American Airlines - STAR Method Questions (Glassdoor)

Tell me about a time you encountered a policy change at work. How did you handle it?

When I encountered a policy change, I was a Receptionist for a Law Firm and had to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing when in the office. The Law Firm was a civil litigation firm representing healthcare providers and healthcare facilities - so we were never shut down during the pandemic. Being the first point of contact I had to make sure everyone who entered the building was being compliant with the new policy that was put in place. I had to take people's temperatures, write their names down in a log we were keeping, squirt hand sanitizer in their hands, and make sure their masks were on properly when walking around the office. If someone would get frustrated at the new policy I would apologize and explain to them and explain to them that it is for everyone's health and safety. As a result of the policy change, there were very few covid outbreaks in the office.

Describe a time when you had to follow company protocols even when it made some customers unhappy.

When I was a sales associate at a retail store a woman came in very upset, demanding a refund for a pair of shoes. The woman did not have a receipt and the shoes were not in their original condition and had clearly been worn (they looked dirty). I remained calm even when she was using profanities at me and explained to the women that without a receipt or order confirmation I was not able to complete an exchange or return. I then apologized for the inconvenience and continued to coolly explain to her that it was against store policy to give refunds or exchanges to shoes that 1. have already been worn/ not in their original condition 2. without a receipt or order confirmation. I then offer her to look at the sales rack since similar shoes to the ones she was trying to return are currently on sale and maybe she can find ones she likes in a more comfortable size. Thankfully, the woman was able to calm down and picked out a new pair of shoes for herself. I was able to stick to the store policy while also gaining sales out of the situation. My manager was very impressed at how I handled the situation that he awarded me sales associate of the month.

Tell me about a time you had to implement safety into your current or former work life.

A situation that I have encountered that required me to put safety first was when I worked as an Instructor of an afterschool daycare and an unknown individual was attempting to sign out (take home) one of the children. I approached the person and kindly asked who they were there for and I requested to see their ID. The individual was not on the child's emergency card and the parents did not call earlier to let us know someone we wouldn't recognize would be there to pick the kid up. The individual claimed to be an uncle and that the parents knew he would be there to get his nephew. I explained to him that for the safety of the child it is policy that we get verbal or written consent from a parent in order to release the child to him, especially since he is not on the emergency card. But that I would try to call the parents and get consent from them and inform them of what is going on. I then called the mom at work and thankfully she picked up and informed her of what was going on, she apologized and told me that she completely forgot to inform the daycare that her brother would be there to pick up her son. She was able to give me his name and phone number and told me that I could let the child go home with him and add her brother to the emergency card for future reference. During this incident, my supervisor happens to be visiting the daycare site and witness the situation go down. She complimented me for the way I handle it and was proud that I put the child's safety first. At our next meeting, she used the incident as an example of what to do when an unknown individual comes on campus and tries to sign out a child.

Tell us a time in your past employment where it was important to follow rules and regulations.

A situation that I have encountered where it was important to follow rules and regulations is when I worked as an Instructor of an afterschool daycare and an unknown individual was attempting to sign out (take home) one of the children. I approached the person and kindly asked who they were there for and I requested to see their ID. The individual was not on the child's emergency card and the parents did not call earlier to let us know someone we wouldn't recognize would be there to pick the kid up. The individual claimed to be an uncle and that the parents knew he would be there to get his nephew. I explained to him that for the safety of the child it is policy that we get verbal or written consent from a parent in order to release the child to him, especially since he is not on the emergency card. But that I would try to call the parents and get consent from them and inform them of what is going on. I then called the mom at work and thankfully she picked up and informed her of what was going on, she apologized and told me that she completely forgot to inform the daycare that her brother would be there to pick up her son. She was able to give me his name and phone number and told me that I could let the child go home with him and add her brother to the emergency card for future reference. During this incident, my supervisor happens to be visiting the daycare site and witness the situation go down. She complimented me for the way I handle it and was proud that I put the child's safety first. At our next meeting, she used the incident as an example of what to do when an unknown individual comes on campus and tries to sign out a child.

