Performance review comments
1. Attendance and punctuality performance review phrases Attendance and punctuality are ones of important factors to evaluate an employee p...
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1. Attendance and punctuality performance review phrases
Attendance and punctuality are ones of important factors to evaluate an employee performance but you must notice that two of these factors are also sensitive issues to any employees as they usually don’t like debating on their lateness at work or spending too much time on lunch or break. However, it is careful for the manager of a firm to use performance appraisal properly to have solution for these matters.Positive review phrases
• Kelly always expresses performance of punctuality at the start of each work day.
• Bill manages his employees to a great attendance score which shows frequency among the top performers in the company for on-time arrivals.
• Instead of showing who works the longest, Lenny’s demonstration is to rely on the secret to success of who works the smartest. It is because Lenny is also one of top employees for attendance and reliability.
• It is appreciated highly for Kylie who consistently on-time and runs a tight ship, to set the standard for schedules on her team.
• Bill pays attention to manage his schedule and to work well with time scheduled to him during the week.
• Phil appreciates his employees who express respect for him in compliance with schedule and tasks.
Negative review phrases
• Tim has not good habit is to arrive late and not take weather and traffic into account for his schedule during the winter months.
• Kyle uses most of the time to perform his schedule reliably and continues to improve his punctuality although we occasionally have an issue.
• About Harry, he has never taken 20 minutes each morning to make a cup of coffee and talk about the previous night’s partying. Instead of this, he always needs to be ready to work on at his desk on time each day.
• Other employees feel unpleased to Paul who affects them when their shifts are ending. Because he demonstrates disrespects them by showing up late from time to time.
• Greg has an unhurried attitude when it comes to attendance. That impacts negatively on his fellow employees.
2. Attitude performance review phrases
Companies consider attitude as the most important criteria to appraise employees’ performance in customer services. A good attitude of employees will further enhance the quality of customer services while a poor attitude will cause a bad customer experience. Customers will easily forgive mistakes that sale agents made if they have a good attitude to customers. Quality of products is the leading criteria but the customers may not need to be goodwill to buy them if you have a poor attitude. So performance appraisal on each employee’s attitude must be carefully considered in order to decide wage rate for him/her.Positive review phrases
• John continues to talk negatively in relation to projects or tasks that he assigned.
• He always shows a negative attitude towards getting his work done.
• His poor attitude is influence on his work performance.
• His boss is displeased with his negative attitude.
Negative review phrases
• John is always happy to receive new project and willing and eager to learn new things.
• He always smiles when coming to work and gives off a positive vibe to his team members.
• He has willingness to help out when needed even if the means working overtime or weekends.
3. Communications performance review
In any working environment, communication is very important and necessary factor that requires ways as online, verbal or written communication. But it is crucial to use which kind of communication and how to perform it. Effective communication in the workplace will bring positive to each employee’s work performance. The annual review should reflect this by using performance reviews phrases that reflect the positive qualities of his/her ability to interact with colleagues as well as customers.Positive review phrases
• John has effective communication skills in both verbal and written language.
• Thanks to John’s good communication skills, his team members are pleased to work with him.
• He has good attitude by speaking very friendly and openly with others. So everyone wants to make good relationship with him.
Negative review phrases
• John shows appearance in front of crowd with shyness and ineffectiveness.
• John’s message is easily mistaken by others due to his lack of communication skills.
• John often fails to meet effective way in communicating with his team members.
4. Cooperation performance review
You need to stress cooperation in job performance because it is a decisive factor to the efficiency in working. Most jobs require the cooperation which becomes an integral part of the organization culture and may be the simple action when you share information with colleagues at the office or help them do their assignments. Therefore, all employees and employers must work relying on cooperation attitude.Positive review phrases
• George helps building a good relationship between his staff members to foster a team first environment.
• Fred inspires his fellow co-workers to work and attract them to enjoy working environment around him.
• Tyler is proficient in bringing together teams of people around a common goal.
• Randy can form effective teams because of his excellence at any project.
• William is considered a precious asset because he may work effectively with other teams and departments.
