In interview two questions I have to answer are:
- Recall a time from your work experience when your manager or supervisor was unavailable and a problem arose and you had to deal with it on your own. What was the nature of the problem? How did you handle that situation?
- Tell me about a time when you came up with an idea to enhance your employer’s business operation and implemented it.
Answering
For answering I will use my short-term work experience in the sphere of catering services. I was an assistant of manager and at the same time an operator of call-centre of this catering. My first achievement there was in my successful execution of not mine duties. It was usual work summer day. But from the very beginning of it I was told that our manager would be absent during all day because of some health problems. It has not been yet a large organization. Above manager there were two directors which were not in the city. I occupied lower position and there was the other operator who started her third day at this company. My responsibities were to take all cash while work day and answer on calls of the costumers. (The second operator had only to communicate with clients). The difficulty of that day was that a lot of products had come to the end, and it was a high time to order new ones (it was one of the main manager tasks). Besides, it was sushi catering service. For discovering what should be ordered at first turn, I asked chef for listing me the products, their purchase volume and a preferred provider. I found in Google needed telephone numbers and ordered all these not forgetting to speak about favorable conditions as bulk buyers (for two items I received sales in 5% and 10% accordingly). I did the same for household goods and co-called “Japanese” products which were in a separate graph. Money for paying the bills was taken from that day cash (I ordered needed positions on the sum of average cash sum which was at the end of the day. Luckily, that day was really average one). The only bill with debt was from the service of Japanese goods, though politic of their company was liberal, and we came to agreement to close the bill till the end of the week. During all day I added bills’ sums and list of purchases at one separate page, so it looked like the elementary level accounting. My manager went back to work the next day. It was really crazy day because it was some holiday, number of orders were twice higher than usual. It was not expected. But, thanks to mine ignorance I ordered goods for about all money of previous day cash and it was enough number for such holiday work day. I was thanked by my manager and received additional bonus, and what was more important I received fresh new experience.
From the moment I started my work for this company till the moment I will light on now the average number of orders had increased from 45-50 to 75. Two operators of call-centre were not enough. We were squeezed like lemons at the end of the day. For company it was even more harmful, as we physically were not able to answer to all consumers in time, to consult them if needed, cash sum had increased, and day by day I was noticing lack of organization process. It was a great number of little things which we met as operators, but our manager did not realized it in full scale, as she was never working as an operator. It was so emotionally hard that coming was angry with my relatives. Finally, I wrote down all things that had to be changed: from such minorities as changing our Internet provider (because of often breaks) till changing of our schedule and the training of two more persons. It was about 45 items in my list, and they were told by me to my manager. I explained her all before our work day started. At the end of that day she told me what she managed to change according to my list. The rest had to be discussed with directors. Some items she crossed out. Though, as far as I know now this service uses all items I have proposed, as my list was based on things which were really important for operators’ work and that were not just my wishes. The results of my list were felt in a week; we began to receive positive recalls about our work from customers, orders came to customers in time, our work day stopped to be so nervous, and operators began to work in normal atmosphere again.