Delivery Interview Preparation Guide

This question is designed to identify whether you know your own management style - a lot of people don't. They don't know how they like to be managed, or how they manage.

I want to know if you work best alone, or in a team. Are you somebody who gets up and talks to your colleagues, or do you prefer to send an email? Are you easily distracted? You need to understand how you liked to be managed, and if you're going for a management position, what your own management style is.

This is also sometimes known as SOAR, where Task is replaced by Objective.

☛ Situation: Describe the situation.
☛ Task: Describe what task was required of you.
☛ Action: Tell the interviewer what action you took.
☛ Result: Conclude by describing the result of that action.

Be positive about your actions throughout your response and do not make up an example as you will not come across as believable. If you cannot think of good examples instantly, ask the interviewer for a moment or two to think about the question and then give your answer.

To answer this question you must have researched the company. Reply with the company's attributes as you see them and how your qualities match them.

Wherever possible be positive, even if your role was short term or didn't quite work out as expected, as it will have added extra experience or skills to your career history.

Although you are now looking to move on, acknowledge what you learned and what was on offer at the time. Demonstrate good reasons for the decisions you made and show that you understood what was to be gained, or acknowledge what you have learned from your past employer.

Many interviewers will ask you to name your strengths and weaknesses. Typically, people find it easier to express their strengths, but struggle when it comes to identifying even one weakness. Part of the reason for this may be that they do not want to disclose a particular weakness, as this may result in them failing to be successful in getting the job.

A good initial answer (bearing in mind you are applying for a telephone position) to the 'strengths' part would be "I have been told that I am an excellent communicator, especially on the telephone, but I feel I have good interpersonal skills generally and find it easy to get along with all sorts of people".

For weaknesses you need to think of something which is really a strength but put it across as a weakness. It is also important to make it clear what you are doing to address that 'weakness'.

A good example would be "I am a very conscientious worker and I get irritated by colleagues who don't share this value and take any opportunity to take time off work or do the minimum required when they are there. I am learning, however, that these people generally get found out and I leave it to my supervisor to recognise these problems and address them".

An answer such as this would probably make the interviewer think "well that's not such a bad thing, actually".

Here your interviewer wants proof that you will tackle problems head on and not just bury your head in the sand.

A strong answer will clearly demonstrate a problem, an action and a solution.

For example:

Problem: When I was first promoted to team leader, I consistently struggled to ensure that my team achieved their sales targets on a Friday.
Action: I sought the advice of more experienced team leaders to find out how they motivated their teams through the Friday slog.
Solution: Acting on the advice of the other team leaders, I implemented a combination of incentives over the next few weeks and successfully boosted my team's sales figures.

It's important to think of and talk about a situation that's relevant for the position you're interviewing for. Ideally this will have had a positive outcome. By doing this you will help the interviewers to understand why you are a great fit for their team.

This is your opportunity to tell your potential employer what keeps you focused. Possible answers include:

☛ Breaking your workload up into daily or hourly targets to ensure that the next small success is never too far away.
☛ Living a healthy life-style. Eating the right foods and drinking lots of water in the office can have a big impact on your concentration levels.
☛ Motivating others and promoting a positive atmosphere in the office.

In asking this question, your potential employer is looking to see that you are prepared to go above and beyond the call of duty when the company needs you.

But you have to be careful when answering, as it is easy to fall into the trap of slagging off your current employer or seeming disorganised. Your interviewer does not want to hear how your current boss failed to provide you with resources or that you once pulled an all-nighter to meet a university deadline.

An ideal answer will centre round the busiest time of your company's year (i.e. the Christmas rush in retail). In your example you should outline the reason for your stretched deadline and say what you did to ensure that you met it.

For example:

Whilst working in retail over the Christmas period, there was dramatic increase in stock which needed processing. To ensure that I continued to complete my daily tasks over this time period, I frequently started work at 5am rather than 7am.

Morale is infectious - whether positive or negative - and, when working in a team-orientated environment like a call centre, it's important that there is always an air of positivist around.

It's therefore vitally important to ensure that if you're having a bad day, you contain this and don't let it influence the morale levels of the team, and in turn the productivity and efficiency of the overall operation.