 Hunting for jobs is the place to be! Hunker down and fire away! Here’s round #04 of job hunting / career advancement material behavioral questions.
Give it a shot and leave your answers in the comment section!
So here goes:
Job Hunt: Interview: 39 Behavioral Questions: Round # 04
| Attibutes |
Questions |
| Work Standards |
• Give me an example of a specific occasion when you conformed to a policy with which you did not agree. Why did you comply? What would have been the consequences of noncompliance? |
| Work Standards |
• Tell me about a time you got enjoyment out of working hard on something. |
| Adaptability |
• Describe a time when you made a major sacrifice to achieve an important goal. |
| Adaptability |
• Give me an example of time you had to adjust quickly to changes over which you had no control. What was the impact of the change on you? |
| Adaptability |
• Tell me about a time when you had to adapt to an uncomfortable situation. |
| Adaptability |
• Tell me about a time when you had to adjust to another person’s working style in order to complete a project/task/goal. |
| Adaptability |
• Tell me about the most difficult challenge you have faced in working cooperatively with someone who did not share your ideas, values, or beliefs. (NOTE: Make sure you understand what the differences were.) What was the impact on your ability to get things done? What was the impact on the other person’s ability to get things done? |
| Adaptability |
• Tell us about a time when you built rapport quickly with someone under difficult conditions |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment |
• Give a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment |
• Tell us about a time when you had to analyze information and make a recommendation. What kind of thought process did you go through? What was your reasoning behind your decision? |
| Coaching |
• How do you coach a subordinate to develop a new skill?
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 Hunting for jobs is the place to be! Hunker down and fire away! I present to you another round (#03!!!) of job hunting / career advancement material - a list of behavioral questions that companies can and do use during the interviews. Treat these just like you were at an interview and give them some real thought.
Give it a shot and leave your answers in the comment section!
So here goes:
Job Hunt: Interview: 39 Behavioral Questions: Round # 03
| Attibutes |
Questions |
| Tenacity |
• Tell me about some of the obstacles you have had to overcome to reach your present position. |
| Adaptability |
• Give me an example of a time when you missed the early signs of employee resistance to an organizational change? |
| Adaptability |
• What is the most competitive work situation you have experienced? How did you handle it? What was the result? |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment |
• Give me an example of a time when you caught a discrepancy or inconsistency in the available information that might have caused significant problems if you had missed it. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment |
• We all have weaknesses that can interfere with our success. Tell me about one of yours and how you overcame it to be successful on a specific task or project. |
| Communication |
• Describe a situation when you were able to strengthen a relationship by communicating effectively. What made your communication effective? |
| Communication |
• Describe a time you failed to communicate important information to your boss. |
| Customer Service Orientation |
• Tell me about a time when you encountered a customer who was complaining of poor service. What did you do? |
| Customer Service Orientation |
• Tell me about a time you wished you would have handled an unhappy, angry, or irate customer in a different way. |
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 It fits on a Post-It note! Come on ya'll - get this committed! I was doing some training this morning and wrote down a little blurb on a sticky-note that I thought would be useful to have around. In order to effectively receive and act upon Feedback from others, this is a nice little cheat-sheet to reference.
I’ve included the text and an image, but I highly recommend hand-writing it yourself to help mentally reinforce the ideas.
FOR FEEDBACK YOU MUST DO 2 THINGS:
– LISTEN:
- FOCUS ON THE MESSAGE (NOT BEHAVIOR / ATTITUDE)
- GET AT THE FACTS
- ASK QUESTIONS, AS NEEDED
– COMMIT:
- AGREE ON A SAFER (BETTER) WAY TO WORK
- ACTUALLY MAKE & STATE THE COMMITMENT
- FOLLOW UP ON THE COMMITMENT
No frills, no 180 pages of “how to be a better you”: just straight-up, simple – LISTEN & COMMIT.
Do it!
 G.K. Chesterton was the man - so many paradoxical quotes that just dig so deep. A few years back I decided to start putting inspirational quotes (almost all are from some of my favorite religious folks, brothers, sisters, and cool-people – a few are, well… responses to the events/times at the used date lol).