• About Ryan, he never makes us disappointed with what he done for us whenever we get trouble. Ryan can bring different groups of people together.
Negative review phrases
• Janet is considered an ineffective team member. She should improve over the next several months in her teamwork skills.
• Jennifer is too cautious member. She feels so afraid of confronting with work challenges that she always need assistance from others.
• Though a time Tim seems very helpful, it’s too much – he does not know when to say “no” to a request.
• Lenny does not want his staff to help other departments. She refuses any requirement for help from them.
• Walter also refuses to assist others in their times of need.
• Fred does express his interest in his workplace as a “team” environment and too frequently wants to “go it alone” on projects.
• Ben does not meet commitment of his team in cooperation with organizational goals.
5. Creativity, pro-active traits and innovation performance review
The entire of employees are encouraged to make creativity or pro-active attitude within the workplace, which will enhance the productivity of groups of people in the whole departments. Initiative in working can increase dedication and loyalty for each employee. Therefore, it is also important to have creative management techniques for work motivation and rewarding team members.Positive review phrases
• Terry has a unique imagination and creates some of the most innovative things we have known.
• Bill always knows how to bring his team members a creative working environment to get work motivation.
• Ryan owns a kill to take creative ideas with effective solutions.
• Creating new and innovative solutions to common problems is John’s strength.
• Harry motivates his teammates to think outside of the box and to be more creative with solutions.
• Paul is proficient in extracting unique ideas out of people in meetings but not at all situations.
Negative review phrases
• Frank has a tendency to be a matter-of-fact manager, but in his position, thinking in a more resourceful manner would do him well.
• Eve has not capability to work on issues beyond her skill set. So she has troubles in her career progression.
• Bob has not upheld his creative potential in job so far. He should strike a balance between being pragmatic and creative.
• Terry is conservative person; he does not listen to alternatives or ideas other than the ones he develops, which limits creativity of his team.
6. Critical thinking performance review
Critical thinking means making reasonable judgment based on actual details and your thinking process. It is more about “thinking about thinking” rather than “thinking about solution”. In critical thinking, you make judgment whether something is true, false or either or neither.Positive review phrases
• Thanks to owning a strong reasoning and critical-thinking skills, John is not difficult to handle problems well.
• John always considers carefully situations to work out the most suitable solution.
• John gives response quickly to any trouble situation. He always makes proper solutions on timely.
Negative review phrases
• John makes his decision without thinking of its potential consequences.
• John has never thought carefully before making decision for any work.
• John has limit to work out the most logical solution to a problem. Everyone does not appreciate highly his skills.
7. Goal setting performance review
Goal setting is an indispensable kill for managers because it is very important to help them evaluate the amount of work for current and future orientation and reduce stress at work.Positive review phrases
• John knows how to share his suitable feedback with his staff regarding their progress.
• John has excellent skills to holds himself accountable for his team’s performance objective and goals.
• John is good at setting clear and measurable performance expectations.
Negative review phrases
• John has not met his goals achievement because he does not have suitable assignment to his staff.
• John does not often focus on his work and try to reach his goals.
• John blames others for missed deadlines and objectives.
• John fails to achieve his goals that are sometimes pre-set.
8. Initiative performance review phrases
Employees who understands and is ready to do task without waiting for order, shows their initiative skills in work. The initiative is valuable motivation to any company and organization. An initiative employee owns the following characteristics:– Motivation
– Undertaking any tasks without waiting for
– Doing the right thing in a right manner
– Being ready to ask questions necessary to complete job perfectively
– Undertaking more important tasks and making responsible for them
– Being dynamic and valuing time resource
– Being ready to do any job at any time (becoming a workaholic)
Positive review phrases
• John always takes responsibility for his area and their actions.
• John is keen on facing with challenging way and seeking to improve working environment.
• John always protects new ideas, objectives or tools.
• John strives to seek and take on new opportunities to promote his job.
Negative review phrases
• John has trouble doing his tasks when he does not receive help or supervision from others.
• John is negative to seek out new opportunities to learn and grow his job.
