Basic Interview Questions Flashcards
Tell me about yourself
I would describe myself as highly creative and strategic in my personal and professional life. In my personal life, I am always having moments of curiosity, and I’m constantly focusing on new things I’m curious about. For the past month I’ve been trying to strengthen my understanding of boundaries for instance. Im currently reading this interesting book on boundaries by Cloud and Townsend. I find it rewarding to learn more successful ways to navigate life. In my professional life, I quickly become invested in my work, and I strive to always improve my understanding of the tasks at hand, I become committed to solving problems, and I try my hardest to take advantage of all the resources around me, whether that be coworkers, videos, articles, whatever helps. I also maintain a healthy work life balance, and I’m constantly engaging with new activities outside of work, last week I went with some friends to Sedona, and hiked off trail for 4 hours up a. To a secluded cave, and rock climbed the last stretch of the path, the view was amazing and the only other people there were actually in hammocks hanging 200 feet off the ground from the top of the cave. This was honestly a challenge, I was pretty sick during this hike, but I stuck it out, and it was worth it when I got to the viewpoint.
What is your greatest strength?
My greatest strength is having the ability to consistently make authentic relationships with people. I am a very social person, and I’ve had the opportunity to learn how to communicate with a wide variety of people during my past experiences. I’ve had positive feedback from customers, and management. I outperformed my entire team in customer service for 3 consecutive months at fox concepts, and I maintained a 30-40% lead in sales over most of my coworkers, I also received employee of the quarter recognition previous to this, for best representing the companies values during that quarter of the year.
What is your greatest weakness?
Sometimes I get too excited about projects, and become hyper-focused on them. For instance, at fox concepts, the back of the building was completely disorganized, and my coworkers were constantly complaining. So i brought everyone’s concerns to management, and volunteered to take on the project of reorganizing everything. Well, I became so Dialed into this project, I failed to realize that I had completely taken apart the entire back of the building during the middle of the work day, this was problematic as everyone had to ask me where everything was the entire day as I reorganized everything, but by the end of the day, everything was far better off than what it was before. I can recognize that I sometimes get too focused on tasks at hand, and I’m always reflecting on ways to be more conscious of how to avoid this.
Tell me about a time you showed leadership
A few years ago, I joined the Northwest Youth Corps, which is a summer program where we travel around the PNW in groups of about 10, and fix up trails damaged by fires or just weather. After a few weeks into the program, a few of my team members were becoming upset that another one of our team members, who was mentally handicap, and was not able to keep up with everyone else’s performance. I felt empathetic towards this team member, and wanted to find a solution myself. I discussed with the team leaders a plan to put Alyssa in charge of specific duties, rather than those we all shared, so that her performance was less limited. For example, instead of being tasked with sawing branches, she could simply pull up weeds and small debris. We also put her in the back of everyone instead of the front, so that no one following her would have reason to be displeased. Me and Alyssa became good friends after this program and still talk on facebook.
Tell me about a time you were successful on a team
When I was serving at the restaurant, one day a customer came in with with a breathing machine, and she told me that every candle needed to be put out in the restaurant. There were over 100 tables in the restaurant, and I couldn’t find any managers to help. I didn’t have time to handle this task alone, and everyone was super busy. So I immediately went to the hosts and asked for them to relay to each server to blow out the candles for the tables in their sections. I view this as a bigger accomplishment than most people would, being in a high stress environment with no assistance requires you to take the initiative to continuously solve unique problems that might come up, and I’m always up for the task to take charge and solve these problems
What would your coworkers say about you?
My coworkers would say I’m self-motivated, and level-headed in stressful situations. I was voted by coworkers and managers for employee of quarter for ideally representing company standards in providing excellent customer service. My coworkers frequently would turn to be when they needed assistance during stressful times, and I always was available to step in whether I was asked or not.
Describe your most challenging project
My most challenging project would have to be when I was tasked with developing a presentation for the Providence Health group, to travel around the state and present to underclassmen at high schools. I had to represent this company in a professional manner, and create exposure to hospital roles in order to motivate students to continue in related career paths. What made this difficult was how diverse the hospital positions were, and the amount of information to summarize accurately from daily interviews. But, I was successful in completing this project, regardless of the pressure.
Tell me about something you’ve accomplished that you are proud of.
When I worked for fox concepts, I managed to outperform my teammates within 2 months of starting the job, I was #1 in sales for 3 consecutive months. I was proud for being able to improve on my customer communication skills so quickly, and compared to some people who have been working for the company for over 5 years.
Tell me about a time you had to manage conflicting priorities
When I worked at fox concepts, on my very first day, I dropped a tray of 10 drinks in the middle bachelorette party. The restaurant was so busy that no one could help me, and I had 6 other tables that were relying on my service. I realized in that moment I had to be very smart with the order of actions I made. I had a table that was just sitting that needed to be greeted, broken glass all over a table, I ran to the back and got towels and dried up the table, and then told them I would be back soon with a broom. I then went to each of my other tables and communicated the situation, and honest, I continued to resolve the issues at the bachelorette party’s table, and within 30 min, I turned the situation around from a terrible restaurant experience, to the entire party repeatedly ordering rounds of drinks.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Within the next 5 years, I want to take on bigger projects and roles within the company I’m in, and progress my industry knowledge to create constant improvements in my work. I hope to be promoted to a leadership position, and thrive within the company I’m in. I want to have increasingly higher goals that I eventually surpass, and I want to build long lasting relationships with my team and customers, to create a fulfilling work experience.
Tell me about a time you failed or made a mistake
A mistake i was most embarrassed for actually involved a table i was serving last year. For the first time ever, I had completely forgotten to put their food order in. I had gotten them a few refills on drinks, but eventually they asked me to check on the food. After I had left the table I had realized my mistake, I immediately put the order in, and came back to the table, and was transparent about my mistake. The table was thankful for my honesty, and was more than happy to wait because they were otherwise having a good experience.
Tell me about a time you worked with a difficult person?
When I was serving, another server had forgotten to great a table for over 15 minutes, so the table got a manager, and then the table was given to me. Immediately the table was extremely frustrated and had no intentions of making conversation with me, as they had already had so much discontent with the situation. I wanted to connect with the table though. It’s virtually impossible for any single person to stay mad if you give them enough kindness. I repeatedly made kind remarks and small talk, and eventually this completely turned around the mood of the table. By the end of the service, the table was laughing and having a good time, and gave me a very generous tip.
Tell me about a time you had to persuade someone
Talk about experience with Jamie
