Common Behavioural Interview Questions
*Describe a time when you motivated a co-worker/team? *How do you motivate a team?
Set an Example Perhaps the best way to motivate your co-workers is to set a positive example. Approaching your work with a positive attitude and completing all of your tasks as diligently as possible inspires your co-workers to do the same — especially if they see you receiving praise, rewards or special assignments due to your job commitment. If you stay positive, you can inspire others on the team to do the same. If colleagues see that you aren't going to go down the negative path, they will likely take your lead and reduce the complaining. Build Friendships Although maintaining professional relationships at work is important, that doesn't mean that you can't develop more informal relationships, or even friendships, at work. When your co-workers know you as a person — not just as the accountant in the adjoining office — they may be more likely to put forth extra effort in their job so they don't damage the relationship. Cultivating work friendships also makes the work environment more pleasant: Having someone to share a joke or story with or have lunch with on occasion helps you feel more satisfied with your work and motivated to do well. Set Goals and Deadlines Together: It's easier to stay motivated when you have specific deadlines and goals. Set goals with your coworkers and, if you're working on a project together, set small deadlines along the way to the larger deadline so you can hold each other accountable and keep each other motivated. Thank You Goes a Long Way: When you show someone how much you value them or how grateful you are for their contributions, you'd be amazed at how motivated they'll become! It's important to thank people for their hard work, help them celebrate their small wins, and encourage them to keep doing what they're doing if you want to help motivate your coworkers. Share the Praise One way to motivate co-workers in a team is to share all the praise that one gets. If your boss praises you, do put in a word about the colleagues who chipped in and helped you out of a tight spot. If possible record your thanks in writing so that they can use it for their appraisals. Keep the Blame Never shift blame to another, however much they deserve it. Just apologize and say that you will not repeat the error. Have a talk with the offending colleague and explain to them where and how they went wrong. Your team spirit will be much appreciated by the entire team. Be Supportive Even as you share important tasks with other members of your team, be ready to pitch in and help if they are overwhelmed. Again make sure they get the credit for the work done. You should be open to other people's ideas on the team when brainstorming. You may have a great idea, but someone else may have something better. By being flexible, you can work as a team to build off each other's' ideas and come up with something that is truly a meeting of the minds. This will also help motivation by ensuring individuals' ideas are heard and considered.
Think of a time when you set a goal that you didn't reach. Why didn't you reach it? How did you handle it?
talk about a time being over ambitious and naive --> then setting more realistic goals, or how adjusted so eventually reached that goal - maybe talk about how there are so many opportunities to learn stuff and try out diff experiences at uni, one year tried to sign myself up to the free french lessons, while balancing sports I was trying out (kickboxing) and societies i was a part of and keeping up with the course and being a peer mentor but wasn't realistic so had to see what my priorities were and stopped french and as a result could have higher quality/performance in the other things
*Tell me about a time when you managed conflict with an aggressive/unhappy customer
use this https://medium.com/@zbigniewgecis/8-tips-how-to-handle-negative-customer-feedback-3014811c0aec
Tell me about a time when you failed. Tell me about a time when you missed an important deadline. Tell me about a time when you learned from a mistake.
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How would you turn negative press into positive PR?
1) Have the right spokesperson in place e.g. CEO or PR representative before making a comment 2) Acknowledge the mistake, be transparent, mention what learned and how you'll take this experience and grow as a business. 3) Outline a plan to mitigate the issue and ensure it won't happen again 4) Provide follow up proof that you've met your committments.
*Tell me about a time you needed information from someone who wasn't responsive. What did you do? *What did you do when it looked like you were going to miss a deadline?
