User talk:Hadseys/Job interview questions

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[edit] Some alternatives

Why do you want this job?

My long term career objective is a management position in sales or marketing. That is why I want to develop my business and social skills. I'm looking forward to the large opportunity for personal growth working at M&S will offer. I'm very interested in people. I'm looking forward to learning how they make decisions and how I can help them make decisions they are happy with. What makes their shopping experience a pleasant one. (Maybe something about the work environment they promote) I'll be working with many new people who may quickly become friends. I enjoy rising to challenges. I know that at here I will be working in an environment where I will be persistently challenged. I think that it is important that I work in a challenging environment as this ensures that I will not become bored or complacent, and will thus motivate me to work harder.

What qualities do you think will be required for the job?

I'm certain that a job at Marks & Spencer will require many qualities because the store has a reputation for demanding excellence. I've seen during my studies at school that doing you best to succeed creates a more positive environment. People sense and appreciate when everyone is trying to do their best in every regard. Being polite, friendly and reliable are of course qualities no sales assistant should be without. I wouldn't be applying for a job here if I didn't think so. I also think that the company would benefit from an individual who is willing, where required, to take the lead. PERSONAL EXAMPLE When we had a bake sale at school we sold a lot more after I copied maps and we split our effort into sales teams and areas. To me, good communication skills are of paramount importance when addressing other employees and the customer. If a workers can communicate with one another effectively, customers are going to notice and the atmosphere will come across as more inviting. (Any examples come to mind?) As a sales assistant, I want customers to think that they have received a good service so they will return to our store. (Lemonade stand experience, repeat sales of Pokemon cards, etc.) I consider problem solving skills to be most useful because if you're faced with a difficult situation your supervisor will be more impressed if you could first try and tackle the problem head-on. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE When I bought a sweater once the one I wanted had a flaw. The sales assistant had me wait for his supervisor to negotiate a discount. I later found a similar sweater that didn't have a flaw. As a customer I would have been happier if the sales assistant had pointed out that other sweater to me instead of having me wait. / If it had been me I would have offered the other sweater before making my customer wait. (Make sure to put these in a logical order. Two ways to go: either the qualities you can best match first or the ones you consider most important first. Ideally that would be the same order.)

What can you contribute?

I'm a very fast learner which means that I will quickly acquire the skills needed to operate the tills and other items of machinery. (Is this really your most important sales point? You should mention them in order of importance, most important first! Consider which or your skills and qualities are most useful to them.) PERSONAL EXAMPLES M&S sales assistants create a positive shopping experience for their customers. I have been described by many people as a social and articulate person which means that I'm able to quickly develop a rapport with customers and assist them in any way possible with any queries they may have. (Reference experience is good, but proof is more powerful. See if you can come up with proof for your most important sales points and references for the minor ones.) Benefit to M&SI am an excellent communicator PROOF I speak many foreign languages at a good enough level to communicate effectively with customers. That offers me a broader base of customers that I can serve more specifically. I would also be able to help out if a colleague had a customer speaking French, for example. (I would say one of your strongest sales points. I'm flabbergasted you left it out!)

I'm ready to work as part of a team in order to bolster the overall effectiveness of the store. PROOF (orchestra? team sports? study groups? group travel?) I focus on working to the best of my ability and can offer a maximum of flexibility when it comes to the hours I work. (Two strong points, you might not want to lump them.) PROOF

I enjoy performing many tasks, regardless of how menial others may think them to be. I like seeing that every little bit I do helps in the big picture. I've proven my skills at conflict resolution. PROOF I will be able to deal with (irate) unhappy customers effectively. I would do this by calmly discussing the problem with them and explaining their options to them; I would then attempt to reach a mutually beneficial compromise.

Why do you want to work for this company?

I would like to work for Marks & Spencer for many reasons. You went more or less with your hones opinion. You could use this to extend your sales pitch, though. Again what do they want that you have.) As the leading establishment in retail/direct customer sales/high street retail? you offer the best opportunity for me to develop my business experience, and finely tune the skills required of me to be successful in retail and commerce. Working for Marks & Spencer would also allow me to develop my social skills as it would involve working as part of a large and successful team. This requires everybody within the team to work together in a pleasant environment. I could imagine organising social get-togethers to effectively promote teamwork, and allow one to enjoy ones self at the same time. The company has a reputation for looking after its employees very well. It does this not only by providing them with excellent hourly rates, but by providing health insurance benefits, a pension plan and a 20% discount. This combined with other excellent fringe benefits is a great reason to work for the company.

What interests you about our product or service?

The very fact that Marks & Spencer prides itself on excellence is reason enough for me to want to work here. The service is, in my experience, second to none. Your 2007 annual review states that you are the UK's largest clothing retailer, and I think working for a company with such a large market share would be fascinating and would offer me numerous opportunities to acquire business acumen. I'm eager to learn from the best. The staff here are always very helpful, polite and friendly, and I feel that I match this specification too and I would like to demonstrate to you what I have to offer. (Are you applying for any particular department or would you be interested/have a background in a specific area. They are interested in putting you in a department most suited to you. This is your chance to let them know. E.g. I could spend hours in the electronics department. - or - I occasionally look at passer-bys and imagine dressing them in a suit or casual wear. If you're not interested in working the the clothing department, chose some other statistic.)

You haven't done this sort of job before. How will you cope?

