Page 138 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

3 Better answer: PeoPLe-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS

“I’m really lucky in my current finance team, they’re motivated and there

are no real weak links. They’re all very different characters but they can all
be relied on to deliver high quality work. I split my weekly meetings into two
sections. First there is a progress and issues review where we all keep track
of the current workload and look ahead to see what workload is coming.
Second, I try to give at least half an hour to an ‘open agenda’ session where
people can raise ideas or concerns. My broad approach to management is to
make sure that the team are clear about their objectives and then to support
them – keeping them on track when necessary – but generally I prefer a ‘light
touch’ when possible. Clearly, if the pressure is on or if there is a problem I will
intervene – pretty quickly, usually – because it doesn’t help the team or me if
we deliver late. The feedback we get is that we are the most efficient finance

team in the business, so the approach seems to work.”

This answer covers the ground in terms of CaR.

n Circumstances: a good team, different characters, but a need to manage
them.

n action: two activities are described – ‘first’, ‘second’.
n Result: ‘the feedback we get is that we are the most efficient finance

team …’

There are still improvements that could be made, however (think back to our
comments on earlier examples), to make this answer richer still.

n Describing what has been done to develop the team will give the
interviewer insight into management style.

n An illustration of management style would be good, dropping in a ‘for
instance’ to make the general comments more concrete.

n The interviewer asks for an example of a management meeting – picking
a good example of such a meeting and describing it would answer the
question.

n Naming and describing – briefly – some of the individuals in the team to
make the answer more personal.

n Giving an example of ‘intervening’ would enable the interviewer to hear
what the interviewee did and why.

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