Work Ethic Interview Questions & Answers Flashcards
Tell me about a time you faced a challenging situation. How did you overcome it?
In my previous job at a software company, I have worked on several challenging projects. One time I was asked to work with a small team on a marketing pitch deck for the healthcare vertical.
We got the project because of our reputation and ability to take on the project on short notice. It was a great opportunity for us to show what we were capable of doing in a short amount of time.
Then, two weeks before the pitch deck presentation, the client requested us to change the entire plan. It turned out that they were unhappy with our first concept and stated that it differed too much from the initial idea that they had in mind.
Tell me about a time you worked well as part of a team.
I tend to do well in team settings because I can relate to others well, approach situations professionally, and through my experience, understand what it takes to get the job done.
For example, in my previous position, I worked as a team leader on a project that involved members from different departments with different backgrounds and skills. This group was put together to finalize the project as a collective and produce a result that we could not have achieved individually. As you can imagine, ongoing and clear communication was very important during this project.
I led the project and broke the project down into weekly sprints to help us reach our targets. Besides weekly meetings, I organized a short 15-minute session at the start of each day, where each team member would answer the following three questions: 1. What did I do since yesterday? 2. What will I do today? And what problems am I running into? These meetings made sure that everybody could continue their work instead of waiting for the weekly meeting to discuss their issues.
For me, this was a great way to stay in constant communication with the team and not only focus on our own goals but also helping team members in reaching theirs. The result of the project is that we provided five distinct deliverables and recorded over $100,000 is cost savings in the last two quarters.
How did you overcome it?
We organized a brainstorming meeting with the team to figure out what exactly went wrong, at which point in the development of the pitch deck. After several hours we concluded that some parts of the project were developed based on assumptions without clearly asking the client for approval before moving on. I asked if I could take the lead on redeveloping the pitch deck. For me, this was a challenge, as well as a great opportunity.
It was a challenge because I had never created a pitch deck working at this company, and we had a short amount of time. Still, it was a great opportunity because I had experience with creating these decks in several of my prior jobs, so it was a great chance to demonstrate my skills. I overcame the challenge by getting the goals clear of what the client exactly wanted, analyzing their feedback, and setting up small milestones to track progress in the two weeks we had left.
We kept in touch with the client throughout the redevelopment process of the pitch deck and finished and submitted it one day before the deadline. Ultimately the client was very happy with our work, and we are still working with them today.
Include what you learned from dealing with this challenging situation.
For me, the most important learning from this project is that it’s important to get the goals clear before a project starts.
Furthermore, my experience taught me that the best way to work on challenging projects is to create milestones to track progress.
Now, at the start of a new project, I focus on the most difficult parts and challenges of the project so that I know as soon as possible if there are any issues or attention areas.
If this is the case, I have more than enough time to work on this before any deadlines.
A detailed plan to work on a project is essential to finish it successfully.
Describe your work ethic.
By asking you to describe your work ethic, interviewers try to get more information about how you fit into the company culture and what you’re like as an employee. In other words, how you will most likely behave on the job if you get hired.
The interviewer wants to get a sense of your personality as well. They want to find if you’re willing to go above and beyond to finish your tasks if you’re a team worker or rather work individually etc.
Give me an example of a time you had to adapt to a change in the workplace.
Situation: In my previous position, I encountered a situation that required me to quickly adapt to changes in the organization.
Task: After our company was sold to a major player in the market, a lot of our management teams and protocols changed as well. As a result, new systems were implemented, and we needed to adjust as soon as possible to ensure a smooth transition between the company processes.
Action: I took the initiative to get familiar with the new systems and software to make sure that I could stay productive and would not fall behind on my daily tasks.
Result: After learning to work with the new systems, I found out that these were actually beneficial for my productivity. The company that bought us developed tailor-made software for all departments, and therefore the transition went smoothly. As a result, I was pretty happy that we got to use these new systems to increase our output.
Good answers include:
1) the it is related and relevant to the workplace.
2) shows important skills such as being pro-active, problem-solving skills, and adaptability.
3) State the results: new situation led to increased productivity, which gives more weight to the scenario in which you had to adapt.
Tell me about a time when you had to perform a task in which you had little or no experience in doing. How did you approach this situation, and what did you learn?
Situation: ‘In my previous position, my manager had to unexpectedly leave for six months due to a medical condition.
Task: Because of this unexpected turn of events, our director asked me to step in as an interim manager. At the time, I was familiar with the basics of management and what my manager was looking for in our team because I worked with her for quite some time. However, I was certainly not trained to be a manager yet.
Action: I accepted the interim position because I enjoy challenges and was confident enough to think that I could do it. I gathered the team and told them about the situation we were in. Also, I asked them to cooperate together as well as possible and that we had to get through this period together. Furthermore, I asked another manager to coach me during the process to make sure all projects would stay on track, and the team would stay productive.
