Interview Tip: Focus on how you will benefit the company, showing your key skills and the value they provide an employer.
Interview Tip: Focus on how you will benefit the company, showing your key skills and the value they provide an employer.
Your potential to grow into a new job is important, but you also need to demonstrate your key skills. Usually, a company will expect you to add value almost immediately after starting. Showing how you can do this will improve the impression you make in an interview.
Answering behavioral interview questions can be challenging due the level of detail required. Behavioral interview questions assess past performance of a job candidate in order to predict how the individual will perform in the future. To impress a hiring manager, answers need to be specific and detailed.
Answering behavioral interview questions can be challenging due the level of detail required. Behavioral interview questions assess past performance of a job candidate in order to predict how the individual will perform in the future. To impress a hiring manager, answers need to be specific and detailed.
Behavioral interview questions require the candidate to tell a story. The questions cannot be answered with a yes or no. The best answers will give a detailed example that frames the situation, details the actions taken and gives the results of those actions. Providing an answer with these elements will allow the hiring manager to picture how the candidate performed in the past, leaving a strong, memorable impression.
Many candidates answer in generalities when posed behavioral questions. This is a big mistake. General answers do little to differentiate the candidate, leaving an impression that the candidate is average and ordinary. Instead, a focused example, with clear results, will make the best impact.
Below is a behavioral question followed by two answers. The first answer is a typical general answer many candidates give. The second answer provides a detailed example. Following each answer is an assessment of the effectiveness of the answer.
Example Question: Tell me about a time when a major supplier had significant quality issues with materials shipped to you.
General Answer: Managing supplier quality is a constant challenge. We have supplier scorecards we use to track quality, and perform quality audits on a routine basis. When a major quality problem occurs, we contact the vendor and work to the resolve the problem quickly. This includes traveling to the vendor or having the vendor travel to our facility to work on resolving the problem.
General Answer Assessment: This answer fails to answer the question. It describes how quality problems are dealt with, but does not provide a specific example. Many job seekers make this mistake with behavioral questions. For questions about routine activities, the candidate discusses activity in generalities. Answers like this will not be remembered and will not help sell the candidate to the hiring manager.
Specific Example Answer: Managing supplier quality is a constant challenge. Usually, we can resolve quality issues quickly, without affecting production schedules. One situation I encountered proved to be especially challenging. We had a key raw material with very high quality specifications. Any deviation from these specs made it impossible for us to produce a product to our customer’s requirements. The key vendor we used was located outside of New Orleans. After Katrina hit, it was a major priority to get them up and running. Within a week of the storm hitting, I relocated to their location to monitor the plant restart. The storm damaged some key equipment, leading to fluctuations in quality. It was clear that fixing their problems was not going to happen overnight. I traveled to potential vendors in six countries over a two week period and found two suppliers that could provide this key raw material within our specifications. We expedited shipment and only lost eight production days due to the supply interruption. Today, we divide our purchasing between our original supplier and the two new suppliers, mitigating any risk we might face from a situation like this in the future.
Specific Example Answer Assessment: This answer is specific and addresses the question directly. The example is easy to follow and demonstrates exactly what the job candidate did to solve the problem. In addition, the answer discusses how the supply interruption led to sourcing changes (adding additional suppliers) to ensure that this situation is never repeated.
When preparing for a behavioral interview, develop a number of stories from your experience you can tell. This will allow you to adapt to a wide range of questions. Providing specific examples will also make your answers more memorable.
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Sourcing manages the process a company uses to find and acquire materials with the supply chain function. A selection of behavioral interview questions targeted to activities and challenges within the sourcing field is provided.
Behavioral interviews focus on assessing the past performance of a job candidate. The questions explore specific situations and activities the job seeker is likely to have experienced. This makes behavioral interviewing a good tool in selecting sourcing professionals.
Sourcing manages the process a company uses to find and acquire materials within the supply chain function. The complexity of sourcing, especially from international suppliers, opens the door to a very wide range of interview questions. Below is a selection of behavioral interview questions that can help prepare for a supply chain interview:
Tell me about a time when you switched from a domestic to an international supplier for a major raw material.
