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taSk-BaSed	QueStionS		examPLe	inteRview	anSweRS              interviewer:	Can	you	give	me	an	example	of	a	time	when	
                                                             you	had	to	overcome	significant	obstacles	in	order	to	
                                                             achieve	a	result	or	deliver	something?

                                                        7 Poor answer:

                                                            “I suppose the best example I can think of is when we had to merge the

                                                                 Bradford and Leeds offices. We had about 30 people in each office – I was
                                                                 managing Leeds – and I was asked to bring the Leeds people over and
                                                                 combine the two sales departments. As you can imagine, there was a lot of
                                                                 resistance but I persevered and managed to get it all done within 3 months.
                                                                 People don’t like change so it was never going to be easy; the main thing is
                                                                 to be crystal clear right from the start so people know what to expect. I spent
                                                                 a week in the Bradford office explaining the situation – there was a lot of
                                                                 resistance, especially from the sales managers but some straight talking drove

                                                            the change through in the end.”

                                                                 What’s wrong with this answer?

                                                                 You have probably noted that the basics of CaR are present but there just
                                                                 isn’t enough information about the obstacles or what was done to overcome
                                                                 them. There are also some sweeping generalisations in the answer – ‘people
                                                                 don’t like change’ – and these are best avoided, since they may contradict the
                                                                 organisation’s competencies or the interviewer’s preferences!

                                                                 Let’s follow this question through with some probes.

                                                             interviewer:	So	what	were	the	key	obstacles?

                                                        7 Poor answer:

                                                            “Well it was the fact that the sales managers didn’t want to change their
                                                            territories, they were very possessive about them.”

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