Page 115 - Boost Your Hiring

The Manager’s Hiring IQ Test 101

INTERVIEWER’S QUESTION
47. Describe a situation in which you had a difficult time meet-
ing a deadline.
Which response actually answers the question? Which answer
should you be wary of? Are there any red flags?

(A) “When I was in college, I had a part-time job. It was at the end
of the semester, and I had finals to study for and a big paper
due. The first thing I did was ask my boss if I could cut back on
my hours if I made them up later. Then I put together a study
group with other students in the class. I worked on my paper
in chunks of two hours a day. I have to admit I was short on
sleep during this period, but I received an A in the class and
turned my paper in on schedule.”
(B) “I was a project manager on a job, and one of the members of
my group had a family emergency and had to travel leaving us
short-handed. We had this project that was really important to
the CEO, and we knew we had to pick up the slack. We all
worked really hard with some late nights. We came close to
missing the deadline, but we were able to get the job done on
time. The CEO said we did a great job and thanked us all per-
sonally.”
(C) “I can’t remember a project that I had at my current job when
we didn’t have a tight deadline. That’s the name of the game at
this company. After two years of working in that mode, I
wouldn’t have any problem meeting deadlines no matter how
tight they were.”

I think the strongest answer is _____.