Tell me about the greatest sourcing challenge you have faced in your career.
Tell me about the most difficult vendor relationship you have managed.
Tell me about a time when you made a poor decision in selecting vendors.
Tell me about a time when you assessed the risk of a supply interruption from a source of critical purchased materials.
Tell me about a time when you reduced the landed cost of a material by sourcing from a supplier with a higher unit cost.
Tell me about a time when a major supplier had significant quality issues with materials shipped to you.
Tell me about a time when a cultural issue between you and a vendor or potential vendor led to a collapse of the relationship.
Tell me about a time when you reduced raw material inventory levels without affecting customer service.
Tell me about a time when you utilized intermodal transportation for a key material.
Tell me about a time when you utilized a freight forwarder.
Tell me about a time when you utilized a 3PL.
Tell me about a time when you conducted an audit of a potential vendor overseas.
Tell me about a time when you had to overcome significant security concerns in an international market.
Tell me about a time when you replaced a preferred vendor due to changes in exchange rates.
Tell me about a time when miscommunication with a vendor led a conflict with the vendor.
Tell me about a time when you utilized a international procurement office to identify and manage vendors.
These questions cover a variety of topics related to supply chain and sourcing roles. With the thousands of potential interview questions, it is unlikely you will see many from this list in each interview. Despite this, preparing for these questions will help your interview performance.
Almost all companies will have challenges with some of the topics in the list. If you are prepared to discuss these challenges, few questions about your sourcing experience will be difficult.
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Interview Tip: Prepare to discuss how you stay organized and meet deadline.
Interview Tip: Prepare to discuss how you stay organized and meet deadlines.
Virtually all jobs require organization and a sense of urgency. It is important in an interview to be able to address your organization and time management skills. Being organized will not get you hired, but projecting disorganization and unreliability will cause you to be rejected.
These behavioral interview questions will help you prepare for an interview for a production scheduling position.
Production schedulers develop the forecasts and production plans for manufacturing operations. These positions are critical to the success of a company and have to adapt to changing business conditions quickly. This makes behavioral interviews a great choice for assessing production scheduling candidates.
A behavioral interview focuses on assessing the candidate’s past performance by asking questions about specific situations the candidate has encountered. Some of the behavioral questions you may see for a production scheduling position include:
To be successful answering behavioral interview questions, you need to discuss specific situations. A clear, easily understood story of a challenge you faced, how you dealt with the challenge and the results of your actions can make a very impressive presentation.
Failing to prepare for a behavioral interview makes it very difficult to succeed. The best presentation requires specific details of the situations discussed. A general answer, lacking specificity, will not make a strong impression and will not be remembered.
The questions listed about above cover a range of challenges a production scheduler may face, but they are far from an inclusive list. There are thousands of potential interview questions. The key to preparing is to develop stories you can use to answer a variety of questions. If done effectively, preparing a number of stories can allow you to adapt to almost any interview question.
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Behavioral interviews are a type of interview that asks the candidate to describe specific situations from their experience. This interview type is becoming more common with many companies. If you want to be prepared for every interview, working on behavioral interview techniques is one element your should include in your interview preparation.
Behavioral interviews are a type of interview that asks the candidate to describe specific situations from their experience. This interview type is becoming more common with many companies. If you want to be prepared for every interview, working on behavioral interview techniques is one element you should include in your interview preparation.
It is very difficult to excel in a behavioral interview if you haven’t prepared for this specific type. The interview style requires you to tell very specific stories from your background. Trying to select and tell the best story, emphasizing your strongest skills and showing how you will succeed, is extremely difficult on the fly. You may nail one or two questions, but it’s likely you will bomb a few too. If you are competing against a candidate that has prepared thoroughly, you will be at a distinct disadvantage.
Although being prepared for a common interview type should be enough motivation to work on behavioral interview preparation, there is another important reason you should improve your behavioral interviewing skills:
Behavioral interview techniques can be applied to non-behavioral interviews.