• John doesn’t create new ideas in his job, in contrast he wants to do things that have be done by others.
9. Interpersonal skills performance comments.
Interpersonal skill which is used to communicate and work well with people and work under high pressure, is appreciated as the most important soft skill by many companies. It is also a crucial skill to appraise each employee’s performance. The following will provide companies with appraisal phases for appraising interpersonal skills:The interpersonal skills include:
• Excelling or showing promise with other employees, managerial or supervisory relations.
• Identifying the needs of others during routine and/or special projects.
• Being aware of how to create and/or raising positive working relationship with co-workers, clients, management and/or customers.
• Acting on impulse of harmony, communication, understanding, knowledge and/or policy appropriately.
Positive review phrases
• Tim always works hard and takes positive to inspire his co-workers to work more effectively.
• Bill always knows how to make the surrounding people comfortable.
• Greg is ready to have opened conservation with anybody. People around him all want to keep good relationship with him.
• In a hard paced environment, Ryan has ability to relate to people and motivate them handle great jobs, this explains why everyone respects him.
• Jim tries to work friendly and well with others to get good comments from them.
Negative review phrases
• Time is not good at understanding how crucial good working relationships with fellow team members are.
• Bob does not grasp the intricacies of managing relationships.
• John is an affable fellow, yet his strong personality turns off people around him.
• Other people do not want to relate to George because he does not work well with them.
• Peter’s strong personality has caused a rift on our team.
• John has an excellent impression among the management team, yet his team members cannot stand working with him.
10. Job knowledge performance review
Knowledge is one of three integral parts (Knowledge, Skill, and Ability) to evaluate an employee’s performance. In order to be able to evaluate job knowledge performance of an employee, a manager must know the typical descriptions of a person with good or bad knowledge about the job. The following provides several review phrases for the purpose of understanding how it is to be an employee with good and bad knowledge:Positive review phrases
• John is a work-hard employee and willing to study the knowledge about the job and share everything with his team members.
• John has a potentially comprehensive knowledge to meet the job requirements and related skills.
• John is good at identifying the company’s products and special features of them.
Negative review phrases
• John fails to meet his duties because he does not know necessary knowledge about the job.
• John fails to meet first requirement of amount of knowledge about the job.
• John always asks for other’s instruction because he doesn’t even know the key fundamental of the job.
11. Leadership skills performance review
Leadership performance skill can be the main subject of certain performance review processes for managers, because it holds an important role as leadership of them. An employee can have leadership skill but not only a manager, when the employee is considered as a great asset to the company.Positive review phrases
• Keep an open communication among employees;
• Recognize the accomplishment and contribution of employees;
• Motivate the employees to take responsibility for their action;
• Apply properly the resource in appropriate manner depending on the priority of assignment;
• Make a corporate culture of reliability and helpfulness;
• Make picture of the action plan of the employees;
Negative review phrases
• Ignore the policies of the company and tend to work by himself;
• Refuse to participate in discussion or meetings;
• Rarely show appreciation for a good-performance;
• Do not rely on his/her leadership instinct to manage others.
12. Management style
Management style plays an important and decisive role in business and activity management of a company. So in order to select an appropriate manager, employers need to take care of how is his/her management style that will decide whether he/she is worth of the position. There is a various ways of remarking a management style of a manager so that the employers can evaluate performance of manager, as follow:Positive review phrases
• Kevin is the consummate professional and manages his staff with apparent ease. The reports show that his staffs are pleased with his management style.
• Paul’s management style has helped his team perform work well.
• Tim is a high performer and leads a team of high performers. His management style has brought effectiveness to this department.
• John will be considered a “player’s coach” because of his thoroughly understanding of his team and how to encourage them to gain high performance.
• Walter’s team highly appropriates his management style.
• People do not doubt Peter’s ability in his management by understanding how to supervise his employees to meet expectations.
Negative review phrases
• Bill is not good at managing employees. His employees consistently complaint of unreasonable expectations. Bill needs to improve his acceptance of a reasonable work personal life balance.
• Kyle is not excellent manager to supervise well performance of his employees. He doesn’t know how to motivate them for the effort to work.