(Honestly? Not even a lemonade stand? Never sold anything? You at least are experienced at being a customer. So you know one side of the equation. Go from any of those.) I am the sort of person who strives to succeed in everything I do. I know what I would expect of an excellent sales assistant and expect to learn to emulate M&Ss standard of excellence. I thrive under pressure, and embrace new challenges and experiences. PROOF I pride myself on being a very efficient and determined person. I usually manged to complete school assignments ahead of time. or something You can expect me to do my best no matter what I am doing. (Any achievement you want to sell can go here.) I will not hesitate to ask for help if I do not understand something. I pick up new things very quickly, and I think that this skill will help me a great deal when learning the in's and out's of my new work environment.

Why should we employ you?

(Translation: How does what we are looking for match what you can offer? Make a list of what you would be looking for if you were looking for a M&S sales assistant. Answer that with your strongest sales point first. IMO "hard worker" would not top my list.) I think that Marks & Spencer should employ me because you are looking for your next best sales assistant. I bring many qualities to the table that I expect to be able to apply to the job. I am a friendly, outgoing and assertive person. This will aid me in creating a positive shopping experience, even for the most demanding customers. I'm eager to learn more about all aspects of the selling process and to find out how I can apply such background knowledge in practice.

I also guarantee that whilst performing that job I will do it with a smile and that I will strive for perfection, because the way I see it, there's no point doing half a job.

Since I view sales as a comprehensive system I'll work hard no matter how tedious a task may appear. I'm able to gain job satisfaction from contributing a small part to the puzzle. (If you have a juicy example your might throw in a few words here or there.)

I will work efficiently and competently at all times, ensuring that everything I do is done correctly, and conforms to protocol. I will also try my hardest to communicate well with the rest of the team, and if it appears that a member of the team is unhappy with me or somebody else, I will try to discuss the problem or act as a mediator to ensure that the problem is solved. Overall, I believe I would be a good representative for Marks & Spencer because I'm efficient, hard-working, reliable and friendly, and I'm the sort of person always willing to help; and these are I think the qualities that set apart an average employee from a great employee.

How would you describe yourself? (If this is not you change it back. This is featured after what I think might sell well. -quality, value, service, innovation and trust as their chairman said. - Say something you feel comfortable with.)

I would say I'm driven by my eagerness achieve the highest quality in everything I do. To me there's no point in half-doing a job. I would also describe myself as a people person. I'm very friendly, bubbly and outgoing and I always stay calm and exercise restraint even in very stressful circumstances. I believe there is always a solution that benefits all parties in any situation. I'm also a person who is very eager to learn new things, and I generally learn them very quickly. From traveling to other countries and encountering different cultures I've learned to adapt to a wide variety of situations. I can work well under pressure on my own, or I can work well brainstorming ideas as part of a team. I always stay calm and exercise restraint even in very stressful circumstances. I always arrive where I'm supposed to be on time and I am a very reliable individual.

I think you can see where this is heading. I'll try to spruce it up some more. Since you know yourself best, you'll be able to polish it to perfection. Good luckLisa4edit (talk) 05:03, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Helpful vocabulary

This list was compiled by one of my students. If you have time to look for a book "performance appraisal" books have useful phrases.

(Always, continually, constantly, every time)

am, was able to, demonstrate, excel at ...ing, strive to be, manage to, meet, perform, possess, promote, pursue, practice, reflect, regard, rely, require, focus on

(at that job)

managed to, was able to, demonstrated, established, utilized, reflected my ability to, let me, enabled me to, provided an opportunity for, accelerated, proved, focused on, corroborated,

Helpful adjectives and adverbs

able abundant abundantly accurate (NB: means exact, not conscientious) accurately active actively adaptable adept affirmative ambitious analytical analytically articulate articulately assertive calm calmly capable challenging clear-thinking cohesive cohesively compelling compellingly comprehensive comprehensively concise concisely confident confidently conscientious conscientiously considerable considerably consistent consistently conductive constructive constructively cooperative courageous creative creatively curious current decisive (NB: means important, not able to make decisions) decisively dedicated definite dependable dependably desirable determined determinedly diligent diligently diplomatic diplomatically discreet distinctive distinctively dynamic dynamically eager eagerly effective effectively efficient efficiently eminent eminently energetic energetically enlightening enterprising enthusiastic enthusiastically excellent exceptional exciting extraordinary extreme (?) factual fair fairly favorable favorably fine (=good) flexible forceful forcefully foremost formidable frank genuine genuinely (good-natured) great hands-on helpful high highly high-tech honest imaginative immense immensely important independent independently industrious industriously ingenious innovative intense intensely involved keen keenly knowledgeable lasting latent latest logical loyal magnificent magnificently major mature maximum meaningful meticulous meticulously motivated (->highly motivated) neat neatly objective objectively observant open-minded open-mindedly opportunistic (?) optimal optimally optimistic optimistically orderly organized original outstanding (=extraordinary) outstandingly (well) patient patiently perceptive perceptively perfect (N.B.) perfectly persevering persuasive persuasively pleasant polished positive powerful powerfully practical precise predictable (?) productive proficient proficiently professional professionally progressive progressively prominent (means noticeable, not famous) prominently proper properly prudent prudently punctual (?) on-time quick quickly rational (means makes sense, not efficient) realistic reliable reliably remarkable remarkably resourceful responsive rigorous self-confident self-demanding significant significantly sincere sizable sizably sophisticated sound special splendid state-of-the-art stellar stern sternly stimulating stringent stringently strong strongly successful successfully superb superbly superior supportive synergistic systematic systematically tactful tedious thorough thoroughly trustworthy ultimate understanding unique uniquely unlimited unusual utmost valuable versatile vigorous winning winningly worthy zestful