Interview Questions
Tell me about a time you collaborated with others who were different than you/ worked as a team
- Broad student senate- all of us are very different people with different backgrounds, exchange students and people different ages in college and advisors - Worked to plan lots of events together like the broad gala - work with internet technology management teacher to plan Tableau workshop
tell me about a time you had to learn quickly
- Complex con- never worked in retail so had to learn how to use square space checkout system and how to sell the clothes to people and about the products on the spot - did well and got the hang of it within an hour
tell me about a time you had to be flexible or adapt
- Covid and doing all my classes online during my hardest year of school - never done online school before - Had to teach myself a lot of my classwork - Difficult time being isolated from everyone but persevered and maintained my gpa
what do you know about the associate product manager position
- Expert on your product division - Running the business - Work with sales and marketing, finance, supply chain - Like an entrepreneur managing a small business - Sourcing, product development, fielding rep questions, train salespeople on products - Assist in developing marketing plans for assigned product lines o Market research, existing line extensions, new product development, collateral creation and pricing - Develop and run reports that summarize and analyze marketing promotional results - Assess product samples against deaired specifications and work with vendors
example of goal you've reached or an accomplishment your most proud of
- Half marathon - Never done anything like that before - Worked really hard ran 4 times per week did a lot of research - Ran it 2 hours and 20 minutes in san Francisco so there were mile stretches of up hill - Showed me that I can accomplish anything that I put my mind to if I work hard enough - want to run another one someday
tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership skills
- I prefer to lead by example because I think that actions speak louder than words - captain of my high school soccer team senior year - district finals when we were tied the whole game and went to PK shootout against the team we had never beat - I played hard to the last minute even though we lost and it was my last game ever - Led by example and never gave up and encouraged my teammates to do the same
what do you know about Medline?
- Largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplied - Manufacture your own goods - More than 60 of top 150 healthcare companies choose you - Sell medical devices to tissues including capital equipment, wheelchairs, lab products, Band-Aids - Serve the continuum of care from hospitals, doctors offices, hospice, rehab, retail - Mostly B2B besides small retail segment - Aim to get prime vendor contracts to supply hospitals with all products - 30,000 employees - Almost 19B in sales last year - Sales driven; customer driven - Family owned - Culture is better being private, have access to leadership - Fun fact is my Mom worked there years ago and was rookie of the year - I reached out to one of your current employee's joe Riggio who worked with my mom and he was generous enough to take the time to talk to me and tell me a little about your company and what it's like to work there
example of when you persuaded someone and how you did it
- Persuaded people to buy Chubby Mary all the time when I worked at a restaurant - Tell them that's what we are famous for - get more for your money cause it comes with pita chips too
how do you prioritize your work
- This year I am taking a full load of classes, have an internship, in the government of the business school and I am applying for jobs, so I have had to learn how to manage my time - I make a list of what I have to do that day and I start with whatever task I am dreading the most. - After that I feel accomplished and motivated because my day will only get better and then I get my work done faster and better
what do you know about the healthcare industry?
- US has the greatest healthcare spending and we spend twice as much as other countries - fastest growing sector for the economy - working in healthcare industry is hard and first hand I know how hard it can be to get good care cause I watched my mom struggle with my grandpa - companies like Medline make their lives a little easier by supplying quality medical products
tell me about a time you had to be creative to solve a problem
- internship I was in charge of hand writing addresses to mail hundreds of coupons per week - took up so much time and I asked ceo to consider digital coupons but she liked the personal touch of the handwritten coupons - i found a company that will handwrite the addresses for you if you send the addresses - i created a google form for customers to put addresses into that we could send to the company - CEO loved the idea and we implemented it and saved hours of time each week
tell me about a time you failed
- interviews OR - Didn't make the varsity soccer team my freshman year and I was devastated and wanted to blame the coaches for not giving me a chance. - But once I calmed down, I realized that I didn't make it because I wasn't as good as the other girls and I needed to work harder - So, I tried out for a better club team and played almost every day. - I came back my sophomore year and not only made the varsity team, but I started and played the entire game - was the only captain senior year that didn't make varsity their freshman year
tell me about a time you worked effectively under pressure
- when i played soccer there was no one to play the sweeper position which is the last person in front of the goalie so there is a lot of pressure - i stepped up and played in the game when I had never tried it before and I did really well - played that position for the rest of the season and my team voted me the unsung hero
who are our competitors
Cardinal Health, Stryker, OriGen Biomedical
Tell me about a time you had to build rapport with a coworker or client whose personality was different than yours
Working as a waitress the fish story or the twist my arm story
give an example of how you've contributed to culture of previous teams or groups?
