There's a New Most Popular Interview Question – Thanks to the Credit Crunch
The credit crunch appears to be affecting all of our lives even down to an organisation’s interview process. According to assessment and training company, A&DC, organisations using its online Competency Based Interviewing Tool, put the highest priority on knowing how a candidate manages conflicting demands.
So now, you are most likely to be asked,
‘Describe an occasion where you had a number of conflicting demands on your time. How did you deal with this?’
This is obviously reflective of the situations in which many managers find themselves. With heavy workloads and high targets and deadlines to meet, they want to be sure that you can manage situations like this.
So what would be a good way for you to answer this?
The starting point is to think of a good example: most graduates use writing their dissertation or their job application process. These are good examples but the best candidates are a bit more creative and will use examples from their work experience or extracurricular activities. Such as organising an event; fund raising; organising a trip abroad – any experience which has a number of variables over which you have no control.
Once you have your example, think about how you prioritised your time, what actions you took, what you delegated, what support you sought, what feedback you got and the outcome you achieved. Also think about what you learned from the experience and what would have happened if you had got it wrong. Contingency planning is key to survival in business when situations are constantly changing.
So show you are ahead of the game. Think yourself in the shoes of the interviewer. The interviewer will already be managing conflicting demands and the successful candidate will be the one that shows they can help.
So the credit crunch is affecting all of us – even the interviewing process.