Competency Questions Flashcards
(20 cards)
Tell me about a time you received negative feedback. How did you deal with/approach this? Failed to achieve your goals
I had a mock assessment at university where I had to give a presentation on a composer of cultural significance and you received in person feedback immediately after the presentation was finished. My lecturer was critical of my research and disagreed with a lot of my points. To deal with the feedback I decided not to view it as negative but rather constructive tips on how to improve for the real assessment, as I didn’t want to get caught up in the opinion of others but rather focus on how to solve the problem. So I took note of all the feedback and then booked a tutorial with the lecturer to discuss where I had gone wrong and how to correct this for next time. This was greatly helpful and I amended the parts of the presentation that had been problematic. As a result I was actually able to achieve a first in the real assessment and received notably positive feedback from my lecturer.
Tell me about a time you initiated something. How did you ensure this initiative was successful?
I initiated and managed an initiative to refresh and revamp the O2 Partner newsletter. To ensure the campaign was successful I decided to focus on three main things. Firstly, as there were many teams involved, such as graphic designers improving the design and developers improving the functionality, as well as the client I knew it was imperative to have effective communication between all parties. To achieve this I made sure to organise regular client calls to receive and action any feedback as well as regular team meetings to relay this feedback and discuss progress and deliverables. I knew that working together successfully as a team would be key to our success so I ensured that everyone felt involved and comfortable bringing ideas to the table and made sure to delegate tasks effectively to whoever was capable and available to action them. Secondly, I created a timeline for the project so that I could track progress, have clear deadlines for everyone involved and ensure the newsletter was delivered on time. Thirdly and finally, I made sure there were clear and measurable objectives so that we could easily assess the success of the campaign and pick up on anything that went wrong. This came in the form of weekly reports that I completed prior, during and after the campaign that could highlight how it had performed. Amazingly, we managed to achieve an increase in open rates of the newsletter from 16% to 35%, which is 18% above industry standard.
Could also talk about creating a covid support group
Tell me about a time you adapted to a new development
Obviously the past 12-18 months has been a big adjustment for everyone and in particular for me, university moving from being in person to online was a big change to my everyday life. So alongside getting to know all the new platforms, such as Microsoft teams and Zoom, I knew it was really important to look after myself and others mental health and wellbeing so that we could continue our studies effectively and be able to cope with the change in a healthy way.
So I began running an online study group for my university class, as some of my classmates were struggling with motivation due to the lack of human interaction. Every week I organised a Zoom call during which we would discuss our coursework as well as have a cup of tea and a much needed chat. This helped to keep up morale and in fact, this quality time brought us closer together than we had been the year before.
I learned a great deal during this time that I can apply to my future career, as now I am able to not only accept change as an inevitable part of life, but to embrace the positives that come with every new situation. I am also able to adapt easily and healthily manage my mental health in times of hardship and uncertainty.
Tell me about a time you learnt a new skill, how could you take this further?
Last year I had a Music Production module and I had no experience producing or working with production technology or Digital Audio Interfaces. Most of my class was already experienced in production so I took it upon myself to boost my knowledge and set myself up as well as I could for the module and I knew that independent research and practice was the best way to do this. So, alongside my regular lectures I booked extra tutorials with successful producers at my uni and I also booked myself onto an online course for Logic Pro X, which is one of the most popular DAWs. I also made use of YouTube tutorials and online forums and at the end of the year submitted a self produced portfolio. I actually received a first for the module and really good feedback about the level of production. This really taught me that there are so many resources out there for anything you want to learn so you just need to put the hours in and take responsibility for your own learning and development.
To take this further I would definitely love to produce and release one of my own songs and I think to do this I would love to seek advice and feedback from a professional producer and also invest in my own higher quality equipment to ensure I am producing to the highest possible standard.
Tell me about a time you handled a mistake?
