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3 Better answer: thought-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS

“As a business, we are over 20 years old, and in that time have developed a

really good reputation in the market place, to the extent that we did not have
to actively market ourselves. In the recession of 2000, things did slow down a
bit but we were still able to meet our targets. When the recession hit in 2008
though, I recognised that we needed to change the way we go to market. It
was clear from what was happening in the markets that this recession was
going to be much deeper and longer. All the reports were pointing to the fact
that a wider sector of industry was going to be affected and it was unlikely that
we would escape unharmed. It was obvious that we could not afford to rely
on our reputation alone. A rethink of our strategy was therefore needed, so
this is what I suggested to the board. I supported this recommendations with
some “what if” analyses that showed potential recommendations of not doing
anything. These indicated that we would be able to maintain our position for
approximately 2 months, but that after that, sales volume would shrink and
costs would increase owing to the weakness of sterling to such an extent that
we would need to try to look to drastic ways of managing our costs – potentially

even redundancies.”

Why is this response stronger? Action was proactive as well as showing
learning from the experience of the previous recession. The respondent
also provided evidence of some analysis that was carried out to support the
recommendation that made.

In terms of CAR, we have evidence for C and A. It is too soon to have any
results, but the answer could have been strengthened by providing information
on the indicators that would be looked at to evaluate the outcome in the
strategy change.

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