*IN TERMS OF THE UNRESPONSIVE PERSON:* 1. Make it easy for person to give a quick answer (e.g. yes/no q, short email) 2. Schedule time on their calendar (e.g. meeting request for 15 mins) 3. Propose a course of action you'll take if you don't hear back (e.g. 'If I don't hear back from you by Monday, i'll plan to propose X to the client so we stay on schedule) 4. Try a diff method of communication (e.g. call/in person) 5. If chronically have trouble getting response, politely directly raise ('I've noticed I don't often hear back from you about requests in email - is there a different way you'd prefer for me to contact you when I need you?) *IN TERMS OF THE PERSON NEEDING YOUR INFO IF YOU'RE LATE e.g. manager:* 1. Give as much advance notice as possible 2. Give option of offering to send what can now, or full thing by a date 3. Show appreciation of patience 4. Over-communicate the progress the following days 5. Deliver on new date and make sure it doesn't happen again DON'T: -Make excuses -Engage in blame games - take responsibility -Don't make promise can't keep
*Best personal achievement (why important to you, what kept you driven to achieve it, what did you learn from experience) *Example of a goal you reached and how achieved it *What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
*S*: - Bath Half marathon - Important cause for me - alzheimer's society, also wanted to prove to myself *T/A*: - Hard at first, could barely run longer than a minute, - but then making sure I did it almost every day, even if 'I didn't feel like it, felt unwell, cold outside, knew this was something that had to be a long term commitment and that 'off days' could end up being 'off weeks' etc so had to keep it up *R*: - Eventually, running 5ks, then 10ks, then eventually the marathon + raised over £100 for charity - Learnt a lot about discipline, how small consistent efforts can add up to something massive and seemingly unachievable at the end - Running still something I try do now
*When have you overcome a big set-back and still achieved a brilliant outcome (how did you keep focused on the end result? What did you learn about yourself) *How did you handle a challenge *Stressful situation at work and how you handled it *Have you ever made a mistake, how did you handle it *When your schedule was interrupted *Tell me a time when you were behind on work *Tell me about a time when you learned from a mistake. *Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrated your coping skills.
*S*: - Early uni experience for me in first year -my first assessed essay that would have a significant impact on one of my module's average *T*: - My bad laptop broke and I lost my almost finalised essay and deadline was soon *A*: - Luckily we had sent drafts of our essays to our tutors near the start, so used this as a basis to redo it - but in order to complete it and stick to the deadline, had to work very long hours into the night consistently in the library *R*: - It being such an early setback in my uni career, could have been very demotivating but it taught me firstly the important lesson of always backing up your work in more than one place (never forgotten this lesson and hasn't happened since) - but also a good lesson about resilience and about how it's not about the amount of time you have but how you use that time - the amount of effort and dedication you can summon • What kept me going - v passionate about the topic and believed in the quality of my work, I had a story worth telling with it - I could have rushed it but I wanted to not compromise the standard of my work to make sure it was a quality I was satisfied with and could be proud of • Achieved a first in the end
Tell me about a miscommunication with a co-worker. How did you work to prevent this in the future?
*S*: - My campus job as a food and beverage assistant involved having a trial period in the costa on campus before I was eventually put permanently into the Pitstop food area *T*: - While I worked in costa, the queues would be massive and it would be so busy - The person at the till would just shout the orders one after the other and you'd have to have a good memory for all the orders - However, there'd be too many coming in at the same time and some of them would all be very similar to each other except for swapping one thing e.g. a different type of milk or a syrup shot or the size cup of the order - Mistakes would be made, there was frustration where one person would be like 'I said the order was this', 'I thought you said it was this', 'No that was the next order' *A*: - I never took the frustration or tension personally and knew it was just the job - I wanted to instead make it as easy for us both as possible - I suggested they write the code down of the orders i.e. the first letter of each part of the order e.g. 'A' for americano ' L' for latte on the bottom of the cup size that the customer wanted, just like they do in the actual stores *R*: - This made the process so much easier and we were able to get on with orders faster without having to clarify things between each other constantly
Tell me about a time when you had to make a split second decision. How did it work out? Would you have chosen another option if you had more time?
*S*: - Something that comes to mind is when I was in a shopping centre walking around and I saw a security guard shouting at two people who were carrying loads of small boxes of something they stole, I'm not sure of what, but the security guard was struggling with them. *T*: - He was calling for backup on his walky talky but noone was there yet and although other bystanders had started to notice, noone was really intervening just watching and it looked like the guys were going to get away with it. - I could have just watched the guy struggle especially as i'm not really the kind of person physically who you want to help you out, I'm this 5'4 skinny chinese girl, I could have just got punched in the face easily but I always feel strong moral pressures *A*: - The guys backs were to me, so I ran up behind one and knocked the boxes to one side out of his arms and then moved the boxes which fell on the floor to one side with my foot. The security guard did a similar thing to the second guy and then they both decided to leave it and just ran away. *R*: - As a result nothing was surprisingly stolen in the end, the security guard was really grateful I tried to help - I try not to make split decisions when it comes to my working life, but I think I would always try to help out again if the situation looked safe enough i.e they didn't have noticeable weapons and I wasn't in their view line - my parents businesses and even our house have been robbed quite a lot and they work really hard for it so it is something I can relate to personally. And it seemed like there would have been a massive loss to the shop.
*What do you do if you disagree with someone at work?/ conflict of opinion/difficult situation with colleague/supervisor *Did you ever postpone making a decision (second example) *Describe a time you encouraged someone (co-worker, boss, customer) to see things your way.