Just going through the old files as I digitally “Five S (5S)” my computers. Hope someone finds some of these useful!
Quotes List:
=====================================================================
- [07/12/2010] “Humility is the true guardian of chastity.” -St. Philip Neri
- [06/07/2010] “Let us strive after purity of heart, for the Holy Spirit dwells in candid and simple minds.” -St. Philip Neri
- [05/18/2010] “Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death.” -Hilaire Belloc
- [05/04/2010] “From quiet homes and first beginning, out to the undiscovered ends, there’s nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.” -Hilaire Belloc
- [04/19/2010] “Pride is an admission of weakness; it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals.” -Fulton J. Sheen
- [03/24/2010] “What good is speed if the brain has oozed out on the way.” -St. Jerome
- [03/11/2010] “I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I never read in either of them: “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” -St. Augustine
- [02/08/2010] “An Adult faith does not follow the waves of fashion and the latest novelties.” -Pope Benedict XVI
- [01/06/2010] “A comprehended god is no god.” -John Chrysostom
- [12/14/2009] “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” -Karl Barth
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 Get up on your hunt!!! Here I am again with the latest and greatest in job hunting / career advancement material, and have been compiling a list of behavioral questions that companies can and do use during the interviews. Treat these just like you were at an interview and give them some real thought.
Give it a shot and leave your answers in the comment section!
So here goes:
Job Hunt: Interview: 39 Behavioral Questions: Round # 02
The rest of the Behavioral Interview Job questions are hiding from you here…
 This caption is a nominalization of a nominalization of a nominalization of a... It truly is a sad state of affairs when a word, doing perfectly fine on its own for the past few centuries, is spun by some “news event” or “social explosion” into a term that is, more often than not, unrelated to its original meaning. Some relevant examples are ’green’, ‘change’, and ‘organic’.
There are also those words that are very important to understanding how our world works and how to more effectively work within it. A good example of this is the topic of this post:
NOMINALIZE, adj.
Definition: To convert another part of speech into a noun.
Examples: Change the adjective “lowly” into the noun “the lowly” or changing the verb “legalize” into the noun “legalization“.
Why does this matter?
Problems arise when the nominalized terms are purposefully used to (1) obfuscate true intent or to (2) clump individuals into groups. It is not my intent to focus on whether or not either of these are done purposefully, though this is a very important point.
The former (1) can be troublesome as more often than not, nominalized terms mask underlying layers of questions or qualifiers that are usually not addressed. For instance, ‘careless’ is turned into ‘carelessness’, which begs “compared to what? regarding what? what duration? what frequency?”. Without an adequate reference to the nominalization in a preceding sentence, the term only serves to mask and confuse. This does not necessarily imply nefarious intent, but it does usually result in poor communication.
The later (2) is particularly noteworthy as once an individual is overshadowed by the ‘group’ or ‘label’ affixed to him, he can be summarily dismissed. Basically, someone assigns traits to a non-existent group (i.e. – the nominalization), and anyone who exhibits any trace of a related trait can be labeled and clumped. For instance, ‘lowly’ is turned into ‘the lowly’ and again this begs to bring up a multitude of questions that will never be given adequate consideration. This form of usage is of particular note when it comes to public speaking and politics: ‘rightwingers’, ‘teabaggers’, ‘extremists’, ‘terrorists’, et cetera. None of these terms mean much of anything without a full paragraph or two to accompany them.
What do we do about this?
Stop using these terms, ask the implied questions, and do not let others fall into the same traps that poor communication brings about. Begin to see what traits people are exhibiting that lead you to want to attribute the nominalizations and leave it at the traits. Make the words you speak and use mean something again.
 Begin your job hunt with a few good behavioral interview questions to practice! I’m constantly checking out the latest and greatest in job hunting / career advancement type-like material, and have been compiling a list of behavioral questions that companies can and do use during the interviews.
I have quite a few and plan to post them in a spread-out fashion over the next few months. I’ll attempt to keep it relatively short and ‘random’. Treat these just like you were at an interview and give them some real thought.
Heck, leave your answers in the comment section!
