Page 81 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

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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