Information
seeking
- If you were dealing with a query related to the local labour law how would you go
about finding the relevant information needed to come up with an accurate and
coherent response?
Answer:
Labor laws are designed for keeping the workers safe
and to make it certain that they are treated fairly. These are made by
regulatory bodies of the country. If I am facing any issues regarding local
labor law then I will make sure to get labor law’s documents from their own
respective websites or offices and then I will compare it with the documents of
our company to see if there was a mistake made by us and if there was then I
will respond accordingly.
- Tell
us about a research project you were responsible for carrying out. What was the project? What type of research did you carry out? How did you organize your research work? What problems or difficulties did you
encounter along the way? What were the
results of your efforts?
Answer:
I was asked to conduct research on the market entry of
Penfolds in China. For this I conducted secondary research, mostly from
different research articles. For the organization of my work I first found the
relevant information and pasted it on the word document and then I worked on it
accordingly. First I wrote different
entry methods along with their advantages and disadvantages and then I stated
one way through which Penfolds can enter the market. I had difficulty in
finding ways of entering the Chinese market as a wine product but other than
that I had no issues in this project. The final result was that Penfolds should
enter the market as a Joint Venture.
Judgement
- You
are working at the company and you have a conflict with a colleague that is
affecting your ability to do your job.
How do you attempt to resolve this situation?
Answer:
I will take that colleague on a lunch or coffee for
talking about our issues. In that lunch I will try to talk to the colleague
about our conflicts, listen to his side along with letting him know my side of
the story and then we will mutually to resolve our conflicts so it will stop
affecting our work.
- Clear
instructions have been given that work order requests, which could be for
maintenance services, requests for materials and supplies, or other items, are
not to be actioned without the prior approval of the authorized officer. This is considered Standard Operating
Procedure. None of your superiors are
around, and so there is nobody with the authority to approve requests. You get a call from a worker at the home of
one of the company staff saying that a water pipe has burst in the
kitchen. What do you do?
Answer:
I will try to call all the supervisors and if I can’t
reach them then I will ask my fellow co-workers if such a situation has
occurred before and can we approve this work order or not. Then I will act
accordingly.
Setting
priorities/organizational skills
- You
report directly to the manager, who in turn reports to the CEO. You arrive at work and are advised that both
are away and cannot be contacted for the day.
Both have left instructions for you to prepare a (different) report for
Ottawa office, and both reports must be prepared and sent by the end of the
day. There is not enough time to deal
with both of them. What do you do and
why?
Answer:
I will try to find someone else who might have
authority and knowledge of these reports and I will ask them if any of them can
be delayed. If I do get an answer then I will leave that report and work on the
important and urgent one first but if I don’t get any answer then I will
complete both reports by doing overtime this time but I will let my manager
know once I am able to contact him about the issue I faced and how should I act
if this happens next time. I will request him to try not to repeat such a
mistake because it creates a lot of trouble for me in fulfilling my other
obligations.
- In
this position there is a requirement to deal with a number of activities and
events at once. As well, there are frequent deadlines, some of which change at
the last minute. Describe the tools
and/or steps you would use for time management and organising your workload in
this type of position
Answer:
In such a position, I will make a schedule of all the
work according to their deadlines. I will keep the work with urgent deadlines
on the priority and the rest of the work will be kept accordingly. This
schedule will be made on Evernote where I can change it if any changes occur in
the deadlines of the work. Moreover, I will assign a specific time for each
work and Evernote will give me the reminders of the work and time according to
my preference.
Client
focus
- How
would you handle an angry supplier who claims that he/she sent an invoice 2
months ago and has not yet received payment?
Answer:
I will talk to the supplier in a calm manner and I
will apologize to him first for the inconvenience. After that I will let him
know that his issue has been received and I am working on it. I will call him
back as soon as I get the information regarding the issue. After that I will
contact the departments who is responsible for the payments and ask them the
issue that is occurring then I will tell the supplier his what exactly is
happening and why his payment was delayed.
- Tell
us about how you establish and maintain effective relationships with clients
and gain their trust/respect.