At its core, behavioral interviewing emphasizes storytelling. You will be asked to describe times when you encountered situations similar to the situations in the job you are seeking. The stories you prepare should show your skills, experience, attitude and character. All of these elements are important in every interview. Learning to provide examples that demonstrate your performance will help set you apart in any interview.
The better you get at showing an interviewer how you have performed, the more effective your interviews will be. Hiring managers want to know what they are going to get when they hire someone. Despite this, many job seekers are vague in their presentations. Every job seeker is going to claim to be hard working, a good communicator, good with people, knowledgeable in their field and successful in their career. If you make the same assertions as everyone else, you will look like everyone else.
Using behavioral interview techniques allows you to show the interviewer how you have performed in the past. You can make a strong, memorable impression by describing, very clearly, what you did and what the results were.
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Interviewing tip from Palladian. Get expert coaching to improve your interview skills.
Interview Tip: During your interview prep, focus on how you communicate the contributions you have made in the past and the the value you will provide to an employer.
At the end of an interview, you want the interviewer having a clear idea how you will perform in their organization. To do this, you need to focus on their needs – the goals, objectives and challenges that they must meet, and show how you have performed in similar situations in the past.
Behavioral interviews include questions about specific situations in your career. This question type is open-ended and requires you to give details of how you acted in the past. A number of manufacturing firms conduct behavioral interviews and even more incorporate behavioral questions.
Behavioral interviews include questions about specific situations in your career. This question type is open-ended and requires you to give details of how you acted in the past. A number of manufacturing firms conduct behavioral interviews and even more incorporate behavioral questions in their interview process.
Virtually any work situation can be the focus of a behavioral interview question. Preparing for a wide range of questions is essential. I’ve gathered a number of sample behavioral questions that relate to manufacturing and production management positions.
Tell me about a time when you reengineered a process.
Tell me about a time when you increased throughput in a process.
Tell me about a time when you eliminated a bottleneck.
Tell me about a time when your actions resulted in greater efficiencies of your team.
Tell me about a time when your department was overstaffed.
Tell me about a time when your department was understaffed.
Tell me about a time when your team’s morale was very low.
Tell me about a time when you made an unpopular decision.
Tell me about a time when you dealt with a conflict between people within your department.
Tell me about a time when you encountered quality problems in your department.
Tell me about a time when you needed another department to do something that helped your department’s performance but hurt that department’s performance.
Tell me about a time when you managed a large capital project.
Tell me about a time when your team was performing below expectations.
Tell me about a time when you installed new equipment in your department.
Tell me about a time when you reduced downtime.
This list of behavioral interview questions is just a sampling of the questions you might encounter in a manufacturing interview. There are thousands of potential interview questions you might be asked. It is impossible to prepare a unique answer for every question you could encounter. To be successful, you need to prepare to discuss specific situations from your experience that you can tailor to answer a variety of questions.
In addition, questions targeting manufacturing operations, you may see questions that apply to multiple industries. More general questions about leadership, communications skills, technical skills, teamwork, attitude, and values are common in behavioral interviews.
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The challenges and expectations in your career will continually change. You must learn and grow to succeed. Interviewers often will question how you approach your career and what you have done to continue learning.
The challenges and expectations in your career will continually change. You must learn and grow to succeed. Interviewers often will question how you approach your career and what you have done to continue learning.
Some of the interview questions about your professional development include:
What continuing education classes have you completed recently?
What new skills have you gained in the last 3 years?
How do you stay current on developments in your industry?
Professional development can come for a variety of sources. Many people stay current through magazines, blogs and books. Others receive excellent continuing education at work. Some individuals take training classes, college courses or pursue industry certifications. All of these activities are good to discuss.
Your answers to professional development interview questions need to be specific. I’ve had candidates give answers like “I keep up on my industry by reading a few trade magazines.” This does not tell the interviewer anything. You could add some detail, for example, discussing specific periodicals and books you have read, but this is still a weak answer.