• Bryan has not made the transition from co-worker to manager very well. It is difficult for him to separate his personal relationship with professional ones.
• Paul may be in “survival mode” without focusing on goals necessary to move his team forward, because he is not clever man to understand how to set team goals and manage his team for achievement.
13. Problem solving performance review
It is necessary for each person to have problem solving skill that is a highly intellectual-mental and cognitive process involving modeling the problem and combining various skills in dealing with a certain situation.In addition, the problem solving is a fundamental skill of management and leadership of a manager. It goes along with decision making ability. Two of them may be improved and trained.
Positive review phrases
• Analyzing situation and then solving problems are both John’s strength.
• John carefully considers a problem, and it is not hard for him to seek out various solutions.
• John always puts a problem into careful examination, thinks it twice before making a proper decision.
Negative review phrases
• John has never got easy to work out a solution to any difficult problem.
• John is not familiar with facing any tense matter.
• When standing in front of a complex situation, John easily neglects his work.
14. Professionalism performance review
The professionalism performance means being dignified and respectful to customers and colleagues, as well as being well-informed about the requirements of the role. It is a fundamental skill to any customer.Positive review phrases
• Have a professional dressing manner;
• Work honestly and reliably with others;
• Know how to motivate others to work well;
• Keep calm and ready to work under high pressure;
• Have a welcoming and friendly characteristics;
Negative review phrases
• Don’t know how to take measures to improve the performance;
• Come to work with a bad dressing manner;
• Be reluctant to responsibility and development;
• Has not ability to balance personal life and work;
• Don’t get keep honesty at work by giving wrong figures to confuse others;
15. Stress management performance review
In order to deal with goals, deadlines or pressures carefully from customers and staff through effective time management without any feelings of victimization, office politics or rude behavior, the important factor for a manager is to put stress management into performance.Here are some performance review phrases need to reflect the individual’s ability to deal with stress effectively:
• He/she has a good capacity for control stress from high pressure customer situations as well as difficult workloads.
• He/she always expresses her composure even when others are losing theirs.
• He/she is good at managing crisis situations through effective leadership, logical thought and collaborative discussions on solutions.
16. Teamwork performance review
In order to own teamwork skill, members must know how to work together in joint effort toward a common goal of the group. Competition can be not avoided in teamwork but for improvement of effectiveness when working in team, it is necessary for each member to work in cooperation, of which the team leader keeps a key role in developing teamwork skill.Positive review phrases
• Jack always attracts everyone by his ability to work well with them. He is one of those team members anyone would like to have on his/her team.
• Bill’s ability is suitable for our company with many teams. He is good at working with and understanding the team dynamics has been beneficial to the firm.
• Paul always makes a good working manner with others.
• Harry uses his management by putting his relationship a long with his coworkers, managers and employees in a professional manner.
Negative review phrases
• Ryan holds on to too much and doesn’t delegate to his team effectively.
• Bryan only takes care of accomplishing his own work with helping those members of his team.
• Walker is inconsistent in supporting his teammates.
• Peter was proficient in joining common work of his team, which helps him to get the position of supervisor but now he has not yet maintain those teamwork skill.
• Norman doesn’t fully grasp how to utilize his teammates to accomplish goals, but instead continually complains that no one will help him.
17. Time management performance review
The skill is used to manage better your own time during work performance according to the amount of hours each individual puts in. Using this skill will reflect levels of attendance in the workplace which is a sure sign of their loyalty and dedication to the work.Positive review phrases
• Fran has good ability to deal with project deadlines and manage the time that leads to each deadline.
• Jim is good at planning out his work week, putting them into suitable plan with effective performance.
• Jenn doesn’t get trouble in managing multiple assignments and delivering them in a timely fashion.
• Greg always gives prominence to efficiency and productivity of his team.
• Tricia’s employees put all their faith in his good time and plan management style.
Negative review phrases
• Peter always gets difficult to accomplish his work because he doesn’t distinguish the difference between big tasks and small tasks. Instead of this, he only focuses on the low hanging fruit to the detriment of the projects that will move our team forward.
