Displaying Interview Questions 25-32

25. Have you ever had difficulty with a supervisor or instructor? How did you resolve the conflict?

Sample excellent response:
Yes, I had an incident with my Spanish professor. I turned in an essay that she said was too good to be mine. I was honest with her; I told her that I had a native speaker review the essay, but he made very few corrections. However, I had broken the Golden Rule of Spanish Composition -- the essay must not even touch the hands of a native speaker. To prove to her that I was capable of producing an essay that exceeded her expectations of a non-native speaker, I offered to re-write another essay in her office. I earned an A-minus.

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26. Tell me about a major problem you recently handled. Were you successful in resolving it?

Sample excellent response:
While working at K-mart, I was one of three people to work in the electronics department. One day upon arriving at work, I was told the district manager was coming the next day to do a store inspection. The two other people who worked in electronics were both over 55. Neither could lift heavy objects, and one refused to work at all. As a result, the electronics department was usually left to me to keep stocked with product and kept in order. I had about five hours of work time to get the entire department in order. Those five hours passed around, and there was still a substantial amount of work to be done. I asked the store manager if I could stay and work after hours while the overnight stockers were there. He said that because of the employment budget, he could not let me. I was faced with bringing the entire store's rating down, so I suggested a creative staffing solution, allowing me to work the extra hours while temporarily reducing the hours of the other two members of the department. Because of this solution, in a matter of hours, the department was in tip-top shape -- and still under budget. And the results? The electronics department got a score of 95 out of 100.

27. Would you say that you can easily deal with high-pressure situations?

Sample excellent response:
Yes. My past experience as an Administrative Coordinator required me to deal with many serious situations since I held emergency on-call duties as a supervisor. One example was when I was called by a Resident Assistant to deal with an attempted suicide on her residence hall floor. The situation required that I think clearly and quickly in this life-and-death situation. I had to weigh the many tasks that needed to be completed. I had to assign RAs to call 911, make sure that EMS could get into the locked building, while at the same time applying first aid, and ensuring that the rest of the residents on the floor were OK. I also had to make sure the privacy of the resident in need was respected. I basically prioritized and dealt with each task by its importance. I delegated responsibility to RAs for things that they were capable of handling because I could not physically be in many places at once. Once the resident was taken to the hospital, I was responsible for paperwork and follow up to make sure the staff members, residents, and the resident-in-need adjusted back to "normal" life. I know this is an extreme example not found in the financial consulting field; however, it shows just how well I can deal with extreme pressure.

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28. What quality or attribute do you feel will most contribute to your career success?

Sample excellent response:
My greatest strength is my flexibility. I have learned that work conditions change from day to day and throughout the day, as well, no matter where I have worked in the past. I also have realized that certain projects require individual attention and others involve a teamwork approach. These are just a few examples of the changes that happen in the financial consulting field, as you are well aware. My flexibility to adapt to the different demands of the job has allowed me to surpass my supervisor's expectations.

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29. What personal weakness has caused you the greatest difficulty in school or on the job?

Sample excellent response (shows how he recognized his weakness and worked to improve):
My greatest weakness had been delegation. I would take it upon myself to do many small projects throughout my shift as a manager that could have been done by others in an attempt to improve my workers' efficiency. Once I realized that I was doing more work than the other assistant managers, and they were achieving better results, I reevaluated what I was doing. I quickly realized that if I assigned each person just one small project at the beginning of their shift, clearly state expectations for the project, and then follow up that everything would get done, and I could manage much more efficiently and actually accomplish much more.

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30. What were your reasons for selecting your college or university?

Sample excellent response (tells how education specifically will benefit the employer):
My college has always had a reputation as having an excellent accounting department, so I knew that if I enrolled there, I would achieve first-class preparation for my chosen career field. It is also a highly accredited school known for satisfying employers with the preparation of its graduates -- that's why companies like yours recruit at my school -- the school produces top graduates. The school offers an excellent liberal-arts background, which research shows equips graduates with numerous qualities, such as versatility and strong critical-thinking skills. Finally, having visited the campus before enrolling, I knew that the business school emphasized group projects. During my four years in the school, I participated in more than 35 group projects, which taught me invaluable teamwork, communication, and interpersonal skills.

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31. If you could change or improve anything about your college, what would it be?

Sample excellent response:
My major department had a wonderful internship program, and I was able to complete three valuable internships with my department's guidance. Some other departments in the business school don't have internship programs that are as strong as my department's. I'd like to see all the departments have strong internship programs so all my school's business grads would have the same opportunities that I had.

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32. How will the academic program and coursework you've taken benefit your career?

Sample excellent response (response is very specific to the job he is interviewing for):
As you will note on my resume, I've taken not only the required core classes for the finance field, I've also gone above and beyond by double majoring in accounting. I doubled majored since I knew that the financial consulting field requires much knowledge of portfolio analysis and understanding of the tax laws. I believe that my success in both areas of study have specifically prepared me for this area. But it's not just taking the classes in these two areas that allows me to offer Merrill Lynch clients more. I minored in Spanish to understand the growing hispanic clientele in the Central Florida area, which as you are well aware is a growing source of revenue for the industry. If you like, I can elaborate on other aspects of my education further.

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