a. Very positive person and can get along with anyone and have a calm personality b. Everyone in the broad student senate says that my positive attitude motivates them c. Calm and understanding personality makes people comfortable to share their ideas
how do you stay user focused
a. Be very open to the feedback from my salespeople because they see first-hand what the customer wants and needs b. I would build questions that the salesforce can ask the clients so that they can get me the information that I need
why do you want to work for medline?
a. Who doesn't want to work there everyone on campus knows you guys? b. Double digit growth for the last ___ years c. Top 100 companies to work for in Chicago d. Take care of your customers and employees and by taking such good care of your employees, they are inspired to give your customers the best care possible
how would you deal with a customer comlaint
a. With my internship I delt with mostly all the customer complaints b. I would talk to them and figure out what they needed from me to make their experience buying our product a positive one c. I would tell them Im sorry for our mistake and that I understand why they are upset so that they feel validated d. I would make sure to answer them in a Timely fashion because the longer they have to wait the more angry they get and the more people they tell e. Would make it my top priority to deal with complaints quickly and make sure the customer was happy
How would you improve or max gross margin? Creative ways to increase revenue or cut costs
a. Focus on the history of the company and what Medline stand above the competitor which is high quality premium products b. Know your product and competitor's product and how to differentiate the 2 c. Don't want to sell on price you want to sell on value so that you can increase revenue with the higher price d. Focus on the service, the delivery, the quality of the product because those are what drive the revenue e. Teach the salespeople how to sell against the competitors and make sure they know all the ways that Medline is better f. Increase revenue by incentivizing the salespeople with bonuses for selling more products to consumers then they usually buy and for going above and beyond g. For example, if a hospital usually buys 2 cases of gloves and a salesperson sells them 10 cases of gloves, she would receive a portion of the profit from the sale, but revenue would still increase because she was moving more product h. Incentivize salespeople to prospect for new businesses to sell to so our business is always growing i. Coordinating customer deliveries to maximize efficiencies j. If 2 places are located near each other it would save money by delivering their products on the same day instead of making 2 trips k. Cross promotion between the company and work with other product managers
why do you want to be a product manager
a. Get to work in with all aspects of the business from the marketing and sales teams to supply chain to finance department b. Learn so much about business and for my first job out of college I want to learn as much as I can c. I like doing all different types of things and not having everyday be the same
how do you stay motivated?