• Although Time was trained in time management he has not yet understood the process to manage his time.
• Fred brings trouble to his team regarding unorganized meetings. He needs to improve his planning skills to keep meetings on topic and on time.
• Jenny has not enough understanding to make schedule properly for maximum efficiency of employees.
• Todd’s time management skill has not fully put employees’ faith so he should learn more it.
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF?
This is one of the first questions you are likely to be asked. Be prepared to talk about yourself, and why you're an excellent fit for the job. Try to answer questions about yourself without giving out too much, or too little, personal information. You can start by sharing some of your personal interests and experiences that don't relate directly to work, such as a favorite hobby or a brief account of where you grew up, your education, and what motivates you. You can even share some fun facts and showcase your personality to make the interview a little more interesting.
If it feels daunting to generate this information from scratch, you can rely on a simple formula to construct your answer. The ‘present-past-future’ formula is a way to share key background points while ending on a high note. Begin with a brief overview of where you are now (which could include your current job along with a reference to a personal hobby or passion), reference how you got to where you are (here you could mention education, or an important experience such as a past job, internship or volunteer experience) and then finish by touching on a goal for the future.
Bonus points if you’re able to identify how the position you’re applying for aligns with how you envision your future.
Remember to be careful about what you include in your answer – avoid potentially contentious subjects such as political or religious leanings, unless you are absolutely positive that your opinions would be well-received by your interviewer. You should also avoid talking too much about family responsibilities or hobbies that might make your interviewer wonder whether you could commit yourself 100% to the job.
No matter how you choose to respond, write out your answer in advance and then read it aloud to ensure it sounds natural. Try to keep it short and sweet, as you don’t want to come across as the type of person who endlessly drones on about themselves.
WHAT ARE YOUR GREATEST PROFESSIONAL STRENGTHS?
When answering this question, interview coach Pamela Skillings recommends being accurate (share your true strengths, not those you think the interviewer wants to hear); relevant (choose your strengths that are most targeted to this particular position); and specific (for example, instead of “people skills,” choose “persuasive communication” or “relationship building”). Then, follow up with an example of how you've demonstrated these traits in a professional setting
Tips to answer this question:
+ Grab hold of the opportunity this question gives you. This question really lets you guide the interview where you want it to go. This your chance to relate your most impressive success story, so take advantage!
+ Highlight a strength that is crucial to the position. (As I mentioned earlier)
+ Find out from your company research and from the job description what strengths the company puts a lot of stock into.
+ Don’t make claims that you can’t illustrate with a brief example or fact.
+ Don’t be overly modest but don’t claim to be Superman or Superwoman either.
+ Don’t name a strength that is irrelevant to the job at hand.
WHAT ARE YOUR WEAKNESSES?
"What are your weaknesses" is one of the most popular questions interviewers ask. It is also the most dreaded question of all. Handle it by minimizing your weakness and emphasizing your strengths. Stay away from personal qualities and concentrate on professional traits: "I am always working on improving my communication skills to be a more effective presenter. I recently joined Toastmasters, which I find very helpful."
Tips to answer this question:
+ Show that you are aware of your weakness and what you have done to overcome it.
+ Show that you are “self-aware” and that you have the ability to take steps to improve yourself.
+ Don’t you DARE answer with the cliche “I’m a perfectionist” answer or any other such answer that the hiring manager can see right through.
+ Don’t highlight a weakness that is a core competency of the job. (Know the job description “inside and out”.)
+ Don’t dodge this question.
WHY DID YOU LEAVE (OR WHY ARE YOU LEAVING) YOUR JOB?
If an interviewer asks, "Why did you leave (or why are you leaving) your job?" and you're unemployed, state your reason for leaving in a positive context: "I managed to survive two rounds of corporate downsizing, but the third round was a 20% reduction in the workforce, which included me."
If you are employed, focus on what you want in your next job: "After two years, I made the decision to look for a company that is team-focused, where I can add my experience."
