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126 COMPETENCY-BASED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Situation: I negotiated the acquisition of The Summit, a failing com-

pany, from private equity investors.

Action: As part of the process, I drafted the new business plan, led in-

vestor presentations, and negotiated equity financing from an investment firm.

Result: Within a year, I returned the company to profitability and pos-

itive cash flow.

Question 108. Give an example of a situation in which you discovered

a flaw in operations. What did you do about it?

Situation: After reviewing recent purchases, I noticed that all the spe-

cial orders were acquired through a preferred vendor, even when another ven-
dor sold the same make and model at half the cost.

Action: I spoke to members of the purchasing department to deter-

mine their reasoning behind such purchases. It came to my attention that the
head of purchasing had mandated that all special orders be acquired
through a specific vendor. I changed the policy to reflect policies that made
sense to the department’s bottom line.

Result: Purchasing costs significantly decreased, as happens with

competitive bidding.

Question 109. Recall a time when your performance on the job led to

greater responsibility.

Situation: As an office manager, I was successful in targeting ineffi-

ciencies that negatively impacted the bottom line. Based on the results my ef-
forts garnered, management assigned me to a special project that entailed
reengineering processes regionally.

Action: In each office, I retrained the low producers on various com-

petencies, including customer service, sales, and account management.

Result: All divisions enjoyed an increase in profits and customer

satisfaction.

Question 110. Describe a time when you did not know a problem ex-

isted until it was brought to your attention.

Obstacle: At Colby’s Place, we had dedicated volunteers who visited

AIDS/HIV patients. Unfortunately, we received many complaints from the vol-

American Management Association
www.amanet.org