Interview/Test Questions Answered

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.

	FINANCE
FIN#1	How would you go about managing the company's finances?  What are best practices of good financial budget planning?	/
FIN #2	MULTIPLE CHOICE – PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER(S)	/1
	Which of the following tasks can an employee who prepares bank deposits do?
	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

FIN #3	Define the term Segregation of Duties?  What are four broad categories of duties, briefly explain them?	/2
FIN #4	TRUE (T) OR FALSE (F) Which of the following are TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)	/2
	A bank reconciliation statement is prepared by the Bank
	Bank reconciliation is prepared to reconcile the bank balances as shown by the mission’s financial system, and the bank statement.
	A bank reconciliation statement can be prepared at any time.
	An employee who prepares a document can approve the same one

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

	HUMAN RESOURCES
HR #2	Can you describe the different steps of a staffing process, from the advertisement to the hiring?		/5
		PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
PROP #1		Tell us what you know about property/asset management,	/2

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.