So here goes:
Job Hunt: Interview: 39 Behavioral Questions: Round # 01
Click here for the rest of the Behavioral Interview Questions!
 The roots of your family tree have some good foundational support... figure it out as soon as you can. I ran across a set of questions in a book by Jeff Yeager, The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches, that I just had to share. I plan to interview my grandparents using these questions in the near future (next month or so). I have a good guess at what the answers will be… basically the minimum / opposite of my answers. :) So here goes the list:
Play “Twenty (20) Questions“ with your grandparents [Keeping up with Grandpa Jones]
Answer these for yourself and then ask your grandparents, too.
20 Questions to Ask Your Mentoring Grandparents:
- Years married?
- Number of divorces?
- Number of children?
- Number of hours spent each week enjoying time with family and friends?
- Number of evening meals eaten at home each week with family?
- Number of meals cooked at home per week?
- Number of family vacations per year?
- Number of household televisions?
- Number of hours each week devoted to electronic entertainment?
- Years of formal education?
- Number of different jobs held as an adult?
- Do you have a working spouse or two income family?
- Number of weekends you work each year?
- Hours spent commuting each week?
- Number of different houses you’ve lived in?
- Number of bedrooms / baths in the house?
- Number of years to pay out your home morgage(s)?
- Number of cars you’ve owned?
- Treatment for depression, anxiety, stress, durg & alcohol problems, or related illnesses?
- Biggest regret on your death bed?
Tell me these answers won’t be:
- sobering
- enlightening
- entertaining
- useful
Forget about “The Joneses”. We need to aspire to be more like grandpa and grandma.
 OMG MONEY! NO wait... that wasn't the point here. Let’s face it, the world does not run without money. It’s an unfortunate reality, but one must come to grips with the fact that money is a tool that must be used and carefully so.
That’s the real rub… it is a TOOL… not something to love and pine over.
Mathematician Grigori Perelman recently turned down a $1,000,000 prize for solving a very difficult math problem. It seems he had a bit of a problem with accepting such a ‘reward’ for ethical (or some might spin ‘personal’) reasons.
Say It Ain’t So – Money Doesn’t Rule All?!
What was it that did it for him (and this wasn’t the 1st time!)? According to a NewScientist article:
Perelman’s reasons for declining the prize aren’t too clear. The Associated Press reports he has told the Interfax news agency that he thinks the prize is unfair and ignores the contribution of mathematician Richard Hamilton, who helped lay the ground-work for the proof.
Perelman is quoted as saying: “The main reason is my disagreement with the organized mathematical community…I don’t like their decisions, I consider them unjust.”
I am amused that the article claims the reasons “aren’t too clear”. Guess that says something about the journalist, but I’d hate to assume too much. :)
I give major kudos to Mr. Perelman for standing up for not only what is right, but also what he believes in – not always one in the same thing.
After all, it is the LOVE of money that is the root of all evil, not money itself.
Respect, Ethics, & Spirit: 1
Money: 0
 Work the commitment of time and value in all that you do and be sure that you will do well. I was running through some old “reading notes” and came across the following list of “Time Commitments”. Unfortunately, and very ‘uncharacteristic’ of me, I do not have the original source information. My apologies up front, but I trust this list will remain useful, regardless.
Also, this list is in no particular order, is more geared toward leadership and professional growth, and (I believe) has personal happiness as the ultimate intent.
The 10 Commitments of Time:
- Commit time for Sleep, Rest, & Reflection
- Commit time for appointments, meetings, and scheduled phone calls (include transit times)
- Commit time with your team / colleagues to help them help you (i.e. delegation)
- Commit time for your highest priorities, treat this time like you would an appointment with a person (be generous – don’t underestimate)
- Commit specific time for your email (don’t let emails plan your day)
- Commit time for lunch, and energy break (a mental rest)
- Commit time to stay healthy and fit (make time for one activity per day)
- Commit time for your family, friends, and community
- Commit time for learning something new
- Commit 10-15 minutes to plan tomorrow, record what went well today, and thank people who helped you achieve today’s results (do this before you leave work)
A pretty decent overview of the items that should be in mind when making any type of template / schedule for your daily duties. How’s your plan coming along?
