Competency Questions Flashcards
Tell me about a time when you stepped up/meet a short deadline? (STARL)
MDLZ Coding Review:
S: team was asked to input on a Nielsen Coding Review for the new Nielsen Biscuits Segmentation. Someone had to fill in for two colleagues who were on annual leave.
T: To segment two different categories of biscuits despite no prior experience in a short amount of time alongside workload.
A: To understand the task, I kept in close contact with my manager and Nielsen experts to learn about how different products should be coded within the two categories as it was important for the coding to be as accurate as possible. Some colleagues were struggling to manage the workload and where I could, I offered to support to ensure the deadline was met.
R: Coding review was a success and I received great feedback from my colleagues given my lack of experience.
L: If I was to do this task differently/better, I would take a course on Advanced Excel as I witnessed more experienced colleagues using useful formulas that could have reduced the time it took to complete the task.
Tell me about a time where you demonstrated teamwork? (STARL)
S: Christmas time is a busy and critical period for customers who must ensure they have adequate stock of medicine to last over the holiday and turbulent weather. I quickly noticed that some of the newer staff were duplicating tasks, perhaps due to a lack of communication, which meant that other tasks such as prepping deliveries which needed to be completed in a short time, were not being attended to.
T: work as a team to manage unprecedented demand, ensuring that stock was being replenished, prescriptions were being filled in-store/online, dealing with distressed patients.
A: To rectify, I pulled everyone together and communicated the assigned tasks to the team which brought back focus, allowing for all tasks to be completed efficiently without overcommitting resources.
R: By reminding others of their tasks, this allowed the team to manage the demand in-store with speed and accuracy, which reduced the stress in the environment and fostered better communication.
L: At the start of the day I fell short by assuming that team members new their roles already, however I didn’t take into account new staff…
Tell me about a time where you’ve received criticism/feedback/failed? (STARL)
S: My manager had noticed a change in my mood following a presentation on some MDLZ seasonal statistics to category colleagues.
Tell me about a time where you’ve had to resolve conflict.
S: As part of the Tech Allies Network programme, my team had to come up with a technological solution to a societal problem. We chose to tackle the problem of food wastage and tuned our focus toward university students due to familiarity of experience and the target market. During the prototyping phase, it was time for us to start finalising the solution. However, there was widespread disagreement due to individual ideas - Alexa, a website, an app.
T: Due to tension, I felt I had to diffuse the situation as the conversation was going around in circles and the deadline was already fast approaching.
A: First of all, I suggested we all take some time to reflect and take a break, encouraging my team to get some fresh air to clear our minds as I found a change in environment and atmosphere very much helped. I then asked everyone to meet back in the meeting room soon after where I suggested an elevator pitch be performed for each idea, allowing others to listen to strengths and weaknesses of each idea. Finally, I suggested a vote to decide on the best idea.
R: As a result, the group came to the conclusion that the app was the best idea overall and we promised to commit to this in preparation for the presentation to industry leaders the next morning. Upon presenting the idea, we managed to win the Best Idea & Pitch Award.
L: I would not let my emotions get the better of me!
Tell me about a time when you’ve demonstrated leadership.
S: It was coming to the last two months of my internship with MDLZ and one of my development goals was to lead on a project. I had previously been interested in exploring the online space and how we could optimise our presence and offerings, however a specialist team was created for this! My manager had suggested looking into channel strategy for biscuits.
T: My task was to identify opportunities and risks associated with our brands and presence in channels across grocery multiples, IC, discounters and the online space to create a big picture informing the future of channel strategy.
A: using Excel and Nielsen, I manually pulled a variety of sales data relevant to our brands, the market and channel presence. Using a formula, I calculated the sales under/overindexes across brands by channel and colour coded the results to simplify this. I also calculated the total investment opportunities across the channels. I created a front page clarifying the purpose, methodology and how to interpret the document to avoid confusion and also presented this in a category-wide forum.
R: As a result, I received positive feedback and praise from my team and colleagues and responded to questions and implemented improvements where necessary, laying the foundations of future channel strategy.
L: communication with manager and controller.
Tell me about a time where you showed good communication.
S: During the NCS, my team had to define a cause to fundraise for as part of the project. Myself and a few others had suggested fundraising for Emily’s Star which is a charity providing support for neonatal issues. However, some members didn’t understand the opportunity and therefore felt reluctant to get involved.
T: My task was to approach these members to clearly communicate the ‘why’ behind the idea.
A: I asked said members to come together and I explained, in detail, the reasons as to why I suggested the idea, such as why it’s close to my heart, how it has helped families and its wider impact on society. If questions were raised, I actively listened and addressed these.
R: As a result, the members got onboard with the idea and I had asked them how they’d like to contribute and make an impact, which they welcomed and made clear.
Tell me about a time where you showed good organisation.
S: Cranfield Business Challenge - regional business simulation challenge quarter-finals representing my secondary school. Came in confident into the first round having understood the brief, however it became clear that as we didn’t define roles, there was task duplication, therefore decision-making didn’t take into account all information available. After this first round, we scored 10th on the leaderboard.
T: I felt I had to step in the short break to discuss this with the team and delegate roles according to my team’s strengths and interests.
A: During the short break between the round, I called my team together and discussed where I thought we were being short, expressing that we would often analyse one piece of info together which meant we had less time to analyse other pieces, which led to tunnel-visioned decision-making. I suggested splitting up to handle a source each as this would allow us to consider all information available, spending the last few mins of the round weighing this up and making decisions accordingly.
R: As a result, the team was a lot more coordinated and everyone had their own responsibilities, leaving more time for discussion before final decisions. This strategy propelled us into the semi-final stages!
Tell me about a time where you solved a problem.
S: Iain Livingston from the leadership team had touched based with Cat Dev Biscuits in order to understand the various KPI reports available and the current performance of MDLZ vs. competitors and total market. Upon reviewing the reports as a team, I recognised that one of the reports had inconsistencies in how the data was represented. The report also didn’t display a range of brands. I relayed this to my team who agreed and I put myself forward to correct this.
T: After examining the report in question, I realised that there was no easy way of correcting the inconsistency without compromising the accuracy of the data and felt I had to rebuild the report.
A: To solve this issue, I pulled the Nielsen sales data into an Excel document and manually configured the formulas line-by-line to match that of the old report and this was so that the formatting was consistent with other reports in the set. I also took the time to add in any brands that were missing, e.g. NPD, to create a fuller picture. I also recommended that for ease of interpretation, I would attach this report in an email to the leadership team each week to summarise any key changes to avoid confusion.
R: I received great praise and from the team and Iain and this served as a starting point for further impromptu communication and discussion.
Tell me about a time where you showed creativity.
S: Was fairly quiet during the first month or two of my internship, was super eager to get involved with the team as much as possible.
T: Approached by Gareth S about Belvita and how performance since COVID-19 has taken a real slump due to changing consumer behaviour. My task was to investigate how other brands have repositioned themselves during COVID-19 for success.
A: Did my own research into a range of brands that had adjusted their comms, advertising, etc… and suggested ways that Belvita could reposition itself to become more relevant.
R: Upon sharing with my team, they asked me to present this in an upcoming CPM. I received some great feedback from the audience and team and this was shared with the team who were working on Belvita recovery.
