasion and Take on New Responsibilities
Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:10:37 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
Two summers ago my father, who was the backbone of my family, had a massive stroke and was left partially paralyzed. This happened just a few short months before I was supposed to start attending college, and at the time I didn’t know if I ever would go to school. My dad put me in charge of his online business, which I had known very little about. I turned into the sole provider for my family overnight. I spent my days on the computer by my father’s hospital bed, very thankful that I could work and still stay by his side. My father kept getting better and better and eventually went back to work for himself. In a very short time, I realized that taking care of your family is the most important thing you can do, and to do so, you need to work hard and succeed so that you can provide them with everything they need.
Tell me About a Time You Came Up with an Innovative Solution to a Problem
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:45:01 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
During the Y2K project I led in 1999, our area had a power outage at approximately 10:40 p.m. New Year’s Eve that threatened to shut down our systems at the midnight hour - which was abjectly critical for Y2K. I instructed our lead technician to pull the battery backups from the cafeteria refrigerators for use in our server room, which at the time did not have an individual backup power system. The power outage lasted until nearly 3 a.m., but our use of the battery backups saved 100 percent of our rolled data. Although using the backups caused all dairy products in the refrigerators to spoil, the cost of restocking the dairy products was later determined to be less than 2 percent of the projected customer data loss to the business had we not used my solution.
The trucks at the retail store at which I worked as an assistant manager came loaded by personnel at a distribution center, box-by-box. After receiving a few trucks, I noticed that my employees were unloading broken merchandise that took a lot of time to clean up before the rest of the truck could be finished. The broken glass, paint, or whatever material it was prevented the employees from proceeding farther into the truck, causing more person-hours than normal. I noticed that the merchandise was broken because heavier boxes were on top of lighter boxes. After a couple of days of this situation, with productivity decreasing, I learned that the rest of the stores in my district faced the same problem. As a result, I asked each store to take pictures of the mess so the distribution centers could see exactly what was happening. I also asked each one to write down how many additional person-hours it took to clean up the mess. After we gathered this information for a four-week period, we had a pretty a good estimate of how much the company was losing - approximately $9.50 per person-hour, an average of $125 per store times 15 stores times 30 nights a month, amounting to a substantial sum. I took the information to my district manager. Once he realized how much money his district was losing each month because of broken merchandise in the trucks, he contacted his regional manager, and the trucks after that were loaded more carefully. The district made our Profit and Loss the next month by a 9 percent increase.
My older brother is deaf. Growing up, his deafness made our relationship very challenging and complicated. It goes without saying that siblings should be able to communicate on a certain level. During my childhood I had to overcome obstacles that other kids didn’t. In addition to emotional struggles of coping with having a deaf brother, I had to find a new form of communication to break this language barrier. While the rest of my family used a new form of deaf communication called cued speech, my brother and I solely communicated by reading each other’s lips and talking with no voice. While I was given obvious options for how to solve the communication problem, I decided to choose something completely different and unique, something that my brother to this day still appreciates and finds exciting. Not only has this approach brought my brother and me closer, the experience and the way my brother and I now interact has shown how I overcame this adversity and broke the social norms of the deaf community. My brother is a very independent and driven person; however, to this day I have been able to sustain good communication with him.
When I hosted a radio talk show, I prepared material for an interview with a state senate candidate only to find out when he arrived that he would not discuss any issues in my prepared material. I literally had to conduct an hour-long one-on-one interview using only the knowledge I had off the top of my head. Knowing I couldn’t carry an entire show with little material to work from, I broke format 10 minutes into the broadcast and turned the show into a live call-in and built upon questions from those posed by listeners. The subject, who went on to become a state senator, thoroughly enjoyed the hour, gave me special considerations for coverage later in the campaign and granted me primary access for his first in-seat interview.
Give Me an Example of How You've Demonstrated Persistence
Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:26:13 +0000The remainder of this chapter contains typical interview questions, both behavioral and traditional, and sample story-based responses to them. Note that many of these stories contain emotional content to draw the interviewer in and help him or her identify with the interviewee.
I volunteer for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. I was very eager to meet first my “little sister, ” but nothing prepared me for what I would be up against. Libby was a 10-year-old second grader whom I had to teach to read. When I met her, she seemed very nice, but she turned out to be one tough customer. Libby really didn’t like to read and would try any way possible to avoid it. During our first couple of meetings, I let her pick out the books that we would read. I didn’t notice that Libby was fooling me. It took until the third week of our meetings for me to finally notice that she had memorized the books that we were “reading.” I was shocked but quickly decided that I would pick out the books during our meetings. Week after week, I would visit her, and she would think up a way to get out of reading. During our hour-long meetings, we would read and play a game. I was determined to help her learn how to read, no matter what this crafty second grader could think up. It took weeks of long games, finding deeply buried toys in the playground sand, and searches for her “missing” book bag, before she gave up. Finally, we picked up the books again, just as we had all those weeks before. This time when she scanned the pages, she was amazed to find that she could read.
I was 14 when I first started to work as a trail guide and trainer at a ranch. I have loved horses my entire life and could not have imagined a better job. When I first started working at the ranch, I had basic riding skills and training techniques, but every day I would put 100 percent into learning how to becoming a better rider and trainer. At 16, I had been working at the ranch for two summers and was given my first horse to personally train. Training a horse can be extremely difficult and potentially a very dangerous process. This big, beautiful two-year-old quarter horse was all my responsibility. Every day I worked with her, starting by teaching her to walk, stop, go, and turn on a lead line. This process was grueling because it takes time and a lot of patience. After a few weeks of ground training, she seemed ready for a saddle and rider, but she would buck, spin, and jump to try and throw me off. Day in and day out, I worked with her, and every time I would get bucked off, I would pick myself up, no matter how hard it hurt, and get back on her. She taught me persistence and patience, and I learned a lot more about myself through this experience. It took three months for her to become a perfectly behaved, wonderful riding horse. I had bruises, scars, and near-death experiences, but this experience has changed my life forever. What I learned in training this horse has carried on into every aspect of my life.
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