*S*: - Training for Student Trainers - present very formally *T*: -But we all noticed that actually, students were more engaged and responsive to someone they felt they could relate to which was really the core of what being a student trainer was supposed to be - didn't match target audience -More rapport was built, less tension, easier for students to interact/audience participation if we presented less formally/made it a less formal environment *A*: - We would be jokey when necessary, admit our own relatable shortcomings and walk round the room to small groups and have an informal chat with them about how they were getting on *R*: - Increased engagement, very positive feedback about how we were and our workshops -Regulars coming back - Let the trainer watch us and she agreed that our method was effective and let it continue this way *S*: - Incorrect dose for child spotted by me, written by doctor according to guidelines *T*: - Patient was waiting and in a rush but knew that esp cos a child, risks were more important -So needed to postpone decision to dispense medication in order to investigate further *A*: - Rang them up and explained to the doctor who initially disagreed but agreed once I referred him to the guideline - He amended it and sent a new electronic prescription over *R*: - Might have had serious implication to the child's health - Stressed to me the importance of double checking your week and being aware to check other people's work to, not just to trust them even though you're new - importance of speaking up for the good of the patient, honesty/integrity, question things if feels wrong, higher attention to detail
Have you ever gone above and beyond the call of duty?
*S*: - Volunteering on the wards in hospital during college *T*: - Only was told I just have to give out tea and coffee - But meant I was in a situation where I had a lot of free time/didn't have enough work to do for the amount of hours I was meant to be there - Also, mood seemed very low on the wards and nurses seemed a little unempathetic to the patients I suppose with how busy they were and how accustomed to it they had become *A*: - But made an effort to help out the nurses with cleaning the tables, even helping people out of bed to walk to the toilets as people were constantly asking for help but the nurses were too busy/almost not bothered by this point - Made sure to talk to them and treat each patient with respect and as a person and an individual, be a warm figure/friendly face, asking how they were and trying to connect with them to make their stay a little less daunting - Offered to go over to the hospital shops/vending machines for them if they wanted anything *R*: - Really lovely comments from the patients - Always surprised at my requests to help them further - Smiles at the end on patients, which were not there before - Learnt putting in a little extra effort + personal customer service goes a long way to changing someone's mood and day
*CREATIVITY* *When have you had to convince others of a decision you made? (Situation, why needed to make decision, how you approached making best decision, how effective decision was in the end) *Describe a project/idea that was implemented primarily because of your efforts *Think about something you recently initiated. How did you ensure the initiative was successful? *Tell me about a time you made a change at work *Describe a time you encouraged someone (co-worker, boss, customer) to see things your way.
*S*: -Student trainer promotion via incorporation of social media - low attendance at workshops and those applying for the next year intake for the role *T*: - SU account so needed to ask for permission for the passwords, extra effort needed to find the correct people etc *A*: - Organised a meeting with the other student trainers and our point of contact and sent emails about it to seniors - presented some of my suggestions of ideas of how we could use it specifically as a starting point - Not only did we set up stalls, but then I suggested we do an Instagram 'takeover' and show fun interactive activities we were doing to promote our workshops on the stalls and small prizes they could win if they came down to see it - Also initiated the idea of us promoting the service by all of us giving a fun introduction to what we're about and then filming this and circulating the video on facebook *R*: - This improved our presence and we had over twice as many sending in applications in the end - Learnt that important to reevaluate current approaches for the strategies to see new ways to improve
Describe a time when you struggled to build a relationship with someone important. How did you eventually overcome that?
