Interview
Question Sets for Young Leaders
Companies
come up with tricky questions to gauge candidates' abilities and preparedness. Some typical issues that are raised, and gets some
perspectives on how young leaders can handle them
JM Prasad Chief, human resources, ING Vysya Bank
Strategy
QUESTION: Which strategic high-impact changes would you would implement in your business and why?
APPROACH: The question gives a good perspective on the leader's depth of understanding, strategic thinking and change orientation. The candidate should adopt a pragmatic approach on changes worth implementing. She should also do a thorough analysis of advantages and disadvantages of the suggested changes before putting her point across.
Growth
QUESTION: How do you plan to cope with learning opportunities of the assignment?
APPROACH: Every change is bound to have a learning curve and will teach one things one does not already know. Leaders should be honest and realistic about what they hope to learn from the new assignment and their expectations from the role, instead of pretending to be fully ready for it.
Strategy
QUESTION: Which strategic high-impact changes would you would implement in your business and why?
APPROACH: The question gives a good perspective on the leader's depth of understanding, strategic thinking and change orientation. The candidate should adopt a pragmatic approach on changes worth implementing. She should also do a thorough analysis of advantages and disadvantages of the suggested changes before putting her point across.
Growth
QUESTION: How do you plan to cope with learning opportunities of the assignment?
APPROACH: Every change is bound to have a learning curve and will teach one things one does not already know. Leaders should be honest and realistic about what they hope to learn from the new assignment and their expectations from the role, instead of pretending to be fully ready for it.
Teamwork
Ritu Singh Verma
Regional director, HR, South Asia, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts
QUESTION: Take me through a situation where you had to adjust to a colleague’s working style to deliver a project
APPROACH: Typically, candidates tell how they could not get along with a colleague and had to escalate matters to make things work, but we do not want that. The leader should emphasise how he handled the colleague by leveraging his or her positive points to deliver the project, which is the larger goal.
Obstacles
QUESTION: Give us an example of a goal you set and how you achieved it. How did you overcome the obstacles?
APPROACH: It is important for a leader to have a well-thought-out, realistic plan and be aware of the deadlocks he might face. There is also a follow-up question: 'Which are the goals you did not achieve?' Leaders should be honest here, and focus on why they did not work and what they learnt from them instead of getting defensive by blaming their failure on others.
Ritu Singh Verma
Regional director, HR, South Asia, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts
QUESTION: Take me through a situation where you had to adjust to a colleague’s working style to deliver a project
APPROACH: Typically, candidates tell how they could not get along with a colleague and had to escalate matters to make things work, but we do not want that. The leader should emphasise how he handled the colleague by leveraging his or her positive points to deliver the project, which is the larger goal.
Obstacles
QUESTION: Give us an example of a goal you set and how you achieved it. How did you overcome the obstacles?
APPROACH: It is important for a leader to have a well-thought-out, realistic plan and be aware of the deadlocks he might face. There is also a follow-up question: 'Which are the goals you did not achieve?' Leaders should be honest here, and focus on why they did not work and what they learnt from them instead of getting defensive by blaming their failure on others.
Mahesh Aras
Chief administrative officer & head, global knowledge network, JP Morgan India
QUESTION: Illustrate how you displayed exceptional teamwork in your professional environment to achieve a goal
APPROACH: At JP Morgan, we view teamwork as a non-negotiable attribute while interviewing candidates. We expect the candidate to be able to display a ‘we’ as opposed to an ‘I’ attitude in her answer. The key element to watch out for is how she is able to garner support, collaborate and channelise key skill sets and strengths within her team to achieve business objectives.
Decision-making
QUESTION: Can you make decisions when you don't have all the information and where there's more than one right answer?
APPROACH: We will evaluate the candidate's ability to think and see through the maze, and adopt a ‘can do’ and solutionsbased approach to work. In the real world, there are bound to be situations where we may not readily have all the information but need to make a decision in the given circumstances to meet business objectives.
Chief administrative officer & head, global knowledge network, JP Morgan India
QUESTION: Illustrate how you displayed exceptional teamwork in your professional environment to achieve a goal
APPROACH: At JP Morgan, we view teamwork as a non-negotiable attribute while interviewing candidates. We expect the candidate to be able to display a ‘we’ as opposed to an ‘I’ attitude in her answer. The key element to watch out for is how she is able to garner support, collaborate and channelise key skill sets and strengths within her team to achieve business objectives.
Decision-making
QUESTION: Can you make decisions when you don't have all the information and where there's more than one right answer?
APPROACH: We will evaluate the candidate's ability to think and see through the maze, and adopt a ‘can do’ and solutionsbased approach to work. In the real world, there are bound to be situations where we may not readily have all the information but need to make a decision in the given circumstances to meet business objectives.
Anumeha Chaturvedi ET121001
No comments:
Post a Comment