a. I am very self driven b. Im starting my career and I have high goals and ambitions for myself and they motivate me everyday to be as successful as I can c. Wont let anything get in my way
How your skill set will contribute to Medline's overall mission and objectives / why should we hire you
a. I know that Medline's mission is to Provide the healthcare community with products that give patients the best possible care and quality of life and I know that requires a lot of hard work b. Growing up I watched my parents start their business from the ground up which has inspired me to work hard for everything I get and had jobs since I was 16 c. Although I value hard work above everything, I don't think I need to do everything myself and I'm not afraid to ask for help when I need it d. In order to provide the healthcare community with the best quality products you have to listen to what they need. I also am a good listener and firmly believe that I learn much more from listening than from talking but I'm not afraid to speak up when its necessary e. Positive attitude and can find the best in any situation f. Sound judgement
tell me about a time you made a difficult decision
a. I struggled deciding if I should take the position in my sorority as the VP of academic excellence because there was a possibility that I would have to put my friends on academic probation if they weren't doing their best b. I decided to accept the position because my peers and I believed that I was the best person for the job and so that I could help my friends if they were struggling with school before it got to the point of going on probation
tell me about a time you had to stand up for your beliefs
a. I was bullied by one of my former friends for like 6 months in high school b. I went to school with her and played soccer with her so I had to see her everyday c. Tried to turn all my friends against me and convince them not to invite me to things and she succeeded for awhile d. Stood up for myself and told her how we were going to move forward and that we were no longer friends because I realized I didn't deserve to be treated this way e. Then she started doing this to one of my friends a year later and I stood up for her too
how would you grow this position
a. I would want to get information from my salespeople because they are out in the field and they know better what the competition is like and what the consumers want b. Build a strong relationship with the salespeople because they are the lifeblood of the company c. come up with a way to incentivize them to get information from them and see what they think is our best path forward and room for growth d. My mom and dad owned a business together and my mom did the sales and my dad manufactured the bread and she would see all the trends and what the next best thing was going to be and would have to communicate to my dad what she thought he should make next
tell me about a time you handled a long-term project and kept it on track
a. Making my website for class b. Told us about it the first week and was due at the end of the semester c. Did a little bit of work each week
tell me about a time youve made a mistake
a. Mistake- my sister decided to go out of state to school and I didn't voice my opinion about how I felt about that and about her b. She struggled going out of state and I feel like if I would have voiced my opinion she wouldn't have had to go through that c. I thought it would be a mistake, but I didn't say enough d. Learned how important it is to clearly communicate my thoughts and feelings
Tell me about yourself
a. Okay I could tell you about my upbringing and the work ethic my parents instilled in me b. I watched them work so hard to create their own successful business from the ground up which has inspired me to work for everything I get I have had jobs ever since I was 16 years old- worked docking boats, ice cream shop, hostess and waitress before my internship c. Although I value hard work above everything, I don't think I need to do everything myself and I'm not afraid to ask for help when I need it d. I learned how to communicate, take feedback, and work as a team and have a positive attitude from playing soccer for 15 years e. I love learning and have high goals for myself and sometimes I think I'm too hard on myself f. I also am a good listener and firmly believe that I learn much more from listening than from talking but I'm not afraid to speak up when its necessary g. Going into college I didn't know if I wanted to go into business or pursue medical school. I decided to go the business route, but I still have a love for science and healthcare so when I heard about the job opening at Medline, I thought it would be a perfect fit for me
tell me about a challenge you've faced
a. Sophomore year was terrified of public speaking and presenting in front of people b. Had to do a 10-minute presentation with no PowerPoint or notes in front of my whole class c. I asked the teacher to go before class and she said yes but I was the last one and by the time it got to me I was the first one to go in front of the whole class d. I practiced a ton and got the best grade out of all the girls in my class and since then I'm not scared of presenting it actually excites me
what would you do to be successful in this job?
a. Work together with other product managers to do cross promotions with other products and see what works for them, their successes and failures, learning from their mistakes and building relationships b. Growing up my mom would always say that if you're too comfortable you're not learning and growing so I am okay with getting out of my comfort zone every day and enjoy being challenged c. My mom has a quote that says "most people don't know that there are angles who's only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep. And miss your life" d. Its been on our wall my whole life so I would see it every day when I would put my shoes on and go out the door
tell me about a time you handled a difficult situation
a. Worked at KNC beauty and everyone went home sick b. I had never worked in a trade show like this before and there were only 3 people working the booth c. I worked 12 hour days and went without lunch to make sure that there were enough people at the booth and the event went smoothly d. event was a huge success and by the end of the weekend they were sold out of basically all their clothes
tell me about a time you disagreed with a supervisor
coupon example
how would you motivate people?
i. Call people up and thank them because people love to be appreciated ii. Celebrate the little wins along the way
how would you deal with working with different types of people in this position?
i. Good listener and I'm very calm and don't get stressed when I am under a lot of pressure - broad student senate answer
conflict with a peer and how the situation was resolved
iman story
a time you had to be persistent
interviews or public speaking example
