Yesterday I had an interview for a clerical position. One of the questions asked of me (which is asked of everybody) was, and this is the short version of a somewhat long question,
Employees are expected to complete all their assignments the same day that they get them. One day you get twice the amount of work that you normally do. A coworker who has fallen a day behind comes to you and asks for your help, what do you say to him or her.
My answer was that I would apologize and tell my coworker that I would need to focus on doing my work first, and if I finished before the end of the day then I would help him/her. My reasoning is that trying to do twice the amount of work plus helping a coworker who’s behind might get me behind, and it wouldn’t do the department any good to have two coworkers who were behind.
Was that the right answer? I honestly believe it’s a good answer but I’ve been wrong about these things before.
If it was due to lazyness or neglect possably not. If I had a specific skill or ability that required my assistance to compleat the project then I would of course help. Not offering my skills and experience to the company and cowokers in order to make myself look good is in my opinion the greater evil. Plus there is a chance that all work would be.compleated. working harder and being helpful is the right choice .
Sounds like a reasonable answer to me. Unfortunately, it may be an incorrect one because it is a bullshit question. It should be up to the supervisors and managers on how to distribute the work load if it becomes too heavy on a given day. That is their job and they need to do it for clerical positions under them. I don’t know if that is what they were looking for but it is technically correct although yours makes the most sense. The best answer is just to walk out of interviews like that saying that you have a strict policy on not participating in mind games that waste everyone’s time with questions that have no bearing on the real world.
You picked a fairly innocuous answer to a bullshit mind-trick interview question.
I think what they’re mostly looking for with dumb-ass questions like this is how well you can come up with plausible and reasonably decent bullshit answers on the fly, as that’s a measure of your ability to effectively deal with bullshit situations in the actual workplace if you are hired.
I wouldn’t worry about your answer too much if I were you.
Well, correction, if I were you, I’d be fretting about the entirety of the interview process, but I tend to worry too much.
The part of the question I left out was the big intro that talked about how important getting your work done on time is. Since it was a big deal in the question I figured that risking falling behind might be frowned upon.
Having hired clerical staff and (been forced to) used that type of question I think your answer is fine - it would be what I was looking for.
Keeping in mind that I’m not an HR person though - I was a hiring manager who had to work with the people I hired - I’d much rather someone get their own work done and then help others if they have time than someone who’s trying to be friendish with everyone and not getting their own assignments completed.
The correct answer is that you would contact your supervisor. That is usually the answer they are looking for.
They don’t want you deciding not to do the work you are assigned in order to help your co-worker. Your co-worker should also be contacting the supervisor instead of you for help or guidance.
When in doubt about the answer to these sort of questions, ‘contact the supervisor’ is always the right answer.
Why all the cynicism? I think it’s an entirely reasonable question that directly addresses a real-life situation the OP is apt to encounter on the job.
Nobody, I think your answer was fine, especially based on the additional info you supplied in your second post. Another angle you can take on questions like this is to say you would look at your and your coworker’s workload to figure out which tasks you think have priority, then present that to your supervisor for verification.
It’s ok to go to your supervisor with questions. It’s even better to go to him/her with possible solutions.
That’s how I would answer. Plus from the Reader’s Digest version of the question we got in the OP, I’m left with the impression that the coworker is trying to get you to help him behind the supervisor’s back.
Wich I wouldn’t be cool with. Well, actually I am, but I wouldn’t tell the interviewer that.
Also, the baseline answer of “I would have to ask my supervisor” is what I’m told to give to auditors when they ask me a question I’m not absolutely, 100%, bet the life of my first born child, sure of.
I was told that there would be two more weeks of interviews so I’m certain I won’t get the job. But I think if I get this question in the future, maybe I’ll say something like, “I would suggest that the coworker talk to our supervisor about this.”
Haha, I would work with you Shag. But I think the best answer is, on your way out of the room tell them that you only just now realized that you could get a better paying job in HR thinking up bullshit questions, because it’s clear you people don’t need to actually know anything. Be sure to thankfully shake everyone’s hand on the way out.
I think so, too. Certainly it’s a better question than “what is your greatest weakness?” :rolleyes: This is exactly the kind of dilemma that does pop up in the real world, and while it’s impossible for someone to answer how they’d react with certainty, it’s nice to hear someone’s thoughts on it. It might also, however, be an indication that this sort of thing may happen there more than you wish - often enough that they’ve started wondering if their interviewees should have a plan to deal with it in place even before hiring. It’d make me very nervous about working there.
Ooooh, this is good!
OP, from my experiences interviewing people, I think you gave a better than average answer, although aesop’s is even better. Don’t sweat it.
I think that this is even a better answer than saying that you would go to the supervisor, since it isn’t your problem. In another job I might recommend saying that you’d work on the most important one first, but I suspect you’d get told that all the work is of equal priority.
You’re probably right Voyager, especially since they expect everything to be completed the same day you get it. Although probably then, the work that’s a day behind might be more important. But even still, I wouldn’t want to commit to that unless told to do so by a supervisor.
Thanks. I’m not too worried. Mainly, I just wanted to be sure that if I encounter this question in the future, that I know the right answer.
Part of the reason I didn’t mention going to the supervisor is that I’m assuming supervisors prefer employees who are fairly independent, know their jobs, and don’t don’t bug the supervisor too much. Yes, that will depend on the individual supervisor and some like to be more involved with others, and some micromanage, but I’m talking in general here.
The job I interviewed for is a state job, and when applying on-line for state jobs sometimes this comes up:
Which of the following best describes your working style?
[ul]
[li]Independently organize my work and need very little supervision to accomplish my tasks[/li][li]Organize my work according to the needs and/or specifications of supervisor. Search feedback and/or input from sueprvisor or lead worker through the accomplishment of my tasks.[/li][li]Receive work instructions daily and complete tasks as directed in the order they were requested. Ask for input, support, or approval when daily tasks need to be changed.[/li][/ul]
I always chose the first one to show that I’ll come in, do my job, and won’t need a lot of hand holding or constant assurance from my supervisor because, unless they like to micromanage, supervisors generally don’t like to do that.
That’s a valid response, but in my opinion you’re better off trying to come up with a solution together with the coworker and then asking the supervisor for guidance for two reasons:
It shows the supervisor you are a team player who is just as concerned with the overall goals of the group as your individual goals;
You will earn goodwill with your coworker – goodwill you can cash in when the day comes that you have a fallen behind in your own work.
That is, if I had a better paying HR job…
Otherwise, I’d give the answer you gave, especially after they handed you the correct answer with their prefatory(??) remarks.
Not that I’ve actually been asked that question, but I always assume that questions like that want the in between answer. They don’t want the employee who does everything themselves without asking their supervisor to make sure they are doing it correctly, but they also don’t want the employee that, as you mentioned, needs total handholding.
I think it’s the *safest *answer, because it’s impossible to know who you’re interviewing with. Is the interviewer a micromanager? Then he’ll hear the “…and run it by the supervisor for approval…” part and be happy. Is the interviewer lazy? Then she’ll hear the “…look over the work and develop a plan…” part and be happy. Has the interviewer recently struggled with a maverick employee? Recently been told he needs to be more hands-on? Been written up because her employees have been slacking and she didn’t notice? Doesn’t matter. This answer satisfies every manager style and situation I can think of.
I think the fact that it’s a state job virtually eliminates the possibility that independently prioritizes work is the correct answer.
At least in NY Civil Service exams tend to be based on the premise that an underling relies on the boss to tell them everything to do and when.