Tell me about a time you encountered a difficult co-worker.

A time I encountered a difficult coworker is in my current role as a Marketing Rep for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino when I had a coworker who would speak in a very patronizing tone to guests and coworkers. I did not like this at all and knew I had to address the behavior. I approached my coworker and asked if everything was okay, giving him the benefit of the doubt that maybe he is upset about something in his personal life and is letting it out on people at work. When he said everything is fine I began calmly and professionally telling him his actions are offending me. I told him he is not speaking kindly to others and it is not fair to customers, especially because they should be leaving the hotel/ casino feeling content and taken care of, not belittled. As a result, my coworker took the criticism well and was grateful I came directly to him to talk about things. He told me he is working on his patience and attitude and apologized for the way he has been coming off to coworkers and patrons.

Tell me about a time you faced a problem and how did you solve it/ Tell me about a time you faced a difficult question/ had to ask for assistance from another team member?

A time I faced a difficult situation was the other night in my current role as a Marketing Representative for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino when I had to deal with a Heckler during a standup comedy show. During the Chelsea Handler show, there was a woman who was being obnoxious to the point where the people around her looked uncomfortable and could not enjoy the show. I took it upon myself to approach her and calmly remind her to be courteous to others and to please keep comments to herself. She would scream obscenities at the comedian to the point the comedian said to her "The people here did not pay to hear you talk to me, seriously shut it". At this point, the next step to de-escalate the situation was to get security involved to escort her out of the show. The standup continued fine with no further interruptions. At the end of the night, my team and I were thanked for how well the situation was handled and that the comedian and her crew were very satisfied.

Tell us a time you needed to seek out the help of another person in your business.

A time I had to seek help from another person in my business is in my current role as a Marketing Rep for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino when a guest became very upset after losing money on a slot machine. I noticed the guest was intoxicated and screaming profanities. I immediately knew it was my responsibility to de-escalate the situation, a co-worker of mine and I tried to guide him away from the area of the machines so he did not cause more of a scene. When he refused and directed his profanities at us, I knew for our safety and for the safety of the guest we had to get security involved. We sought the help of the security guard and he stepped in a took care of the situation. As a result, security thanked us for grabbing them to deal with the issue, and that night from that point forward there was always a security guard near that machine to watch over any other possible incidents.

Tell us about a time where you were a good team player.

A time I was a good team player is when I was working for a law firm as a Receptionist and an attorney needed an exhibit binder delivered to a judge at the courthouse. Typically the firm would utilize a mail courier to deliver things like this but that day either the couriers were busy or would not be able to deliver the binder on time before the courthouse closed. I volunteered to drop the binder off myself, I was familiar with where the courthouse was and I know it was an important case for the attorney. I was able to turn the binder in on time and the attorney was very pleased that I could do this for him. As a result, my office administrator always thanked me and referred to me as the most reliable person.

Describe a time you went above and beyond to turn a negative experience into a positive one.

A time I went above and beyond to turn a negative experience into a positive one is in my current role as a Marketing Representative for the Hardrock Hotel and Casinos. It was during a comedy show when a guest in a wheelchair arrived and was having trouble finding his seat. I approached him and asked if he needed any assistance, he kindly took me up on my offer and I was able to locate the seats for him and his friend. He thanked me for being so kind and then told me he had asked for assistance prior and the person told him "sorry I don't know where ADA seating is located" and brushed him off. I knew I wanted to change the experience he was having right then and there. I apologized on behalf of the person who made him feel brushed off, I engaged in conversation with him, offered to take a picture of him and his friend for memories, and then before I walked away from them I told them where they could find the bathrooms and where they can buy beverages. I also checked on them to see if they needed anything before the show started. I went about my shift as normal, and at the end of the show, the man in the wheelchair found me thanked me again for the hospitality and kindness, and then tried to tip me. I had to kindly decline the tip because it was casino policy that we can not accept gifts from guests.

Tell me about another time you worked in a team.

