Page 71 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

taSk-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS Graduate/trainee management level

At graduate level it is all the more important to have thought through the
examples you are planning to use – most obviously because you may not
have a wealth of work-based examples that you can call on. Interviewers will
be realistic in their expectation in this regard, so don’t be put off. It will help,
however, if you can make your examples as concrete as possible and, ideally,
related to something that they, in turn, can relate to the job. For instance, using
an example of how you planned your work study and revision would not be as
strong as using an example of how you planned a meeting or an event.

Remember what the interviewer is looking for; they want to see signs that you
can organise yourself to deliver, that you think through the steps and stages
needed to accomplish something, that you met deadlines and/or achieved a
successful result. If you only have limited work experience to call on, try to
choose examples that involve some or all of these elements. Examples that we
have seen used successfully include:

n the organisation of a visit or field trip
n contributing to running a one day conference
n plans or processes you have used to ensure that you met a deadline
n planning and organising a holiday
n your approach to delivering results in a part time or vacation job.

Here come the examples.

interviewer: Can you tell me about a situation where you
had to organise something in detail?

7 Poor answer:

“Yes, well, when I was working in the supermarket over Christmas I redid the

Saturday work roster because so many people were off sick; I had a chat with
all the Saturday team and we agreed that something had to be done because
we were all working too much overtime. It had got to the point that one more
person going sick would have meant that we were seriously understaffed, we

wouldn’t be able to restock shelves or even fully staff all the tills.”

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