Page 103 - Boost Your Hiring

The Manager’s Hiring IQ Test 89

INTERVIEWER’S QUESTION
41. Give me an example of your working in a fast-paced envi-
ronment.
Which response actually answers the question? Which answer
should you be wary of? Are there any red flags?

(A) “That would be when I worked in a law firm. We were short-
staffed, and I took on the responsibility of coordinating several
of the cases and the reports that went along with them. The
first thing I did was to sit down with each of the attorneys and
discuss priorities. I then put together a spreadsheet to manage
my time and the deadlines. I had to work until midnight a cou-
ple of nights, but I worked closely with the attorneys to make
sure that they had what they needed on time. I really thrived
on the experience. It was very challenging. Everyone was sur-
prised by how smoothly it went. I am happy to say that I re-
ceived a nice bonus as a reward for taking the initiative and
keeping things running smoothly.”
(B) “I thrive in a fast-paced environment.I like a good challenge,and
meeting tight deadlines is always a challenge. There have been
times when I have been involved in as many as 10 projects at the
same time and have still been able to respond to the pressure and
deliver results. One thing I’ve noticed is that I always learn from
every project I work on. I just keep getting more adept at jug-
gling projects. I’ve never had an assignment on which I haven’t
been able to meet the deadline. I think very quickly and make
fast decisions with good judgment. Those skills, plus my com-
puter ability, really make me a top performer under pressure.”
(C) “I work on a lot of projects that have tight deadlines, and this
means working under pressure. I remember one especially
stressful project that seemed to be working out really well and
then everything started to go wrong. We had a tight deadline,
and we all had to work extra hours. There was a great deal of
tension in the office, and at one point I just felt like sitting
down and crying, but I didn’t. I just kept working through the
anxiety and tension. I knew if we didn’t pull this together, we
would have an angry customer who could cancel his order. We
all worked that weekend and a few late nights, but we were
able to get the project done on time.”

I think the strongest answer is ______.