Answer:
For gaining the trust/respect of the clients we have
to first focus on the communication. Efficient communication with the clients
will make them trust our organization and it will make him satisfied. Along
with that we have to always show them a positive attitude and talk to them as
an individual more than just a client. Moreover, setting realistic expectations
for the client and full filling those expectations will make your client trust
you.
Office
Procedures and Practices
- Taking
an example from your previous experience in Finance, Human Resources,
Purchasing, Property and/or Government Administration, describe the manner in
which you successfully completed very important or large scale project or task.
You should describe both the internal and external procedures you had to
administer or oversee in order to complete the task.
Answer :
There was a time in
past when I had to hire two people at a time for the position of Assistant to a
CEO and a manager. For that first I identified the job requirements and
expectations and then using them I created a job description along with the
requirements of the employees. Then I created a job posting which was posted on
all the relevant job portals online and offline. I also asked our existing
employees that if any of them knows someone who will be interested in this
position. Furthermore, all the people who arrived were screened and selected
people were called for an interview with their respective bosses. After that
the selected people were called by me and the whole process of their
documentations to joining was done by me.
- Describe
a time when you set new, or worked to revised, specific operating standards and
procedures. How did you implement and communicate these standards?
Answer:
There was no set standard for maternity leaves of women.
Hence, I had to set a new SOP regarding maternity leaves. For that I kept these
leaves of 5 months in which 85% pay will be given to the employees. Only
permanent employees can take these leaves and they have to inform the HR at
least 2 month before taking the leave and if failed to do so then only 50% of
the pay will be given to the employee as a penalty. These were the new
standards and I communicated them through sending the memorandums to all the
departments and existing employees.
Setting
Priorities/Organisational Skills
1-
Assume
that you have been working as the Administrative officer for several months
already. When you arrive at work one
Monday morning at 8:30, you find yourself facing the following situations. For each situation, indicate what level of
priority you would assign (high, medium or low priority), your justification
for selecting this level of priority, and what you would do to address this
situation. An example has been provided of how to structure your answer.
Example:
Today is Wednesday; you have an email message from companies HQ in
Canada, from late Tuesday night. They
indicated that they want to a status report on company's finances by the close
of business on Wednesday. You finished your report yesterday, so it’s just a
matter of reviewing it and sending it of, however, you see your boss as sent
you an email asking for a briefing before you send your updates.
Sample Answer:
Medium priority. I will have to
brief by supervisor in the morning to be sure to have enough time to
accommodate any feedback. Because of the 5-hour time difference with Ottawa, I
can send it before I leave today, and focus on other time sensitive
priorities.
Situations
a)
A faxed purchasing
approval sent by Toronto (HQ) is sitting on the fax machine allowing you to
purchase a very important lighting system. This will allow you to pay finalise
the purchasing order with the local vendor.
You have been waiting for this approval for a few weeks and you know the
procurement of this is very important to the company's operations.
b)
A voicemail
message from one the assistants on your team, sent that morning at 7 am
c)
A communiqué has
been sent to you to be proof read for a media deadline of 12 pm today.
d)
You received a
reminder for a 2 pm (14h) briefing with the CEO regarding the mid-year
financial budget. You will have to produce a few tables and graphs, and have
yet to do so.
e)
You find out that
a member of your team is going on maternity leave, and will require you to find
someone to fill her position while she is absent.
Answer # 11(a)
Medium priority. If there is no other urgent work then
I will finalize the purchasing order with the local vendor first and then I
will start other work but if I have some urgent work then I will complete that
work first.
Answer # 11(b)
High Priority. I will listen to the voicemail first
because it might be having some urgent work or some complication which has to
be resolved.
Answer # 11(c)
High Priority. It has a deadline of 12 pm and I must
proof read accurately because it will go for publication and mistakes in the
communiqué can’t be afforded by the company.
Answer # 11(d)
Medium priority. The briefing is at 2 pm and so I have
enough time to produce the remaining tables and graphs. I will do it but it is
not something which is to be done right in the moment.
Answer # 11(e)
High Priority. I have to start working on this
immediately because it takes a lot of time in hiring the right person for the
job and if I will start working on it now then only will I be having enough
time to make a wise decision.
Action Management
- Please describe
what you feel are sound principles for operating a successful organisation?
