Page 86 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

interviewer: So what was the outcome? taSk-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS

3 Better answer:

“Their first reaction was to ask for a bigger training budget, but finances just

didn’t allow this so I asked them to think again. The eventual solution was to
improve the recruitment process – we changed to a recruitment agency rather
than doing it in-house and this actually ended up saving us money. Better
recruits and a better system for supervising them in the first 3 months made a

significant difference.”

interviewer: how much difference?

3 Better answer:

“Waiting times are now down to below our competitors’ average and the last

customer survey showed that we had edged up two full points in terms of
customer satisfaction. It was too easy to forget that the call handler was our
key contact with the customer, a fall in quality here could affect the whole
business; it’s too easy to think of it as an administrative activity rather than
something that adds real value to the business. My job was to recognise this

and get the right people to do something about it.”

This sequence of q and A shows a much fuller and wide-reaching approach
to quality. The reference is to a companywide issue, there is emphasis on
taking action, it is clear what was done and the outcome is clearly described.
The interviewee has also taken the opportunity to show business-wide
consideration of this issue. The interviewer is likely to be convinced that here
is a person who recognises a delivery problem and knows how to take the right
action to fix it. At senior level, task focus is usually about initiating and not just
about personal execution, and this answer demonstrates this well.

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