Result: We managed to get through the six months very well, and all the projects were finished on time. When my manager returned, she was very pleased with the work the team delivered, and I even got compliments from our director. My performance led to me being promoted to team manager myself at the end of that year.’
Why is this a good answer?
This example shows that you’re not hesitating when uncertain events occur but also that you possess management skills and leadership potential.
The provided example is related but also relevant to the workplace. It show’s that you’re able to adapt when a situation asks for it.
This answer shows important skills such as being proactive, problem-solving skills, teamwork, adaptability, and creativity.
Your choice of taking up the task of interim manager turned out successful, which gives more weight to the situation you discuss in which you had to adapt.
Describe a situation in which a crucial deadline was nearing, but you didn’t want to compromise quality. How did you deal with it?
Situation: While a Sr Technical Architect, A Lot of testing to be done but new efforts coming in that needed test plans and day filled with calls so unable to provide needed concentration to write needed test scripts.
Action: Stayed late one day after all calls done and was out of Q reach and Analyzed business requirements and forecasted time needed to take to complete test cases, outlined how many extra hours would need to create thorough test cases.
Result: sticking to the outlined planned I had to work extra 2 hours each day and on 3 -4 on weekends but because I was able to forecast it accordingly, I met testing and test plan requirements During regular I kept up with current test and not compromise quality of work.
Describe a time when you gave long hours to the job. For example, tell me about when you took work home, worked on weekends, or maintained long hours.
Action: To have the smallest impact on my personal life and to ensure I was making steady progress, I decided that I would test as much as I could in the day then also stay an extra hour and half after work and then come in to work, then also come in an hour in half later the next, the reason for this would be I would stay in the office and miss the heavy work traffic on the way home, then instead of coming in at regular time I would log in earlier at home and complete early testing.
Resolution: Because I added the extra time around the heavy commute hours I was able to get more work done during times when I would just be sitting in traffic allowing me to not compromise too much valuable family time and it also allowed me to not be interrupted as most people were logged off at this time, providing Quality work and also made the drives to and from work more peaceful while driving to and from work.
Tell me about the most complex information you have had to read - perhaps involving research you had to complete. To what extent did this project test your comprehension skills and technical knowledge?
SITUATION: Introduction of transfer of billing responsibility into myAT&T was one of the most complicated Business requirement documentation that I have read. I was given this project to lead after joining the UAT team. This document was huge, if I recall correctly, it was about 150 pages of straight requirements.
TASK:
ACTION: In order to have a full understanding I basically began this project with page 1 and reading through each user case for a complete understanding of what the business requirements were outlining. I would also collaborate the requirements with wireframes as well as the Content Requirement documents to make understanding the requirements easier.
In cases of confusion I would write down questions to ask the business client and/or requirements writer. To ensure I had the correct understanding I would phrase the question in my own language to ensure my understanding was correct. In some cases, emails and Q’s were not enough to grasp the understanding I desired; I would open AT&T connect conference calls with all impacted parties to ensure we were all on the same page.
RESOLUTION: The Resolution was in the beginning of the project I knew absolutely nothing of this project but after putting in some time and asking relevant questions and opening needed bridges; I quickly became very knowledgeable in the project and become a Subject matter expert among my peers. With this new knowledge I was able to complete Quality test plans to allow the project to be tested and implemented successfully.
What would you do if a manager or supervisor asked you to do something against your own ethics?
Several years ago in my first role as a retail associate, I witnessed a coworker taking cash from one of the registers. At first, it looked just like changing over the drawer, but I decided to confront the staff member anyway.
The employee was actually taking money from the register, and I took the cash they had from the drawer, placed it back in the register and notified my supervisor.
We were able to resolve the issue through balancing the cash drawer and ensuring that particular employee was unable to commit theft from the company again.
What would you do if you witnessed a coworker doing something unethical?
“When I worked at a small hospital as an RN, I noticed a nurse’s aide was behaving erratically. The first incident involved the aide forgetting to administer very important medications, which I attributed to the employee’s skill level.
I first discussed it with them and helped provide support and guidance to help the employee improve. However, the employee began displaying erratic behavior again.
I notified our nurse manager of the employee’s behavior. It was found that the employee was working while intoxicated, putting patients at risk, and the employee was terminated.
What would you do if you witnessed a coworker doing something unethical?
In my first elementary teaching position, I witnessed a colleague changing the scores on her students’ tests. When I asked her why she explained that she was just rounding up so the grades would be whole percentage points. While the school’s funding always depended on the cumulative average of student achievement on standardized state assessments, cheating is a legally and morally inappropriate approach to obtain it. I notified the principal and assistant principal of the teacher’s cheating so proper disciplinary action could be taken. Student achievement is very important to me, and to change their grades diminishes their efforts.
