Suppose you give an example that shows how you had cut the company expenditure by streamlining a process, the interviewer will think you can do the same thing to his company.
Be specific
When in your line of work handling multiple tasks at once is a regular feature, it becomes very difficult to come up with specific examples.
For instance take this case. A candidate with years of experience in publishing business was asked, "Tell me about a time when you had to change your priorities to meet a deadline". He says, "Juggling priorities is a routine affair in the publishing business. There isn't a single day when I was not facing such a pressure." The interviewer insisted on examples. The candidate kept his cool and told him he could give umpteen illustrations. This happened last week -"I had one client on phone, three emails seeking changes in deadlines and literally running to meet two deadlines."
The interviewer is trying to know whether the candidate is flexible enough to handle priorities and deadlines under pressure. As the candidate is well experienced, he might have impressed the hiring manager by illustrating instances where he had demonstrated his organizational skills. He cited an instance how he got things done. He said that he had received a frantic call from one of his managers asking him to attend immediately to make a change in the tight schedule and meet the deadline. What the manager was asking was absolutely impossible. "But with the help of my team and working late into the night, I accomplished the impossible. Next day, the manager appreciated my feat."
Jot down illustrations
It is not enough if you say that you have accomplished something, you must substantiate the accomplishment with an illustration. You must be ready to prove every point in your resume. So preparing for illustrations is essential to be focused before your interview.
Potential behavioral questions
You can be asked about anything under the sky. But here are a few typical questions:
- Tell me about an incident where you felt you were fighting against everyone else. When you thought you were right and everyone else is wrong, what did you do?
- Tell me about an instance where you were not getting cooperation from one of your team members whose value system differs from yours. How did you manage to pull on with him?
- Tell me about an incident that depressed you. What happened and how did you recover?
- Give me an illustration of your success.
- Tell me about an incident where you felt you were fighting against everyone else. When you thought you were right and everyone else is wrong, what did you do?
- Tell me about an instance where you were not getting cooperation from one of your team members whose value system differs from yours. How did you manage to pull on with him?
- Tell me about an incident that depressed you. What happened and how did you recover?
- Give me an illustration of your success.