*S*: -Tutor (anita) *T*: -, awkward meetings, not really getting to know each other, relationship not properly built, everyone uncomfortable *A*: -Sharing more details, opinions of things, asking for her input more, all asking things like 'holiday plans' etc -More frequent communication via other routes -Kept her updated on group's progress etc *R*: -Talk for hours by the end of it, very close
*Tell me about a time you led a team at work. Did any problems come up? How did you solve them? *Tell me about a time when you managed a conflict within a group *Describe a time where you had to delegate tasks
*S*: -We had an assessed group presentation at uni to prepare for at the same time that we had an overload of lots of other heavier weighted coursework deadlines *T*: - As a result, it was easy for the group to forget about this presentation we had to work on. *A*: - I made sure to step up to lead the team and made sure we got it done, increasing the frequency of communication on the chats and organising meeting - I broke down the presentation into different sections and delegated the work amongst us to work on - Everyone except one person had done their parts and it was causing tension with the rest of the group - Instead of assuming, I made sure to speak to him privately in person and ask him what his situation was. It turned out he was feeling confused and didn't understand how to approach his task. I referred him to the sources I used and he thanked me and found them helpful. *R*: - As a result, we were able to finish the task on time, the relationship of the group improved and we managed to get a high mark - It taught me a lot about not making assumptions and the need to empathise with people first to understand their point of view and thus, how best to help them
*Give an example of when you used logic to solve a problem *Tell me about a decision you made with very limited information/guidance (why so little info/guidance, how approached making best decision, how effective decision was in end'
*S*: -Implementation task during Master's project *T*: -Local hospital, had to see where could make recommendations on wards and then finally set up an 'implementation tool' -But, low budget + little guidance as new part of the course and confidentiality policies limited previous implementation results meant difficult to know where could improve *A*: -Used standard policies as a guide to see where ward deviated for more direction -Used tools - fishbone diagram, cause and effect - direction on best implementation tool -Gathered date before and after the tool was implemented to evaluate improvements, made a report on it to draw conclusions and recommendations *R*: - Noticed that many deviated from standards, specifically in terms of managing patient's medicine lockers so thought the best way to improve this by creating a simple, cost effective implementation of reminder posters then evaluated the improvement after and wrote a report about it - Got positive feedback from nurses, saw an improvement on wards and got a high mark in the report
Your line manager is usually the point of contact for these queries, but they are on holiday. What would you do in this situation?
- See when line manager gets back, apologise ask if they can spare some time to answer some queries or check if mine are correct - either email or ask better time they could have a quick call - Explain situation to senior manager - let them know date line manager will be back If they wanted to wait - Could refer senior manager to line manager if they prefer it - Try to answer as much as I can as accurately as possible, ask a more experienced colleague to help me check over the details - Ask if they have any more questions and I will try to get back with it as soon as possible via email - Important for them to receive right information rather than guess as it's complex and could affect further decisions being taken as he is the senior manager - Would probably take longer to go back and then rectify mistakes caused by this - would reflect poorly on my line manager if I said incorrect information
Describe a time where you needed to present complex information in a simplified way
-Ask them what they already know about it -Explain concepts using details they already know -Try to use as little technical language as possible -Hand gestures can sometimes help explain -Use real life examples if possible, and metaphors if can't -Use pictures/labelled diagrams/charts/graphs -Break presentation down into manageable parts -Careful with data - humanise/contextualise data -Ask them if they have any questions -Ask them to repeat back directions *S*: - Team leader at the Bath Royal Institute of Science and Literature, promoting science in the local community to children *T*: -Managed a group of around 6 children -Sometimes complex concepts such as global warming *A*: -Asked them what they already knew about it -Clarified anything they got wrong/confusing thiings -Drew diagrams of it out -Broke it down into steps -Used metaphors -Made them try explain what it was back to me at the end Made sure to draw diagrams out to help them *R*: -They all understood, had fun, were engaged and had good feedback at the end of the session and wanted to come back for more *S*: -Patient during pharmacy degree role play coming in to talk about their cardiovascular health *T*: -Explained to a patient the situation of their health in a way they could understand e.g. term called QRISK score that they had been told by the doctors but did not understand *A*: -'Do you understand what this means?' -'Do you know anyone who has suffered from strokes/heart attacks'? -Humanised their data i.e. 20% --> if there were 1 in 5 people in this room, one would suffer a cardiovascular event e.g. stroke, heart attack (easier to understand) within the next 10 years -Also avoid technical jargon and used terms like 'high blood pressure' instead of 'hypertension' *R*: -They understood, the impact truly hit and the significance of their situation and they were persuaded and motivated to take action regarding their lifestyle choices
Tell me about a time when you were juggling multiple projects at once. How did you prioritize? Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventive measures.
As a Student Trainer, I actually created and delivered a workshop on Time Management for other students, meaning I have done a lot of research on it and have used some of the techniques in it in my own life or some I had been doing anyway. - In general, I try to set goals - yearly, monthly, weekly, daily. I use daily-to do lists to break these goals down into manageable tasks and this helps me keep on top of things. I try to prioritise things in terms of urgency and importancy and try to assess the value each task has. For example, in my degree, some modules might be worth more credits so they will need more hours spent on it. At university, I used the pomodoro technique a lot and that helped me be very aware of my time throughout the day and ensured that I was using it effectively because each work session would have my 100% focus so tasks could be done a lot faster. I also made a few excel spreadsheets - one for each big unit I had where I'd be able to see all my lectures I had to do and coursework with the deadlines and then I put formatting on so I could see for example, how many lectures I had done and had left to do as a percentage each time I selected that I had completed one. It would go 'green' if I put it as completed and remain red if it was not started so I could see it all at a glance. This helped me monitor my progress very easily.