 I finally got around to updating some of the meat of the pages here. For instance, check out the fleshed-out information on the new:
ABOUT ME & PROJECTS
…pages. I’ve been getting some reports of not being too terribly clear on some of my videos and I agree. So I’ve given it all a bit more thought and expanded accordingly.
I also added the OUTREACH page to the site and hope to make it a central location for helpful information, links to other charitable organizations, and projects.
Also, I’ve updated my Purpose Tagline to:
Projects for Education, Help, and Spirit.
I think it reflects my intentions a bit more aptly than my previous tagline. My reasons and meanings are detailed on the PROJECTS page – check it out!
Oh and because I just love the nerdiness behind the scenes – don’t forget to click on the picture as it will take you to a larger version of the brainstormy mind-map I created as part of this “purpose lexicon-ize” exercise.
Thanks for reading!
 Sometimes you just have to bust out that magnifying glass. Often times we rush and ramble through the day, heavily relying on our “unconscious competence” in the jobs and task we perform on a regular basis, and sometimes forget to take a fresh look at the issue at hand. This can lead to a creeping level of innattention to detail, if we are not careful.
A situation is described on Page 30 of the May 6th, 2010 volume of Machine Design, that exhibits a dangerous example of this “detail myopia”. I won’t go through the nitty-gritty of the article, but it boils down to several employees were injured because the hardware installation was based off of discrepant drawings. Something as simple as the omission (or accidental deletion!) of a line on a CAD drawing at the drafter or engineer’s desk lead to some tangible injury to human beings.
Attention to Details – Inside and Out
Often times the ecology of what we do is not considered well enough to preclude such things from happening. Yes I know, one can never *fully* consider *all* ecological impacts of *every* decision made… such absolutes can only be known by Him who is absolute… and we’d never get out of bed if we did attempt such a feat. However, I think it is a safe bet that if more people put greater personal emphasis on the sheer weight of their decisions in *all* arenas of life, then a majority of such “careless” accidents could be avoided.
The next time a seemingly useless “minor detail” appears in your daily tasks, purposely give some extra effort to considering whether or not anyone down the line would be terribly impacted because of a “less-than-whole-system-oriented” view.
Another take on this ecological consideration was aptly stated by Mr. G. K. Chesterton in that: fences should never be pulled down until you fully understand why they were put up.
 Yup - I recon yer' gonna' need to go ahead and own up to these, boy. Saw this in an email this morning… simple and effective. Gotta love them thar’ farmers. :)
- Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
- Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
- A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
- Words that soak into your ears are whispered…not yelled.
- Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight.
- Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
- Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
- It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
- You cannot unsay a cruel word.
- Every path has a few puddles.
- When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
- The best sermons are lived, not preached.
- Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
- Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
- Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
- Live a good, honorable life.. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
- Don’t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t bothering you none.
- Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.
- If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
- Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
- The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’.
- Always drink upstream from the herd.
- Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
- Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
- If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around..
- Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
- Don’t pick a fight with an old man or woman. If they’re too old to fight, they’ll just kill you.
 Mountains become hills, with goals. … and I mean ‘profit‘ at the base root of it’s meaning… a gain, addition, benefit – not just financially.
I recently listened to an Audio Book:
Managing Your Goals by Alec Mackenzie
ISBN-10: 0671879936
ISBN-13: 978-0671879938
I would rate this book as a decent motivator with some very useful tips – 8.7 / 14.0 Stars.
…and it had some very useful hints to help whip your life into shape. Below are my personal notes that I took while listening to this audiobook. Short, sweet, and hopefully useful.
====================================================
What does success mean to you?
Me: *FILL IN YOUR OWN ANSWER*
Book: Doing your best. No matter what you do… do it to the best of your ability.
Vision: Doing my best makes me happy, provides for my family, and is what I want to do!
What do I need most to achieve my vision?
Me: *FILL IN YOUR OWN ANSWER*
Book: Goals.
If money were no longer a consideration, then what would you want to do?
– Really take some time to consider this question. Write down your answers when you get a chance… or make a goal to do it now!
