Interview questions?

InsideInsurance

loopyloouk wrote: »

'what would you say is your weakness?'

or

'what are your best qualities?'

Given this is posted in Relationships rather than Employment is this an interview for a dating site or..... what you choose as your strengths and weaknesses may be subtly different :rotfl:

Weaknesses tends to be straight forward, obviously go for something work related rather than saying knitting or such but make sure its something very minor to the role you are going for. Ideally also say what you do/ have done to over come it. Even better, pick something that isnt a pure weakness.

For me I always call out the fact that I come across as very calm and so when the team is flagging a bit its harder for me to get them fired up but I'm aware of it, have learned some tricks of the trade and where possible have some others on the team that are good at injecting energy. Of cause on the flip side when deadlines are close and people are running around like headless chicken having a manager that comes across as calm can be a positive thing (even if internally Im possibly the one flapping the most)


Positives are almost the reverse, selecting things that are key things for the role and adding some detail on, normally how its delivered benefit

Seanymph

When asked for a weakness someone I knew replied 'I am disgracefully cheerful in the morning, irritates the hell out of colleagues who need four coffees before speaking'.

I thought it was a brilliant answer.

loopyloouk

Thank you for all your replies, i have the presentation today at 5pm ekkkk!

i have come up with the following answers and have practiced them so any pointers let me know:-

'What is your greatest achievement?'

i debated my answer to this but think i am going to go with 'my two beautiful children who are rapidly growing up' think if i say children they will know my stance from the start

'Where do you see yourself in 5 years?'

i would ideally like to be well established in my job role and fully qualified in the next ISO. As you will see from from CV i have stayed at my previous jobs a number of years.

'What would you say has been your biggest challenge to date?'

i would say my biggest challenge so far has been gaining my current employer a much higher score on their ACS accreditation as the score they have received this year has been in line with companies who have an annual turnover of 10x as much as my current company has. This in turn has increased the client base as we have publised our score for new clients to see.

'Give an example of using your own initiative?'

The QMS system we had in place when i started my role was basic and needed to be expanded to meet current guidelines and legalisations. During my role i have expanded this to a more in depth QMS which has benefited the company. This included online access for staff who worked throughout the country and updated emails sent accordingly.

'use three words to describe yourself?'

Motivated, hardworking and loyal

' What would you say your main weakness is?'

unfortunately i love making lists which is incredibly satisfying to cross an item off once i have finished it but can mean that i have several lists of items that need completing at once. This can be a positive as well as it means i am very organised.

What do you think? shall i imagine all the consultants naked?:rotfl:

Errata

What do you think? shall i imagine all the consultants naked?

No, just imagine them being nagged to death, or nagging to death, about whose turn it is to put the bins out! Brings them down to your level:D

markdebby

My advice is....all those answers you planned to give could you speak them out loud this afternoon as you can find out how they sound before the interview

FBaby

My advice would be to be prepared to expand on these responses. They sound very quick and rehearsed.

'What would you say has been your biggest challenge to date?'

i would say my biggest challenge so far has been gaining my current employer a much higher score on their ACS accreditation as the score they have received this year has been in line with companies who have an annual turnover of 10x as much as my current company has. This in turn has increased the client base as we have publised our score for new clients to see.

If I was the interviewee, I would expect you to explain what you did specifically that has led to this outcome. Was it all down to you, or collaborative work? Did you introduce new systems, how did you manage to get them approved etc...

The same applies to some of the other questions, you need to be able to substantiate your response. How have you shown to be hard working, loyal etc.. How will you plan on taking on the role and conduct it to top standards whilst also studying towards the qualifications.

Also, I would prepared for more duty related questions. To be fair, none of these questions are amongst those that are asked of managers in my industry. All questions are along the line of 'what experience do you have of... and can you give an example of how you deliver.... to success' relating to a responsibility under the role.

Wishing you good luck and come and let us know how it went.

babymoo

loopyloouk wrote: »

Hi All,

I am off to give a presentation to a group of the consultants for the job interview (posted a few weeks back).

They have advised there is room for flexibility but i will talk about this at the interview with them.

I have to give a full presentation of my QMS skills to a group and then an individual interview.

As its been years since i had a proper interview how do i answer the dreaded questions of:-

'what would you say is your weakness?'

or

'what are your best qualities?'

any ideas.........

The last interview i had was 9 years ago and it was a walk in the door, take a seat, 'ooh your CV looks good, the jobs yours' kind of interview.:rotfl:

I have always been told choose one weakness which isn't a massive weakness and that you are making steps to improve.

Also choose 3-5 best qualities depending on the job you are interviewing for.

ETA: Always accept a glass of water, even if you are not thirsty, taking a sip is better to give yourself a few seconds than saying "erm"

If they ask you to take a seat but dom't ask you where to sit then take your seat to the side of the table rather than sitting directly opposite them. It is a much more friendly interview, if they ask you to move it back then fair enough but I have never been asked that.

What is your biggest achievement to date, I would never use a work related one, show them a bit of the person you are underneath when answering this question.

Izadora

loopyloouk wrote: »

'use three words to describe yourself?'

Motivated, hardworking and loyal

I was once asked in an interview to give ten words which describe me, one of the words which I came up with was "childish".

A couple of months later I asked my then boss why, when I'd given such a ridiculous answer, did he hire me. Apparently it was because I was the only person who took the question at face value and described me rather than how I work and he found it funny and honest. Not that I'm saying that telling a prospective employer that you're childish is generally going to be a good idea but I would've thought that they hear loyal/hardworking etc. all the time and it doesn't really tell them anything about you as a person.

InsideInsurance

loopyloouk wrote: »

What do you think? shall i imagine all the consultants naked?:rotfl:

Depends on:

a) how fit they are

b) how well you'll still be able to concentrate - this is possibly linked to the answer for (a)

Tiddlywinks

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Given this is posted in Relationships rather than Employment is this an interview for a dating site or..... what you choose as your strengths and weaknesses may be subtly different :rotfl:

Exactly.

There is a more appropriate board for employment questions here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=141