A better answer would include specific knowledge or skills that were gained. You could discuss a new technology, a tool or a process you learned. Your answer should have a clear, direct benefit to the job you are seeking. You want the interviewer to see that you are committed to your professional growth and are adding skills that will benefit them. Very broad learning unrelated to your field may help you in the long run, but probably will not make a strong memorable impression on the interviewer.
The best answer to a professional development interview question will discuss what you learned, how you learned it, and how you have applied what you learned to deliver results. This last piece makes a huge difference. It’s one thing to say you learned something. It’s another to say your learned something and applied successfully.
Look at the projects you have completed in the last couple years. Which projects required you to apply skills or knowledge that you didn’t possess before the project?
An example of an answer to a professional development interview question is:
“I am committed to continuing to learn in my field. I read several periodicals, and I try to take training courses in my field on a regular basis. Most recently, I attended a seminar on inventory management. I learned a new cycle counting approach that I applied this past year. By implementing new cycle counting procedures, we reduced our inventory levels by 20% and improved our inventory accuracy. All of this was achieved while we reduced our cycle counting hours by 15%”
This example shows a commitment to professional development, and most importantly, a commitment to the continuous improvement of the organization from the lessons learned. The results are likely to be valuable to an employer, making the candidate also valuable.
A sales interview will typically focus on your sales experience and performance. Sales is a field where performance is measured closely at most companies. If you want to land the job, you will need to create a picture of how you will perform within the mind of the hiring manager
A sales interview will typically focus on your sales experience and performance. Sales is a field where performance is measured closely at most companies. If you want to land the job, you will need to create a picture of how you will perform within the mind of the hiring manager.
The first step is to review your bottom line performance. Be prepared to answer questions like:
What were your sales goals?
How was your performance relative to these goals?
What did you do to reach this performance level?
This is basic stuff, and answering these questions is just the starting point. You will need to prepare for more specific questions.
Activity
Prepare to discuss your goals for activity and the resulting activity level. Sales activity will vary wildly between fields. For example, a telemarketer might set a goal of 100 dials per day, while a sales person at a large construction company might focus on a specific number or dollar value of proposes submit per quarter. Prepare an outline of your typical activity in the key tasks for your past positions. With your activity, review how you organize your tasks and stay on schedule. Organization and follow up are essential in many sales roles. Presenting to an interviewer a clear picture of how you structure your activity, maintain your activity level and stay focused on revenue producing tasks will help you stand out.
Approach
Prepare to discuss your approach to sales. This approach usually develops from a combination of your personality, the expectations of your customers, the system at your employer and the training you have received. Discussing your approach, how it has evolved over you career and how it is successful will make a strong impression. One caution to consider is presenting your approach as set in stone. Your sales approach needs to be flexible and adaptable. What works effectively in one industry many not be as effective in another.
Performance
The three questions at the start of the article are important, but you need to be prepared to go into more detail. For your performance results to make the best impression, you need to provide some context. Did you grow sales by 15% at a time when your industry grew by 25%, losing market share in the process? Did your sales stay flat at a time when your industry declined substantially?
With the context you provide, you should include details of how you achieved this performance. What sales activities worked? What did you change in your approach? What would you have done differently?
Questions
Hopefully, the interviewer will ask questions that address your sales activity, approach and performance. This isn’t guaranteed, though. Every interviewer has a different style. If an interviewer does not ask specifically about a sales quality that you have identified as essential for the position, work this quality into one of your answers.
This is no different from any sales presentation. For example, you are selling a product that is competitive in the marketplace. Your company has an excellent quality control system and the resulting quality of the product is exceptional. Your prospect asks about the cost, delivery and specifications of the product, but avoids asking about quality. Are you going to mention this topic in case this is an important issue for the prospect? Definitely. The same goes for your strengths and accomplishments.
Conclusion
Your presentation of your sales background focus on three key areas:
Demonstrate how you will do the job.
Demonstrate your skill level in performing your job.
Demonstrate your ability to persevere over significant challenges and deliver results.
All three of these serve to show the hiring manager your potential – what you will achieve working for them. If you create a strong, positive image of these three elements, you will have much more success than your competition.
