Page 99 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

thought-BaSed QueStionS examPLe inteRview anSweRS The response could have been better still, there could have been a little
more detail on how the decision was actually made, ie how the data was
used and what the pros and cons of the options were. For example, the
downside of running the shift with just one person less was that not only
that it did not comply with the established guidelines, it meant that if there
were an emergency this could not be adequately dealt with. The downside of
simply swapping people around was that it created problems with childcare
arrangements for one person, and so the issue would not have been solved.

interviewer: give me an example of a time where you
improved something.

7 Poor answer:

“As part of my role in the graduate recruitment team, I have responsibility for

planning the campaign every year. This was a new responsibility that I had
picked up, and I had heard many people complain that the campaigns were
not very good. I therefore took it upon myself to improve them. So, I took the
plans from last year and made some improvements, such as bringing the
whole thing forward by two weeks, changing the booking system as well as the
data capture. Overall, the whole thing worked better as a result.

There is not much evidence of CAR here. We do know a little about the
circumstance, and we have a very vague outline of the result in that overall
the whole thing worked better. What this answer really lacks, though, is a
clear explanation of the actions that were taken - we have no sense of the

interviewees thinking.”

3 Better answer:

“I was given then responsibility of managing our graduate recruitment

campaign. Having heard from line managers in previous years that they
did not think the process was as slick as it could be, I decided that as part
of managing the process, I would try to introduce some improvements.
Specifically, the two key complaints were that the booking system for assessors
was “very messy” and that it took us too long to get back to applicants with a
decision – this meant that some good candidates were lost as they took offers
elsewhere. I therefore focused on improving these two aspects. With regards

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