Ice Breaker Questions Flashcards
Tell me about your best day at work recently and what made you feel that way.
My favorite or best days at work are when I am asked to participate in a project. Almost any project that my area has, as far as tracking data or IT related issues, is concerned, I am always asked to participate in these. This is because they really never need to explain things to me and I always catch on very quick and can handle whatever task they throw my way.
I like this because I sort of feel like I am doing some ‘data entry’ work, which is something I am good at. Especially when it comes to IT related stuff, it is in line with my skills. As IT related work comes to me so naturally and is easy for me to comprehend.
I also feel like the fact that I am making a difference and the work I am doing helps to contribute to USAA’s mission.
What do you do easily that others find difficult?
I would say that I adapt to situations very easily. One thing we know about USAA, is change is inevitable. Because of this USAA is always trying new things and be the front runner, as such opportunities have presented themselves in my past roles. A lot of these opportunities were the ability to test some of these changes. For example, I helped to pilot the work@home and click-to-chat projects. I did so because I can overcome obstacles very easily and am willing to learn new things. Additionally, I am making a contribution to USAA.
Another example of this was our recent transition to the chat channel from email. It was several years since I last used chat. So now my LOB is different and we were using a different chat tool. So when the transition happened, I was in same boat with my colleagues.
However, I was able to adapt to the change quicker than the rest. I maintained my availability with the recommended metrics of the area, even when we transitioned to dual chat. I then helped my colleagues out by sharing best practices. One of the best practices I went over was setting up various macros in the chat tool.
Tell me about the culture of your last working environment. How did it make you feel?
I loved the culture of my last working environment. Everyone is always willing to help each other out. We also got along very well with each other and could help cheer each other up when someone had a bad day or when they had a difficult member they had to work with. I loved being able to help my colleagues out.
At first, when trying to learn the information given, I was pretty quiet and had more questions then I did answers, but after picking up the information in such a short time in comparison, I was able to contribute to the team a lot more and be there for help when someone else needed it.
This goes to show my adaptability in any environment because I had the least amount of insurance experience on my team, as I transitioned to the insurance department at a much later date, but I was able to answer many of their questions or would know how to find the answer to help them.
All in all though, my team had a very positive outlook on what we did as a whole. So again I loved the interaction we had as a team and the ability to help each other out when it was needed.
Describe what would be the ideal work environment for you.
I recently read a book ‘Strength Finder 2.0’ and completed an assessment found in the book. I discovered that my top three strengths are achiever, learner, and activator. So an ideal work environment for me is being able to utilize these strengths in my job. That is how I know I will excel at that task or job I am given. So the ideal work environment for me would be to learn new things and know what is expected of me and having a goal or task to work toward. Based on my recent shadow sessions with a Digital Manager in the area, I know that this job is that ideal work environment, which will allow me to use the strengths that I possess.
Describe your greatest workplace frustration.
Probably when we have system issues, as this prevents me from doing my work. I also don’t like it because I am not in a position anymore to help out and troubleshoot these system issues. However, it usually does give me the opportunity to try and troubleshoot my own computer issues before calling the help desk, which I like because I’ve always liked this type of work. Then I can report to my team or all of DSS and let them know how to either fix the issue or provide a workout around until the problem is fixed.
A most recent example of this was found in the chat tool. It was a new error and not everyone has experienced the error, but I did. I found that every time the error message popped up, if I clicked refresh, the system would freeze and I would have to close out and reactivate the chat session to get the system to respond again. While I was able to fix the issues, I did find a workout around which was a simple closing the box. However, other representatives were clicking refresh and having the screen freeze every time. I was able to contact help desk to report the issue and give them all the troubleshooting steps that I am allowed and was able to do.
