Page 82 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

interviewer: So what did you actually do? taSk-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS

7 Poor answer:

“I talked to them and I compromised; a bit of shuffling of territories meant that
they ended up with about the same revenue potential as they had had before.”

This is starting to feel a bit like getting blood from a stone. Remember that this
is a task-based question; the interviewer wants to know the person’s approach
to overcoming obstacles. The answers so far do not suggest a systematic
approach to meeting these challenges; for example, ‘a bit of shuffling of
territories’ sounds far too offhand. Now this may just be the interviewee’s
shorthand for a rigorous process of analysis and reallocation, but you can’t tell
that from the answer. Think what the interviewer is looking for in asking this
question – it probably includes:

n Does this person persist when the going gets tough?
n Can this person use alternative methods if plan A is not working?
n Does this person have a structured approach to implementation?
n Did the person have a clear objective in mind?
n How did they ensure that things were happening to time and to budget?

None of these is adequately dealt with in the answers so far, and the
interviewer is going to have to do a lot more probing to get to the facts. The
answers below come much closer to dealing with the question well.

3 Better 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. The first thing I did was set a ‘go live’ date
by which the merger had to be completed. I set out a time line – 2 months –
and developed a project plan so that nothing would be missed – there was a
surprising amount of detail to consider, everything from terminating leases to
transferring customer contact numbers. The second thing I did was to spend
a week in the Bradford office to clearly communicate the change and its
implications. I had one-to-one meetings with all the sales managers, explaining

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