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The Manager’s Hiring IQ Test 63

INTERVIEWER’S QUESTION
28. Can you give me an example of a time when you were work-
ing on a project that required sustained and persistent
effort?
Which response actually answers the question? Which answer
should you be wary of? Are there any red flags?
(A) “I have handled all assignments with the same amount of ef-
fort. I do whatever it takes to get the job done. If I haven’t been
able to get my job done during the day, I will stay late to com-
plete whatever it is that didn’t get accomplished. I pride myself
on getting the job done whatever it takes.”
(B) “The assignment that comes to mind is when I had a deadline
to meet that would take three days to complete and I only had
two days. What I did was to prioritize and delegate to other
team members what I could. After that I worked steadily by
blocking off hours to work on nothing but the project. At the
same time I still had to get my regular work done. I put in a lot
of extra hours, but for the most part, planning and prioritizing
made a huge difference, and I got the job done on time.”
(C) “I think the most sustained and persistent effort that I ever
made was when I established a database for my last company.
It was tedious work, and I had to work continuously or I would
lose the momentum of getting the task done. I am pretty good
at concentrating when I have to. I got through the project and
did a good job, but I was glad to be over with that tedious task.”

I think the strongest answer is ______.