Page 112 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

interviewer: describe an occasion when you have initiated thought-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS
significant change in the workplace for the benefit of the
organisation.

7 Poor answer:

“The most recent example would be changes to our pay and remuneration

system. It had not been looked at for a number of years, so it was about time
that it had an overhaul. I asked HR to carry out a benchmarking exercise
for me so that we could get a sense of how we were remunerating our
staff compared to our competitors. The analysis showed that many of our
competitors were paying more, so obviously we needed to keep up with them. I
therefore recommended that we find ways of equalising our pay to the current
market conditions. When we evaluated this in our next staff survey we found
that staff satisfaction and engagement had increased from the previous year,

so it seems to have worked.”

This is not at all a strong answer. On the surface, decisions and actions seem
to be data driven and the results seem to have benefitted the business. The
problem, though, is that the thinking is not joined up and the conclusions
drawn do not follow from the original premise. The interviewee has not been
able to provide an example of a clear antecedent, action and outcome.
Changing salaries as a result of a benchmarking exercise is fine, but the
increased engagement cannot be linked to this. An interviewer will be looking
for clear, rational and data driven decision making, together with an evaluation
and outcomes that make sense in the whole context.

3 Better answer:

“The most recent example that I can think of is in our pay and remuneration

process. We conduct an annual staff survey and I had noticed a trend in the
feedback with regard to how people perceived remuneration in the business.
This was a tricky one, as people didn’t openly discuss it, but the survey
indicated that there was a general sense of inequity and a bit of a ‘black box’
approach to it. It obviously needed addressing, and at one of the senior team
meetings I raised this and volunteered to look into it. It was outside of my
area as I’m not HR, but I recognised that as someone that was dealing with
the commercial realities of the business on a daily basis I could work with the

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