Tell me about a
mistake you made and how you handled it?
I currently work as a Sales Associate at Dillard’s. There
was a time when I had a customer come in to make a payment on his store credit
card, he was making his payment in check form and while processing his payment,
I made the mistake of telling the system that he was making a payment in cash.
I explained to the customer the mistake I had made, apologized and told him
that I would have to reprocess his payment, he was very upset and claimed that
I was wasting his time. I tried calming him down and apologized for the
inconvenience, I proceeded to voiding the previous transaction and continued to
reprocessing his payment. I finished the transaction, apologized once again and
wished him a good rest of his day.
With this response the interviewee seemed to be committed to
giving every customer a good customer service experience and seems to think
that accepting a mistake was made, learning from it and being able to address the
issue on her own is significant.
Give an example of
how you worked in a team.
In high school, being in the ACE Program and working with
design professionals weekly for a semester, we had to work in groups to create
floorplans, elevations, budgets, etc. for our personalized design projects.
Dividing the work into parts and assigning a different part to each team member
we were able to finish the project in a timely and professional manner. At the
end of the semester, each group presented their design project to all the other
groups and the design professionals that mentored us throughout the project. Thanks
to our organization, team efforts, and the help of our mentor; our team placed
first and each team member won a scholarship.
The interviewee seems committed to continuing to work in
teams and learning from each experience and seems to think that organization of
a team is significant.
What do you do if you
disagree with someone at work?
When I had my first disagreement with a coworker, I informed
my manager, sat down with both that person and my manager, explained the
situation and got it settled instead of causing a dramatic scene in public
where customers would be able to see.
The interviewee seems committed to handling disputes with
coworkers effectively and seems to think that having a friendly and
hostile-free work environment helps everyone work better and with more
confidence.
Have you been in a
situation where you didn’t have enough work to do?
Yes, I have. I currently work in the lingerie at Dillard’s
and there are not very many customers who go shopping in that particular
department regularly, when I go in to work and there are not very many
customers around, I have to resize and organize merchandize and product that is
on the floor. Since I work 16-25 hours a week, and there are not very many
customers, I spend a lot of time resizing and organizing, when I come in for my
next shift, there is nothing left to do but stand around and try to look busy.
The interviewee seems committed to keeping a clean and
organized workplace day to day and seems to think that keeping a clean and
organized workplace is critical to giving those customers who do come shopping
in the lingerie department a good customer service experience.
Tell me about a time
your schedule was interrupted. How did you handle it?
I go to school 3 days a week, Tuesday-Thursday, I am not
available to go in to work on those days, there was a time when my manager
scheduled me to go in on a Tuesday, I obviously could not skip school to go to
work, I called my manager, explained the situation and she switched my work
shift to a day when I was available to come in.
The interviewee seems to be committed to being organized not
only in her personal life but her professional life as well and seems to think
that informing her managers of scheduling issues and conflicts ahead of time is
significant.
In Conclusion…
I am prepared for any questions that my interviewer may ask
at the time of a mock or true job interview. I will answer each question with honesty
and confidence because I believe that there is no reason for anyone to lie at a
job interview in order to make themselves look better to an employer.
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