Tips to answer this question:
+ If it was because you left voluntarily then reference a specific characteristic that the company you are interviewing for has that you are attracted to. One that your previous employer didn’t have.
+ If you were let go, be honest and explain the situation and own it. Explain what you learned from the experience, because the interviewer knows you’re human, you make mistakes, and just wants to see that you were able to do something about it
+ Words like “downsizing” and “budget cuts” and “bad economy” are good defenses if they are true and are the reasons for departure from the job.
+ Don’t bash your last company or boss or anything along those lines.
+ Don’t say, “It’s time for a career switch and I’d like to try my hand at the job you are offering” or “I’m tired of doing the same old thing.” Give a pointed, Positive reason for why you want to head off in a new direction.
+ Don’t lie if you were fired.
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT?
Nothing says “hire me” better than a track record of achieving amazing results in past jobs, so don't be shy when answering this interview question! A great way to do so is by using the S-T-A-R method: Set up the situation and the task that you were required to complete to provide the interviewer with background context (e.g., “In my last job as a junior analyst, it was my role to manage the invoicing process”), but spend the bulk of your time describing what you actually did (the action) and what you achieved (the result). For example, “In one month, I streamlined the process, which saved my group 10 man-hours each month and reduced errors on invoices by 25%.”
Tips to answer this question:
+ Talk about an accomplishment that exhibits how you will be a perfect fit for the company and for the position you’re interviewing for.
+ Try and show some genuine passion when you’re talking about your accomplishment.
+ Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your accomplishment is “too small”. The fact is, relating a small accomplishment that is inline with “what the company values” can be more powerful than an unrelated accomplishment. (Remember: “It’s not about you, It’s about them.”)
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS?
If asked this question, be honest and specific about your future goals, but consider this: A hiring manager wants to know a) if you've set realistic expectations for your career, b) if you have ambition (a.k.a., this interview isn't the first time you're considering the question), and c) if the position aligns with your goals and growth. Your best bet is to think realistically about where this position could take you and answer along those lines. And if the position isn’t necessarily a one-way ticket to your aspirations? It’s OK to say that you’re not quite sure what the future holds, but that you see this experience playing an important role in helping you make that decision.
Tips to answer this question:
+ Demonstrate when you answer the question your level of commitment to the position they are interviewing you for.
+ After you have demonstrated your commitment to the role you are interviewing for, outline a realistic growth strategy that is directly tied to the role you’re in and the needs and values of the company.
+ Stress your interest in a long-term career at the company.
+ Don’t exhibit ambition to the point of seeming like this particular job is just a “brief stepping stone” for you. You need to show commitment.
+ Don’t say you want to be CEO of the company in 5 years.
+ Don’t say “Actually I want to be in YOUR seat within the next 5 years.” to the hiring manager.
WHY SHOULD WE HIRE YOU?
Answer "Why should we hire you?" by summarizing your experiences: "With five years' experience working in the financial industry and my proven record of saving the company money, I could make a big difference in your company. I'm confident I would be a great addition to your team."
Tips to answer this question:
+ Show the hiring manager that you are uniquely suited to filling this position. Be the candidate that solves their “problems“.
+ Show you know some significant details about the company and their general practices because you have researched the firm and are prepared.
+ Tell a “success story” that highlights how you have the ‘qualities’ needed to fill their specific needs.
+ Don’t get discouraged if the hiring manager mentions that “they have lots of very well qualified candidates…” before they lead into this question. (It’s a common “lead in”)
+ Don’t be too modest. This is your chance to shine. Make it count.
+ On the flip side don’t go too overboard and sound too arrogant.
+ Don’t be “wishy-washy” or too general with your answer.
+ Don’t answer with “why” you want the job. Answer with “why you are the perfect fit” for the job.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE COMPANY?
Any candidate can read and regurgitate the company’s “About” page. So, when interviewers ask this, they aren't necessarily trying to gauge whether you understand the mission—they want to know whether you care about it. Start with one line that shows you understand the company's goals, using a couple key words and phrases from the website, but then go on to make it personal. Say, “I’m personally drawn to this mission because…” or “I really believe in this approach because…” and share a personal example or two.