*Did you ever have to adapt to a completely new system at work? Tell me about what you did to adapt. *Describe a time you had to adapt your style
Nightline questioning vs pharmacy consultation questioning *S*: - We were taught a motivational interviewing technique for doing consultations with patients during the course, which we would practice a lot on actors and real patients. With this, you try to direct and empower the patient to make a positive lifestyle change choice. *T*: - However, with the Nightline Training, we had to do the complete opposite where we were not allowed to be leading at all - you cannot suggest what to do, which is difficult because sometimes the answer to their problem seems clear to you. However, it's personal emotional matters, not a physical problem like health and usually they just want someone who will listen. I initially found this difficult as I had been so used to the other technique and so would have to have these two different styles under my belt and adapt accordingly, as sometimes i'd do a pharmacy consultation in the day and then the Nightline style procedure in the night. *A*: - I made sure to practice both thoroughly beforehand on friends before each session to make sure my support was always of the highest quality and that I had more confidence in it. *R*: - As a result, I ended up feeling comfortable doing both methods and would always get positive feedback from the person I was trying to help, from both groups
Describe a time where you were wrong
Questions about mistakes or errors in judgment are common. Come up with a few mistakes you can discuss if requested. Always make sure that you are able to follow up with what you learned from the experience and how it has affected your current decision making strategies.
*Has there ever been a time you discovered a co-worker made a mistake? What did you do? *Describe a time you were blamed for a mistake you didn't make
[[Once I was blamed for not double checking marketing data, which drastically impacted one of our campaigns. Though I was not the staff member in charge of the data collection and analysis, I knew it would be unproductive to try to pass blame, so I simply asked what steps I could take to help resolve the problem. Afterward I spoke with the staff member in charge of checking data and let them know of the error so that both of us could ensure it would not be repeated."]]
Tell me about a time when you weren't prepared for something (presentation, meeting, etc.). What did you do?
maybe talk about how used to be extremely unconfident with presentations where I couldn't even make eye contact with people so set about to improve my communication skills with all my extracurricular activities
Tell me about a time you wanted to quit. What did you do to motivate yourself? What motivates you? What motivates you to do a good job? What motivates you in life? What motivates you to succeed at work? What is most important to you in your career?
self improvement - read a lot of self improvement books, motivational videos and audios - look at job description and relate it to things that motivate me -Talk about driving experience, got hit by car when 13 so always made me feel very anxious in the car + aggressive instructors, but around this time also started training for bath half and it made me realise I didn't think i could do that either but was achieving feats I didn't think of so inspired me to proper commit getting better - I didn't want it to affect me any more or feel like it was something holding me back and wanted to prove it to myself. I would write feedback after every lesson down and then think about it, look up videos on how to do it, keep it in mind for the next lesson. I would watch videos for hours on watching other people have mock driving tests and copy their movements as if I was in the car, when I wasn't practicing in my dad's car. Managed to pass it first time.
*Describe a situation where you work was criticised *[How do you handle criticism]
· I believe that constructive criticism is necessary and a natural requirement of any job. Someone has to set standards, and make sure those standards are met. It's a manager's job to criticise because my work reflects on them and of the company. · Criticism is an important agent of change, so I welcome it as an opportunity to learn. If there are ways to improve at my job, it is important that I'm made aware of them for the future, to lead to better performance and assurance that my job is being done correctly and to a high quality. · I would listen carefully and would make a point of asking questions and for specific examples in order to understand it and be sure I know what's required of me so that I know how to improve and avoid making the same mistakes next time, thank him for his feedback and then proceed to see how I could implement the changes *S*: - For example, in my master's, I had sent my tutor my draft of my project report *T*: -I was asked by him to revise the formatting, that I had spent a lot of time on and was quite proud of. *A*: - But after listening carefully to his comments, I could see how making the changes would strengthen the finished product *R*: - I did well as a result. - I'm always keen to learn from people with different views and experiences to my own, especially if it can help strengthen my skillset. In terms of marketing, negative reviews can be useful as it provides powerful feedback that you didn't have to spend money on a survey to gather. This criticism gives opportunities for new ideas and ways to improve customer service, ways to direct staff training and gives you a chance to create an FAQ section on website to eliminate confusion negative reviewers have been experiencing.