A time I worked as a member of a team was when I worked as a Sales Associate at a Retail store. The store had to reach a sales goal by the end of the day so it was my duty to sell products and work with my coworkers to exceed the daily sales goal. In order to complete the sales goal my coworkers and I got together and divided the work by trying to sell different products. One Sales Associate would try selling clothes, another tried selling shoes, and another tried selling accessories. As a result of working as a team and having open communication my coworkers and I were able to collaborate effectively in order to reach the daily sales goal. We used this divide-and-conquer method many times and it worked so much that when we would get new hires my manager at the time would explain this system to them.

Tell me about a time you worked in a team.

A time I worked in a team was when I was a Receptionist at a Law Firm when my team and I had to organize medical records into binders. I worked for a civil litigation law firm that represented healthcare providers nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospitals, etc. so we were constantly dealing with medical records on this day we had an influx of records that needed to be put together for an important case. I worked closely with the nurse paralegal, file clerk, and mail clerk to get this done. The nurse paralegal would organize the medical records (put into date order and what each page was nursing notes, physicals, dietary etc.), I would then input the page numbers into the index page we had in our system, the file clerk when the print the index page out for the mail clerk to insert into the physical copies of the binder. It was a whole system we had in place but we were able to have open communication and work efficiently together. As a result of the system we had in place we were able to complete the binders on time and turned them into the attorney. The attorney was very pleased and thanked the team and I.

Recall a time a coworker or colleague went above and beyond helping a customer.

A time a coworker or college went above and beyond helping a customer is when I was working at a Law Firm and the Mail Clerk at the firm helped a client change her tire. The client had left and then came back up and asked me if I could call AAA or someone to change her tire since she had a spare in her trunk. As she was telling me this the Mail Clerk happen to be walking by and immediately jumped into action. JJ use to be a mechanic so he happens to have all the tools in his car. He was so kind and gentle with the woman and so willing to help her. I was in awe at how sweet the interaction was. And very impressed at his patience and thoughtfulness in the situation.

Tell us about a time your coworkers depended on you to complete a task.

A time my coworkers depended on me to complete a task is when I was working as a Receptionist at a Law Firm and it was my responsibility to sign in packages/records that we received from different facilities in order for the records process to move along. As the receptionist, I received packages and followed the firm's procedure on how to sign those packages in. If they were medical records it was my duty to fill out a "Tracking Sheet" with information about the date it was received, who sent the package, who the package is intended for, and I had to identify what case it was for. I also had to email the team to whom the case was assigned (attorney, secretary assistant, paralegal, and nurse paralegal). Once my task of signing in the records and informing the team was complete, the records were allowed to move through their cycle to the next person (IT so it can be scanned into our computer system). As a result, we had a smooth system and the team was able to work efficiently and able to meet deadlines.

Tell me about a time you accepted responsibility for a mistake you made.

A time when I accepted responsibility for a mistake I made was when I was a Sales Associate for a retail store and I accidentally put a shoe on display with the wrong price tag on it. I remember I was updating the prices of a few of the different shoes that were going on sale when a customer happened to walk in and put the price maker and shoes to the side. After helping the customer I went back to the label making the prices and putting the shoes out on the sales floor. I went about my day and when I went to organize the sales rack of shoes I noticed a pair of shoes that had $2.99 instead of $29.99 on the price tag. I immediately knew that I was the one who created the tags earlier and knew it was my mistake. I took full responsibility and went to fix my mistake right away, by correcting the price label and placing it on the shoe. From then on out I always double-checked my work and knew that I need to pay more attention to detail.

Tell me about a time you had to adapt to change in your work place.

A time when I had to adapt to a change at the work place was when I was an Instructor for an after-school daycare and I was assigned to work at a different school. My supervisor called me and notified me that a school on the other side of town was down an instructor and I would need to cover until further notice. I embraced the change by arriving at the new school early, introducing myself to the office administrators, and to the teachers who worked the after-school program. I then walked around to familiarized myself with the daycare and the school (where the playgrounds were, where the computer labs were, where the bathrooms were etc.). Last, I went through the roster of students to get an idea of how many kids would be in attendance. Once the kids arrived I introduced myself to them and to their parents whenever they came to pick their child up. I ended up staying at that school site for a couple of months. As a result of me changing schools so out of the blue and on a whim, my supervisor awarded me "most adaptable to change" award at the end of the school year.