9. What are your salary requirements?
The #1 rule of answering this question is doing your research on what you should be paid by using sites like Payscale and Glassdoor. You’ll likely come up with a range, and we recommend stating the highest number in that range that applies, based on your experience, education, and skills. Then, make sure the hiring manager knows that you're flexible. You're communicating that you know your skills are valuable, but that you want the job and are willing to negotiate.
HAVE YOU GOT ANY QUESTIONS?
At the end of the interview, it is likely that you will be given the chance to put your own questions to the interviewer.
+ Keep them brief: there may be other interviewees waiting.
+ Ask about the work itself, training and career development: not about holidays, pensions, and season ticket loans!
+ Prepare some questions in advance: it is OK to write these down and to refer to your notes to remind yourself of what you wanted to ask.
It often happens that, during the interview, all the points that you had noted down to ask about will be covered before you get to this stage. In this situation, you can respond as follows:
Interviewer: Well, that seems to have covered everything: is there anything you would like to ask me?
Interviewee: Thank you: I'd made a note to ask about your appraisal system and the study arrangements for professional exams, but we went over those earlier and I really feel you've covered everything that I need to know at this moment.
You can also use this opportunity to tell the interviewer anything about yourself that they have not raised during the interview but which you feel is important to your application:
Don't feel you have to wait until this point to ask questions - if the chance to ask a question seems to arise naturally in the course of the interview, take it! Remember that a traditional interview is a conversation - with a purpose.
TEAMWORK INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
Now onto the more generic skills, such as your ability to work in a team. No matter how big or small the team is, the hiring manager will want to know that you can develop a strong working relationship with them, as this is essential for productivity and achieving company goals. You may be asked something like the below in order to test if you are a strong team player:
Question: Give an example of team leading in past employment
Answer: You should summarise the task and nature of the group but focus primarily upon your role as team leader. List the personal qualities you possess which made you ideal for leading this team and how you achieved success. Conclude your answer by giving examples of the lessons you learnt while leading this team.
COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
Your ability to communicate effectively and influence others to act in support of your own and team goals will be examined. An ability to adapt your communication methods depending on situations and individuals is important here.
Question: Provide an example of how you explained a technical concept to a client or co-worker lacking your technical expertise.
How to Answer: Competency based interview questions are meant to determine how well you communicate with others, including your ability to simplify difficult concept. The customer service question about negative feedback is meant to determine whether or not you’re capable of dealing with customer comments that aren’t all that positive in a courteous, constructive manner. With a few of your examples, briefly discuss what you learned from those interactions.
DECISION MAKING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
Decision making is a skill that requires the ability to process information and filter this information to ensure you produce a sound and valid decision. You should be able to provide examples of situations where this skill has been tested. Use examples where an obvious answer is not immediately apparent.
Question: Can you tell me about a time when you consulted others when making important project decisions?
How to Answer: You’ll notice that interviewers tend to want specific examples to illustrate your abilities. It’s not unusual for questions to be fairly complex in nature, often involving multiple, related parts. Don’t get overwhelmed. Instead, answer questions one point at at time by providing relevant, easy to digest examples. If you forget the rest of the question, politely ask the interviewer to repeat it.
DRIVE FOR RESULTS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
This competency assesses your personal motivation and how you approach challenges.
Question: What is your biggest achievement?
Answer: Ideally, use a work-related example to illustrate your key career achievement. Highlight exactly why you consider it important, with details of the role you played. If your biggest achievement in life is related to your personal life, use commercial references such as budget slashing, determination, commitment and team work to communicate all the associated positive aspects.
PLANNING AND ORGANIZAING INTERVIEW QUESTION:
Auestion: Give me an example of a time when you had to plan a project or a large piece of work.
Tips for Successful Answers:
+ Demonstrate how you have worked in a structured and methodical way.
+ Show real detail about the steps you have taken to plan.
+ Explain how you have amended or flexed the original plans you’d made.
+ Talk about how you built pre-emptive solutions to potential problems
CUSTOMER FOCUS INTERVIEW QUESTION:
Your ability to understand and believe in the importance of customer focus will be tested here. You must display a competency for understanding the difference between internal and external customers.
