Page 104 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

were very amenable to this, and this is what we now do. The outcome is that thought-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS
we are now able to deliver all reports to them in a timely fashion even when
they miss deadlines, and rather than having three people work on this we now
do it with only two. This allows us to alternate between the three of us who

does this on a monthly basis, and has provided more variety of work for us.”

Not only does this response provide evidence of the interviewee making
suggestions for changes, it also demonstrates them putting themselves in the
shoes of another business area, a willingness to consult with and involve others
and recognition of the commercial implications of their thinking. Whilst these
areas might not be the ones being assessed by the interviewer in this question,
the response provides additional information that either the interviewer or
the interviewee can come to in other questions. In terms of CaR, the answer
provides the following:

n Circumstances: preparation of financial reports in a bank where the team
was overworked and producing duplicate reports.

n action: suggestions for change to reports, and consultation with internal
clients in order to achieve this.

n Result: development of a simplified report format that still met the needs of
all parties while reducing the workload for the finance team.

USING AN ExAMPLE MORE
THAN ONCE

Whilst an interview question is designed to elicit information about a
specific competency, most work activities actually involve more than
one competency. You’ll therefore find it impossible to restrict your
answer to only that competency. You do need to emphasise the relevant
competency, but you can also come back to the same example and use it
differently. A word of warning, though – don’t use the same example more
than twice. The danger is that you will not demonstrate sufficient breadth
of experience.

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