Tell us about a time at work where you had to adapt to a change on a whim and how you did that.

A time when I had to adapt to a change on a whim was when I was an Instructor for an after-school daycare and I was assigned to work at a different school. My supervisor called me and notified me that a school on the other side of town was down an instructor and I would need to cover until further notice. I embraced the change by arriving at the new school early, introducing myself to the office administrators, and to the teachers who worked the after-school program. I then walked around to familiarized myself with the daycare and the school (where the playgrounds were, where the computer labs were, where the bathrooms were etc.). Last, I went through the roster of students to get an idea of how many kids would be in attendance. Once the kids arrived I introduced myself to them and to their parents whenever they came to pick their child up. I ended up staying at that school site for a couple of months. As a result of me changing schools so out of the blue and on a whim, my supervisor awarded me "most adaptable to change" award at the end of the school year.

Tell us about a time when you had to deal with a difficult situation, I want actions that you take.

A time when I had to handle a difficult situation was in my current role as a marketing representative at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino when there was a guest who was sitting in the wrong seat and they were refusing to get up. The Hard Rock was hosting a concert that night and there was a couple who informed me that someone is sitting in their seat they tried asking them to move but the person kept refusing and they needed assistance. I approached the customer who was in the wrong seat and asked if I could see his ticket, he was frustrated but was able to pull out his phone and show his ticket to me. As suspected he was in the wrong section and his seat was on the other side of the venue. I first apologized for the confusion and then informed him that he is in the right seat and row number but not in the right section. He was seated in section 201 and not section 202 as his ticket says. I was able to walk him over to the correct section. Turned out his new seat/the right seat was a better view (directly in the middle) so he was very content with what happened. And the couple were just thankful that I deescalated the situation and was able to place the gentleman in his correct seat. As a result, both parties thanked me, and were able to enjoy the show!

Tell me about a time you had to implement safety?

A time when I implemented safety is when I was working as a Program Instructor for an after-school daycare and there was an area of the school that had an open chain-linked fence and on the other side of the fence was a busy road. I first noticed the safety hazard when I arrived at the new school and I was walking around. I immediately brought it up to the office administrators to see if they could contact the county to get it fixed, I also informed my supervisor to see if maybe she could contact the county. But in the meantime, I implemented the rule of not walking on that side of the school near the fence. If the children needed to go somewhere they would have to take the long way with their group. The open fence was a safety hazard and one of the kids could potentially run out onto the street. As a result, the kids remained safe and no one went near the open fence, and a few days later the county was able to come to the school and fix it.

How did you handle a situation at work when you weren't sure of something?

A time when I was not sure about something was when I was a Receptionist at a Law Firm and I was unsure on how to file a certain document. I first always like to first try to use deductive- logical reasoning, but when it is something important like a legal document I want to make sure that there are no mistakes, so I then went to a more senior person in the firm like a Legal Secretary or Paralegal, this specific time they had no idea where or how the document should be filed so then I went directly to the attorney and they knew just what to do. I am grateful that at the Law Firm I worked at we were all very close and had open communication. I was able to talk directly with an attorney without hesitation or unease, I was very comfortable asking questions when I did not know something. As a result, our bond as a team grew and I then learned how to file that legal document and I was able to educate the others that originally did not know as well.

Tell me about a time when your work colleagues did not agree with a decision you made.

A time when colleagues did not agree with a decision I made was when I was working as a Sales Representative for a Retail store and I decided to assist customers close to store closing time. It was about 10 minutes until the store closed and a mother and her daughter came into the store to browse around, none of my coworkers wanted to approach them because they did not want them to stay past closing time (they were ready to go home). I knew the right thing to do was to ask the customers if they needed any help and assist them if they did. My coworkers disagreed with me that I thought it was okay to help customers once the store was closed, but I explained to them that if the customer is in the store it really should not matter because we would be here passed closing times anyways performing closing procedures. In the end, we came to an agreement and decided that I would be the person to assist customers if it was close to closing time and they would be the ones to get the store ready to close (sweeping, restocking the merchandise, fixing the displays etc.)

