Interview Responses
Behavioural x 2
Q1: Tell us about a time when you demonstrated initiative
Response 1 - Strong response
SITUATION / For the past year I have been working part time as an assistant editor at RMIT. An issue arose when advertising revenue was falling off for our university student newspaper “Catalyst” , and a large number of long-term advertisers were not renewing contracts.TASK/CHALLENGE / We clearly needed a fresh idea to raise our income.
ACTION / So I took the initiative to design a new promotional package to go with the rate sheet and compared the benefits of our paper’s circulation with other ad media in the area. I also built relationships with staff at the College of Business to see if they could offer us any support regarding our finances. This would help us gain expert advice without cost to the paper. Through this I was able to set up a special training session for the Account Officers with a School of Business Administration lecturer who discussed competitive selling strategies.
RESULTS / As a result we signed contracts with 15 former advertisers for daily ads and five for special supplements. We increased our new advertisers by 20 percent over the same period last year.
Response 2 - average response
SITUATION / Last month, I was working part time as an assistant editor at RMIT. Advertising revenue was falling off for our university student newspaper “Catalyst” , and large number of long-term advertisers were not renewing contracts.TASK/CHALLENGE / We clearly needed a fresh idea to raise our income.
ACTION / So I took the initiative to design a new promotional package to go with the rate sheet and compared the benefits of our paper’s circulation with other ad media in the area. I was also able to set up a special training session for the Account Officers with a School of Business Administration lecturer who discussed competitive selling strategies.
RESULTS / …..
Response 3 - weak response
I often demonstrate initiative. I think it’s really important for new recruits to bring in fresh ideas and new ways of looking at things. So every job I’ve ever had I’ve always made sure that I take the time at the start to see if I can see anything that could be improved and I let my supervisor know. They’ve always been really appreciative of my feedback and I’ve been told I have good ideas. So you can be sure I’ll show initiative with your company.
Q2: Describe a time in which you had to schedule your activities to meet an objective.
Response 1: strong response
SITUATION / During my time working at DDC telecommunications as a sales officer.TASK / I had to complete a sales report every month. This involved collating and presenting a large amount of information.
ACTION / It was my role to schedule all the data collecting tasks for the company. Each department was given a monthly deadline to submit information to me, and to assist them keep on track during busy times, I also scheduled reminders to be sent out to them before the deadline. To make sure I wasn’t over committed around report deadlines I set blocked out time in my online calendar each month to collate all the information. I then allocated time to prepare and present the report.
RESULTS / This process worked very well for me and I always comfortably met my deadline to present this information at the monthly management meeting.
Response 2: average response
SITUATION / …..TASK / …..
ACTION / I scheduled all the data collecting tasks for my company. Each department has a monthly deadline to submit information to me. I scheduled reminders to be sent out to them before the deadline. I schedule time in my online calendar each month to collate all the information, as well as time to prepare and present the report.
RESULTS / This process worked very well for me. I always met my deadline to present this information at the monthly management meeting.
Motivational
Q1: Can you share with the interview panel why you would like to work for our organisation/company?
Response 1: strong response
Based on the research I've done, this company is an industry leader. I have been reading a lot in recent press about your new CEO Geoff Wilson and the company’s renewed focus on new technologies and product features. I am particularly interested in the delivery of new solutions to customers such as the development of cognitive computer systems and how it can be used to enhance the user experience. I would love to work for a company that creates a great environment for rewarding innovation, where I can solve complex problems, challenge myself and learn from experienced people who are also passionate about this. From my discussions with your recruitment coordinator at the RMIT careers fair it sounds like this is just the company for that.
Response 2: average response
I have always wanted to work for your company. I love your software products and I have used them for many years. This job would be perfect for me as there are so many opportunities for training and professional development so I could hopefully progress to the next level very quickly.
Response 3: weak response
I’ve heard it’s a great company and I’d love to work here.
Q2: What inspired you to pursue a career in Mechanical engineering?
Response 1: strong response
Maths and physics were my favourite subjects at school and I have always found that I have grasped these subjects and problem-solving quite easily. I have always been very creative with a natural curiosity about how things work. At the same time, I love working with my hands to build things. I have grown up restoring old cars with my dad and older brothers and find it so rewarding to work together toward getting something working at its best again.
This love of working with cars was further enhanced at university where I got involved with a lot of hands-on projects including designing and building a car that we later raced in the Formula SAE competition at RMIT where we competed against over 500 teams. It was fantastic to place in the top 10 with our fully sustainable electric car and helped reinforce to me that this is exactly what I’d like to be doing in my career.
I find it very exciting to know that I am in a career that is at the forefront of developing new technologies within the automotive industry.
Weakness x 1
Q:
Now that you have provided us with some insight into your personal strengths, could you please tell us about your weaknesses?
Public Speaking Response 1 (strong)
Like many other people I have always found public speaking to be a bit of a challenge and not something I was comfortable with or particularly good at. This was actually confirmed for me during my first year at Uni when I received quite a low mark for an in-class presentation. As a result of that experience I decided that public speaking was an area I really needed to improve upon as I knew this skill would be important in the workplace.
During my second and third years at Uni I went out of my way to find opportunities to speak in front of groups, just to get some experience under my belt. I made sure to try to obtain some concrete feedback from audience members about what I did well and where I needed to improve.
When I was able to I prepared ahead of time, practised and rehearsed and I often used prompts such as small cards with dot points or aPPT presentation. By the end of third year I was receiving much higher grades for my in class presentation; I even achieved an HD for one.
Whilst I think public speaking might always be a challenge for me, I have found ways to improve my skills and take them to a much higher level and through that i have seen a significant improvement in my self confidence which has also improved the quality of my public speaking.
Public speaking response 2: (weak response)
I’m not so good at public speaking. I’ve never really liked speaking to big crowds. I think that’s pretty common. I’ll do it when I have to, but most of the time I negotiate with someone else to do it for me who doesn’t mind them so much and I’ll do some of their work in it’s place. Because of that it’s not really a problem.
Organisational Skills Response 1 (strong):
I discovered when I started uni that i wasn’t a very well organised person. I struggled a to manage all the different aspects of my life, social and my part time job and then of course Uni. I was falling behind with my work and got a bit stressed. I attended a half day organisational and study skills workshop offered at Uni and that really changed my approach to everything. Through that workshop I learned so much about how to develop ‘“project plans” about how to allocate my time to meet deadlines, about prioritising. All the basics I suppose. Now whenever I start a semester, a new assignment or project the first thing I do is map out my timelines and priorities, commit myself (using my diary) to particular milestones and just keep monitoring my progress. These skills have actually enabled me to take the lead in organising my group in a couple of group assignments and I have been able to keep the group on track and able to meet our deadline.I am actually proud of how I have been able to turn things around and now I find that I am a much better organised person as well as a well organised student.
Response 2 (weak response)
I’m a real perfectionist. I don’t like to hand anything in until it’s what I consider 100%. This often means I have to put in extra hours of my own time, but I don’t mind. It’s more important for me to get things to the best they could be.