Page 44 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

Having the model in your head, you can shape your answers more effectively. PRePaRing FoR the inteRview
Holding on to three ideas – task, thought, people – is a lot easier than trying
to memorise and then reference a whole competency framework in ‘real time’!
The model lets you quickly identify that ‘this is a task question’ and pinpoint
the key aspects of your style that you want to put across in your answer.

Take the following example:

‘Can you tell us about a time when you had to plan something in detail; how
did you go about it?’

This is a ‘task’ question; it is about operational delivery and the competency
being explored is ‘planning to achieve results’, so your answer should play to
this expectation, as follows:

“OK, well a recent example is my coordination of the Birmingham exhibition:

when I’m planning I like to make sure that all factors are considered, so I drew
up a detailed checklist which I then turned into a project plan. It contained
all the key dependencies and resources mapped against the time line. The
deadline was quite tight so I did daily checking to make sure that the exhibition
design team, the sales team and the venue team were all talking to each other

and that they were all operating to the same plan.”

The emphasis in the answer is on the implementation steps taken – the tasks
that were performed (I considered all factors; I drew up a checklist; I turned it
into a project plan; I checked daily) – so that the questioner is reassured about
your approach to planning.

Holding on to three ideas – task, thought, people
– is a lot easier than trying to memorise and then
reference a whole competency framework in ‘real
time’!

Suppose that you had given the following answer to the same question, this
time giving a people-based answer:

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