Page 87 - Boost Your Hiring

The Manager’s Hiring IQ Test 73

INTERVIEWER’S QUESTION
33. Tell me about a time when you took the initiative concern-
ing something that you saw needed to be done.
Which response gives a specific answer to the question? Which an-
swer should you be wary of? Are there any red flags?

(A) “As an officer in the military I had many occasions to initiate
action.There was one time when I had to make a quick decision
that made the difference as to whether or not lives were saved.
A signal that should have been given was not, and as a result
there were men being shot at who shouldn’t have been in that
situation. By making an independent decision, I called a cease-
fire. I was able to stop the action and keep my troops from
being seriously injured or killed that day.”
(B) “I am a person who tries to plan ahead, and so I usually have a
planned schedule for every step of a project. There was a time
when my plan started to come undone because of unforeseen
events. What I did was to stop all activities until I could re-
group. If I had let things progress, I could see that we were not
going to have the end results we needed to finish the project.
As it turned out, we did complete the project, and my plan was
completed as I had hoped it would be.”
(C) “As a project manager for my last company, I could see a need
for a template to guide team members through projects. I
worked on a prototype and presented it to my manager. He
liked the idea and encouraged me to follow up on the idea and
develop it. I made some changes based on my team’s sugges-
tions. When I had it produced, the team was delighted to have
a format to assist them in organizing their tasks. My boss pre-
sented it to management, and it is now used companywide. I
received an award for initiating a more efficient process that
will save time and ultimately money.”

I think the strongest answer is _____.