Sample Interview 2-More effective interview

(Woman)

Well, welcome. (Man)

Thank you. (Woman)

Um why don't you start out today

by telling me a little bit about yourself? (Man)

Sure. My name is John Smith, I'm a

student at the University of Minnesota. I'm currently working towards my

Bachelor's degree in Animal Science. Um while attaining my degree, I've

developed animal handling skills while working as a volunteer

at The Humane Society. I've also developed Veterinary

Medical skills while working, while job shadowing a

Livestock Veterinarian, so I'm planning to graduate

in the spring of 2012 and afterwards, I'm hoping to go on

and become a veterinary assistant so my long term plans are

to go on to vet school, become a veterinarian and

eventually own my own clinic and the reason I'm applying to the

internship and your vet clinic is in order to further utilize

my education in Animal Science and my passion for

working with animals. (Woman)

Great. What are some of your strengths? (John Smith)

I would say that my two main

strengths are my attention to detail and my organizational skills. My attention to detail I developed while

working as a hospital sanitary technician. It was my job to go in prior to any surgery

and clean and prepare the surgical room and the equipment before

they did a surgery and so I knew that if I didn't clean

and sanitize everything properly that a patient could get even

sicker from my negligence so that really motivated me to pay

close attention to what I was doing and developed really good habits that

ensure close attention to detail. My organizational skills came from

working years as a manager at Target. I had to manage five employees,

create schedules, track inventory, so all those things really demanded

good organizational skills. Also maintaining databases,

keeping accurate records, all while going to school full-time

also demanded organizational skills. So I think those two

things would be my strengths, my close attention to detail and

my strong organizational skills. (Woman)

Okay. On the flip side what are

some of your weaknesses? (John)

I would say that the biggest

weakness in regards to this position is the fact that I've never

worked in a vet clinic before so were I to be hired I would have to learn

the different roles of the vet clinic; the roles of the employees and kind

of how everyone works together in order to make the clinic run properly. However I am a quick learner and I also

think I have a number or experiences that really helped prepare

me for this type of job. As I mentioned I did job shadowing

with a livestock veterinarian, so I already have some experience

with veterinary medical procedures with the medications and a few techniques. My work as a sanitary

technician helped prepare me for working in a sterilized

medical environment and my work as a manager at Target

showed me how teams work together and how specialized roles can come

together to accomplish a group goal. So while if I were hired I would

have a little bit of learning to do I also think I have a number of positions

that have really helped prepare me for this type of position. (Woman)

Describe a time where you've

had to complete multiple tasks in a short period of time. (John)

Sure. Well last December

I was going to school full-time and I was working at Target part-time and I was also the acting treasurer

of the Animal Science Club so finals were approaching for school,

Target was ramping up its inventory and hiring new employees to get

ready for the holiday rush and the Animal Science Club was

getting ready to do a big fundraiser so all of these things were

demanding more time from me and I knew that if I wanted

to accomplish them all I would really have to get organized

and effectively manage my time so my strategy was to actually use

the calendar on my Smartphone to manage my time and make sure

that I gave proper attention to everything that I needed to get done. So I prioritized whatever I needed to

get done according to the deadline. I estimated the amount of time that it

would take to accomplish each task and then I blocked out that amount

of time on my calendar, on my phone, and this allowed me to manage

my schedule at any time and also to make sure that I was

following the plan that I created. Wherever I went I would always have my

phone on me so-- and I also created-- alarms in order to remind myself

what I should be doing at that time just in case things got hectic

and I needed to be reminded. This really allowed me to

effectively manage my time to give proper attention to each task

that I had to get done and the result was that I got

a 3.3 GPA for that semester, we raised over $5,000 for

the Animal Science Club and I was also awarded the Outstanding

Manager of the Holiday Season for Target. (Woman)

Okay. Can you describe a time when you've

been in conflict with a co-worker or a team member and how you

handled that situation? (John)

Sure. Well in my small animals

class, we were assigned to a group and given the responsibility of

researching and writing a report on a small domesticated animal. My group decided to split up the

different sections of the report and have everyone do an individual portion, then bring everyone's portion

together to form the final product. So we did that and when it came time to put

everyone's parts together for the final report, it was obvious that one team

member, who I'll just call James, didn't do his part up to standard. It was obvious that he didn't put

a lot of time or effort into it so myself, the other team members,

we were kind of upset that we had worked so hard on

our portions but he hadn't and now our grade would

suffer because of it. But rather than confronting James,

I took him aside, away from the other group members

and asked him what had happened. So I listened to him as he explained

to me that he wasn't able to put as much time into the report

as he would have liked because he had some very

legitimate personal issues going on so he apologized to me and I

sympathized with the situation and I offered to help him

finish his part of the report. So we analyzed what needed to be

done, what was left to be done. We divided up the responsibilities and then

we collaborated on the finished product and we actually ended up getting it down that

same day and getting it handed in on time. So the result was that we got an A on the

report with compliments from the professor. (Woman)

Okay.