Answer:
Some of the guiding principles through which a
successful organization can be operated are:
·
Organizations objective
should be constant and clear
·
Specialization in the
work
·
The line of authority
should be clear
·
Functions of the
employees and departments should be known
·
Cooperation and
coordination among them employees is important
- What
are best practices of good financial budget planning?
Answer:
There should be flexibility in the budget if it
requires. Budgeting methods should be standardized. Budgets should be based on
the business drivers. Moreover, active engagement of the business is necessary
in the budgeting process.
Problem-solving
in an office environment
- You are the
supervisor in a department - you notice that three of your employees have been
arguing with each for a long time and are not as productive as they used to
be. Moreover, on a daily basis one or
another of them will come and complain about the others for some reason or
another. How will you cope with this
situation?
Answer:
I will talk to them individually and make them
understand that why is it necessary to solve their conflicts. I will tell them
to solve their conflicts on their own. If they are unsuccessful then I will
interfere in the matter and I will make them sit together and let each person
talk and make them resolve their issues.
Question:
- You report to the head of the Property Section and are
responsible for two Property Assistants and two Handymen. It is Monday morning. You were away on leave on Thursday and
Friday. The following is waiting for you
on your arrival in the office.
- A
voice mail from one of the handymen asking which vehicle he should take to a
job he has been assigned today.
- A
file of invoices has been placed on your desk for review.
- You
have 55 messages in your Inbox, including one which appears to be a request for
plumbing work and another which appears to be a complaint about something that
happened in your absence.
- You
have an ongoing high-priority project that must be completed in 6 weeks and is
under tight timelines.
- One
of your Property Assistants is upset about something that happened while you
were away. She stopped you in the
hallway on your way in, but you didn’t really get a sense of what the problem
was.
- There
was a terrible storm over the weekend and you have 12 SQs without access to
internet, telephone or television.
- You
have a team meeting scheduled for 11:00.
- The
material in the attached envelope is still outstanding from last week.
1.
Please describe to the assessors how you will approach the
work and issues awaiting you. Please
address the relative prioritisation of work, time management, and the manner in
which you will handle each item.
2.
You subsequently learn that while you were away, an argument
arose between the Property Assistant (Kim) and one of the Handymen
(George). The argument arose after the
CEO called to ask about plumbing work scheduled to start the same day at his
residence. You surmise that there was a
communication and/or scheduling problem and that the plumber was not present at
the expected time. Other colleagues
tell you that they heard Kim and George shouting at each other in Kim’s
office. Please describe to the
assessors how you would approach this situation in order to understand and deal
with it.
3.
You have been asked to create a mission policy regarding the
use of the shared kitchens. There are
issued related to dirty dishes, rotten food in the refrigerator, and the amount
of time that the cleaners need to spend dealing with the kitchens. Please provide your analysis and
recommendation to the assessors on what the policy should include. Please also consider how the policy should
be communicated and how it will be administered and/or enforced.
Answer (1)
First priority will be to tell the handymen which vehicle
he has to use so he can go and finish his job. This wouldn’t take long and after
that I will resolve the issues caused by storm because they are affecting the
continuity of work and it must be solved ASAP. Then the attached envelope’s
outstanding work will be done and I will review all the invoices. Following
that I will get a check and balance on the ongoing high-priority project. I
will make sure everything is as it should be. After that I will check the inbox
messages then there will be a meeting and afterwards I will talk to the
Property Assistant.
Answer (2)
I will make George and Kim resolve their issues by
letting them speak to each other. I will highlight the communication issue that
started this dispute and will let them make amends.
Answer (3)
Cleaners should utilize 35% of their time in the
kitchen because kitchen is one of the place which needs most of the cleaning
and most of the times. Each person using the dishes must clean them and keep
them back at their specified place so that kitchen remains clean. Food in the
refrigerator must be checked by cleaners at the end of the day and the rotted
food should be disposed and the one which is soon to be rotted shall be given
to low privileged people.
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FINANCE
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FIN#1
|
How
would you go about managing the company's finances? What are best practices of good financial
budget planning?
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/
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FIN
#2
|
MULTIPLE CHOICE –
PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER(S)
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/1
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Which
of the following tasks can an employee who prepares bank deposits do?