Tell me about a situation where you felt like you had no control?

I felt like I had no control when I was in University working on a group project and my teammates were not returning my texts regarding the project. I had reached out to all 3 of my group mates individually and in a group and not one single person had gotten back to me. I felt like I had no control over the situation because I can not control the actions of others. I felt so abandoned but I knew I needed to figure it out and do the project on my own while also informing my professor that the individuals in my group have gone MIA once I turned the project in. My professor told me that if I would have informed her sooner about my situation she would have assigned me to a different group so I did not have to do all the work on my own. As a result, I learned that I need to speak up and things are in my control if I take the right steps.

Tell us about a time you went above and beyond at work.

I gave excellent customer service when I was a Sales Associate at a Retail Store (Journeys) when a woman came in looking for a pair of running shoes. At the time I was an avid runner so I was able to recommend her different styles of running shoes and I brought them out for her to try on. We engaged in conversation the entire time and but when she finally decided on what shoe worked for her best we did not have the color in store. I was able to look up the shoe in our system and track down what was the nearest store that had the color she wanted or directly ship it to her house. She had never ordered anything online before so she was a little apprehensive about having the item shipped to her house. So I called the closest sister store that had the shoe and they were able to put it on the side for her. She was so grateful that I was able to track down the shoe color she wanted that she didn't mind driving a couple of miles over to pick up her new running shoes. In the end, the lady became a loyal customer of our store, she would come directly to me for assistance, and she ended up joining a running club and recommended our store to her clubmates - so we ended up gaining new customers as well.

Tell us about one of your proudest moments at work.

One of my proudest moments at work was when I was a Receptionist at a Law Firm and a client came in very angry and looking for her attorney. She informed me that she was upset that her attorney was not returning her phone calls and that she had not heard from him in a few days. I tried to calm her down by actively listing to her complaints, bringing her out water, and reassuring her that she will get a chance to speak with him today. I then went looking for the attorney to inform him that his client was in the lobby, what she doing there, and what her complaints were. He immediately dropped everything and went to the lobby to lead her back to his office. After a little while of them discussing what they needed to discuss, the woman walked out of his office with a big smile, gave me the friendliest goodbye, and thanked me for the help. Once she left the attorney turned to me and explained to me that was a high-profile and important client. He said that she told him "If it was not for your receptionist calming me down I would have walked out and found a different firm to represent my case". I was so proud of myself over the fact I was able to prevent the firm from losing a client. And I was proud that no matter what I would have given anyone who walked through the door the same amount of attention and respect, she just happen to be a very important client to the firm.

Tell me about a time you were frustrated with a supervisor or coworker.

One time while I was working in retail, I had a coworker who was always on their phone and completely ignoring customers. As sales representatives for the retail store, it was our responsibility to provide customers with exceptional service and attention. I approached my coworker and told them in a nice manner that I don't mind if they are on the phone when no one is in the store but it is not fair to the customers and their experience when they enter and see an employee on the phone. I explained to my coworker that it is our duty to be attentive to the customers and provide them with a pleasant experience while in-store. As a result, my coworker took the criticism well and was appreciative that I spoke directly to them versus going straight to the manager. My coworker turned their actions around and made sure they had their phone put away not only when customers were in the store but during the entirety of their shifts.

Tell us about a time where you had a disagreement with a coworker.

One time while I was working in retail, I had a coworker who was always on their phone and completely ignoring customers. As sales representatives for the retail store, it was our responsibility to provide customers with exceptional service and attention. I approached my coworker and told them in a nice manner that I don't mind if they are on the phone when no one is in the store but it is not fair to the customers and their experience when they enter and see an employee on the phone. I explained to my coworker that it is our duty to be attentive to the customers and provide them with a pleasant experience while in-store. As a result, my coworker took the criticism well and was appreciative that I spoke directly to them versus going straight to the manager. My coworker turned their actions around and made sure they had their phone put away not only when customers were in the store but during the entirety of their shifts.