All goals must satisfy applicable items of the following list in order to be successful:
- Written: If it is not written down or planned, then it is just a wish. You NEED goals. Commit. Do.
- Measureable: Goals must be measureable so you can determine and track your progress
- Visible: They must be visible (on a wall, chart, planner, notes, etc.). Stay on target.
- Deadlined: Provide sense of urgency, allow for proper tracking of progress. Consider a “startline”, too. (good for procrastinators)
- Participative: Include those affected and who must help.
- Consistent: Consistency with all parties involved (company, family, friends, etc.).
- Achievable: Help accomplish success without unnecessary frustration.
- Demanding: To help you achieve your best. Ask yourself tough questions.
- Flexible: What external influences could impact goals – how can you adapt?
Make a time log:
- Break down the day, step-by-step, record EVERYTHING you do and associated time spent
- Do a “realtime” log after the “estimate” log
- Compare the two and try to really think through the disconnects.
Guaranteed Time Wasters – Things You Should Actively Fight:
- Lack of written goals with deadlines – you cannot do what you cannot remember
- Indecision – gathering information without end / making a decision
- Snap decisions – want to get it done right
- Committing to too much – not enough focus on the important things – drop the less important. What needs doing? What DOESN’T need doing?
- Failure to break #1 into small, manageable parts
- Lack of specific plan of activities to meet goals
- Lack of daily priorities – you don’t know where to start
- Shifting priorities – keep #1 priority in front of you and stick with it
- Crisis management – refuse to allow every problem be a crisis
- Lack of dated, written checkpoints for all involved – need to track and keep abreast of tasks to complete milestones
- Lack of a specific plan on how to use waiting time (travel, before meetings, breaks)
- Time estimates that are unrealistically low – give yourself padding – plan properly – twice as long as you think?
Procrastination is mostly due to FEAR of FAILURE. Just do it and adapt to the outcomes.
 OH MY GOODNESS! MY EYES!!! Must FOCUS!!! I’ve really been hammering the motivation and focus tips here lately… hmmm… probably something to that. :) Unconscious mind doing its thing no doubt. Oh and a nod to the LifeHacker article that threw a bunch of these types of articles together. I recommend subscribing to the LifeHacker RSS feed… pretty good stuff. Oh yeah, and want to know your top 3 motivators? Take the free Self-Motivation Test.
9 Ways to Motivational Focus Happy-Sauce:
1. Consequences – Never use threats. They’ll turn people against you. But making people aware of the negative consequences of not getting results (for everyone involved) can have a big impact. This one is also big for self motivation. If you don’t get your act together, will you ever get what you want?
6. Kindness – Get people on your side and they’ll want to help you. Piss them off and they’ll do everything they can to screw you over. [good old golden rule / "flies and honey"]
7. Deadlines – Many people are most productive right before a big deadline. They also have a hard time focusing until that deadline is looming overhead. Use this to your advantage by setting up a series of mini-deadlines building up to an end result. [don't forget to add 'startlines', too! Procrastinators like me really get whipped into shape with a definite start and end date in mind]
10. Recognize achievement – Make a point to recognize achievements one-on-one and also in group settings. People like to see that their work isn’t being ignored. [this can't be emphasized enough... especially if the audience is someone really close to you (like a spouse or child) - cummulative time together is not justification for diminished praise]
11. Personal stake – Think about the personal stake of others. What do they need? By understanding this you’ll be able to keep people happy and productive. [A general awareness of all sides of the table is *always* a good idea.]
13. Trust and Respect – Give people the trust and respect they deserve and they’ll respond to requests much more favorably.
15. Let people be creative – Don’t expect everyone to do things your way. Allowing people to be creative creates a more optimistic environment and can lead to awesome new ideas.
16. Constructive criticism – Often people don’t realize what they’re doing wrong. Let them know. Most people want to improve and will make an effort once they know how to do it.
18. Make it fun – Work is most enjoyable when it doesn’t feel like work at all. Let people have fun and the positive environment will lead to better results.
20. Communication – Keep the communication channels open. By being aware of potential problems you can fix them before a serious dispute arises.
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