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a)
Receive deposit
slips or corrections from the bank
b)
Maintain a petty
cash fund
c)
Audit claims and
statements
d)
a and c
e)
None of the
above
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FIN
#3
|
Define
the term Segregation of Duties? What
are four broad categories of duties, briefly explain them?
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/2
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FIN
#4
|
TRUE
(T) OR FALSE (F)
Which
of the following are TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)
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/2
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A bank reconciliation statement is prepared by the Bank
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Bank reconciliation is prepared to reconcile the bank balances as
shown by the mission’s financial system, and the bank statement.
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A bank reconciliation statement can be prepared at any time.
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An employee who prepares a document can approve the same one
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FINANCE
Answer # 1
For managing the company’s finance I have to create a
cash flow budget, manage your credits and keep your payables updated. I will
reduce the expenses and use credit effectively. Financial budget planning must
be standardized and it should be on the basis of the business drivers along
with the active engagement of the business.
Answer # 2
(d). a and c
Answer # 3
Segregation of Duties is to divide a task into small
tasks, and then assign those small tasks to different people. There are four
broad categories of duties: authorization, custody, record keeping and
reconciliation. Authorization is the task of reviewing and approving
transactions. Custody is the access to the assets. Maintaining the records of
transactions is record keeping and reconciliation is the process of
verification of all the activities.
Answer # 4
- a. False
- b. True
- c. True
- d. False
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HUMAN RESOURCES
|
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HR
#2
|
Can
you describe the different steps of a staffing
process, from the advertisement to the hiring?
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/5
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
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PROP
#1
|
Tell
us what you know about property/asset management,
|
/2
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Human Resource
Answer # 1
Steps of Staffing Process:
a. Determining
the hiring needs
b. Planning
and advertising
c. Identifying
feasible candidates
d. Initial
screening
e. Interview
f. Offering
the employment
g. Hiring
the candidates
Property Management
Answer # 1
Asset managers develop, operate maintain and upgrade the assets in
a cost effective manner. Their aim is to help you in maximizing your money.
Answer # 2
6 phases of the project delivery are:
a. Strategic
plan phase
b. Project
launch phase
c. Design
phase
d. Construction
phase
e. Transition
phase
f. occupancy
phase
Answer # 3
These things should be considered while choosing
employee quarters
a), c), d), f)
Procurement
Answer # 1
The process of selecting vendors, deciding terms of
the payment, selection, negotiation and the actual purchase of goods and
services is known as procurement.
Answer # 2
a. (b) Offers which are similar enough to allow a
selection based on price
b. (e)
All of the above
Answer # 3
a. True
b. True
c. False
d. True
Project Management
Answer # 1
Recently, I was the leader of a team who had to prepare a series of
presentations for the clients. I had to assign presentations to the team member
along with the deadlines. Moreover, I had to assess their work as well. The
software that we used was Prezi, limitation was of the source of the material
and we had to complete these presentations within a week. I learned how to lead
a team and how to coordinate and cooperate with the people.
People Management
Answer # 1
First thing that I have to do is acknowledge the conflict and then
I will do my own research and try to understand the basis of the conflict.
After that I will tell them to sit together and resolve the conflict.
Answer # 2
In past, I had to work with a team for preparing series of
presentations for their clients. For that I distributed their work and gave
them deadlines and then I let them do their things but I was always available
for their assistance with them.
Setting Priorities/Organization skills
Answer # 1
First thing that I will do is that I will skim through the 20
emails and reply to the important emails. I will email the manager letting him
know that I will complete this review in the evening. After that I will review
the policy document and then I will respond to the colleague. Later on I will
analyze the required reports and then I will do the contingency plan’s review.
Initiative
Answer a) the issue was of decreased output in the production.
Answer b) Yes
Answer c) the problem was that employees had no time set for breaks
and they were having less efficiency due to that. Hence, half-hour’ time was
set for the employees to have a break. Moreover, I suggested to create additional
after-hours shifts.
Answer (d) yes, we did.
Answer (e) the productivity of the employees was increased.
Integrity
I will forward this offer to my manager or CEO of the company and
let them decide what they want to do with this offer.