Question: What about important clients, or complex or sensitive customer relationships?
Answer: If you can show that through your customer service orientation you saved the company from losing something of value (a big client, $X amount of revenue, 20 man hours a week) then you will really demonstrate your customer focus. Or did you save the company a political, organizational, or image problem? Write it out. What was the situation? What action did you take? How did you communicate to your teammates and how did you communicate with the customer? What was the result? … I hope this gets you thinking.
LEADERSHIP INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
Leadership is a competency employers look for in candidates who are applying for jobs that require them to lead, motivate and/or develop other people, usually team leader and management positions
Question: Describe a time you took a leadership position when you did not have the title of a leader.
Answer: In this question, take an example from a situation where you were in a group and took responsibility to delegate to achieve goals. Show how you gained from the other members to follow your lead and the result of your leadership.
For instance, in college, we were put into groups of four to complete a marketing project. We had to prepare a 15-page paper and 10-minute presentation on a new product. We want to introduce that outside the U.S. I took the initiative among the group to lead a discussion on how we should split up the work when we meet throughout the semester and deadlines for each person’s part of the work. Because I was the one to take the lead the discussion and had a plan in mind, I gained the buy in of the other members quickly. I took everyone’s e-mail address and created a group email to help us all keep track of our progress and so we could help each other outside of class and our meetings. By the end of the semester, my group achieved a 95% on our project.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION SKILL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
Conflict resolution skills and the ability to disagree with others professionally and politely are necessary for successful contribution in organizations. If every employee employer hire is willing to engage in conflict resolution, more new ideas and better approaches to solving problems will take place in your organization.
Question: Give an example of a time you handled conflict in the workplace
Answer: Your interviewer will assess your adaptability and gauge the constructiveness of your approach towards conflict, tension and differences of opinion. Your example(s) should highlight the importance of your role in resolving these issues.
CREATIVE SKILLS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
Question: Give me an example of your creativity?
Answer sample:
One of my key creative accomplishments occurred in my current job, when I had to increase market share for a new product without increasing our existing marketing budget. I kicked off with some internal brainstorming on how to maximize the use of our resources and be more creative in the way we market. I worked with our two interns, both of whom were creative writing majors, on creating a blog for our website, plus Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages for the company’s new product. I tasked the interns with managing the pages, and the three of us came up with relevant content for each social page. The ultimate aim was to create a community of fans and buzz around the new product.
Through product teasers on Twitter, the timely answering of questions on Facebook, and brief video tutorials on Instagram, we grew a fan base of 2,500 people in just three months. When the product was released, first day sales exceeded all expectations, and sales continued on a steady incline for the rest of the year. A lot of the success was attributed to the online fan base we developed, where positive word-of-mouth spurred an influx of customers to purchase the product through the trackable online sales page we created in-house with our design and dev teams.
TIME MANAGEMENT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
Question: Explain a time when you were not able to meet a deadline?
Answer: Use an example were you where not able to meet a deadline due to outside factors. For instance, there was a big project that my team was working on, and I had split up the work among some members and myself. During that time, one member of the team had to leave due to their spouse getting a position in another city. He left at a critical time, and I had to re-assign his duties to someone else. I make the new person work to speed with the progression of the project and due to this, was not able to complete it on time. We were still able to complete the project a few days after the deadline even with the change in the team member.
PROBLEM SOLVING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
The old adage goes that managers want people who come to them with solutions, not problems, and for me, I couldn’t agree more. The employees who can rise to a challenge and think of innovative ways to solve a problem are the ones who go on to achieve great things both for themselves and the business. Taking this into account, your manager may ask something like:
Question: Give an example of a challenge you faced in the workplace, and how you overcame it
Answer: If you are entering the workplace direct from school, college or university, this question will be geared towards your academic experiences.
Provide a great example of a task that involved using as many skills and abilities as possible. An ideal answer to this question enables you to demonstrate your ability to work in a team, display leadership skills and handle pressure.
