Page 74 - How To Answer Interview Questions (II)

Job Interview Question 34

How will you identify problems
and opportunities on the job?

This is a great question that allows you to vividly demonstrate your creativity, critical thinking, and
problem-solving skills.

They want you to walk them through the process you use to identify top issues and opportunities
to move the company forward. You have several ways to address this question:

(1) You can answer by giving them an example of something you identified in the past
and what actions you took to either address it or take advantage of it, and what the
results were. This approach is something you can use if you have a strong, quantified
example of something that had a major impact on your company (such as an
innovative new marketing program, an efficiency-boosting scheduling change, or
something that significantly saved or made the company money).

Tell your story using a STAR format:

Situation or Task (Set up the story—what happened? What was your goal?)
Action (What did you choose to do and why?)
Result (What happened as a result of your actions? Quantify this wherever possible.)

80/20 Rule

A long, LONG time ago, an Italian economist named Pareto noticed that 80% of the wealth in Italy
was held by 20% of the people. Joseph Juran took Pareto's Principle and successfully applied it to

quality management--and the 80/20 Rule was born.