During my time at Native Web, I managed an event where we were managing a delivery of training equipment to every O2 retail store in the UK. One of my jobs was to register all of the postcodes of the stores onto the DPD delivery service we were using. Unfortunately, I missed the last page of postcodes and didn’t register them on the service. By the time I realised it was only a day before the first training days so DPD couldn’t guarantee they would get there on time. Thankfully some of the stores were in our county so for those ones I personally dropped off the training packages and for the others I managed to find another delivery service who for a small charge could guarantee next day delivery. So in the end, all the boxes arrived on time but I definitely learned from this the importance of obviously doing everything you can to minimise mistakes like the one I made but also to respond rapidly and effectively and also if you can to allow extra time for unexpected issues because things like this do inevitably happen sometimes and if you allow a little bit of leeway you can save on extra costs or hours such as these deliveries.
Tell me about a time you challenged yourself/done something you’re proud of?
So during lockdown I actually challenged myself to increase my fitness, as I was finding I was feeling quite lethargic from being indoors all the time. So I decided to challenge myself to run 3 miles in 10 weeks. I had never run before so it was really tough but 4 days a week I went out and ran along the beachfront in Brighton and slowly I felt my fitness improving and I ended up running 3 miles within 9 weeks instead of 10. I also lost 2kgs and felt so much healthier in myself. Reflecting on this experience, I would definitely say it challenged me to commit to something I often did not feel like doing and pushed me out of my comfort zone, as to begin with I was really unsure if I could do it or not. However, I also learnt that the biggest satisfaction comes when you push yourself and I have found this is a great principle to apply in other parts of myself and I think I will help greatly to persevere through my ACA exams.
Tell me about a time you dealt with conflict
So recently I had to complete a team project in uni where we had to arrange and perform a creative cover of a given song. We quickly found that there was a lot of conflict within the group of who wanted to be the lead singer. One particular group member self appointed herself and this caused an argument with another girl who felt she was more suited to the part. When it became clear that the girls were not able to decide between them, I suggested that as we were writing our own creative arrangement, that we write a second vocal part so that both girls could sing. Thankfully this solved the conflict as the girl with the higher voice could sing the harmony and the lower voice took the lead. When we performed the song we also got really good feedback and were praised for our unique take on the song.
Tell me about a time you had multiple deadlines and how you organised yourself
Example: uni work all being due within the same 2 weeks at the end of the year
Prioritised which was most important etc. deadlines, short and longterm deadlines
Delegated any tasks I could
Made a timetable to ensure it all got completed
Worked smarter not harder i.e. took short breaks regularly to maximise concentration, turning off cell phone, not focusing on too many things at any one time
Not to be afraid of hard work and make sure things are delivered on time and on budget even if this requires extra work or long hours
Tell me about a time you went above and beyond to provide excellent customer service
We had a longstanding client who we had worked with for many years. Her husband mentioned to me he was taking her on a cruise for her 40th birthday. As a goodwill gesture I offered to help him create some customised tickets for him to give her on her birthday. I worked with the design team to create these really cute pink tickets with all the details of the trip and a special message from her husband. As a result, her husband actually liked the tickets so much he employed us to design brochures for his own business and continued to do so.
One of the graphic designers in my team used to complete a set of reports of website engagement every week. I noticed that she had a lot of other tasks on her plate and I was really interested in learning about analytics and reporting so I offered to take over them. So she trained me on how to complete them and I continued to do this for the next two years. As a result I also felt confident taking on all the other reporting tasks within the business and it became one of the main elements of my job and was one of the first things that sparked my interest in finance and accounting.
Tell me about a time you used your initiative/ dealt with a difficult person or client/ solved a problem/ dealt with a difficult situation or challenge at work/saw a problem at took steps to fix it
When I was a maths tutor, I had a primary school student who would not engage with my lessons, was constantly fidgeting and not completing his homework. He wasn’t doing well in school so I really wanted to help him succeed. I asked him why he found it difficult to concentrate and he said he found learning maths boring. I thought he might respond better to visual aids so I spent that night creating visual representations of what I was trying to teach him. For example, jelly beans in jars to help with addition and subtraction and pictures of pizza that I then cut up into fractions. He absolutely loved this and started to understand the concepts really well. He then actually was moved up to a higher maths group and his mum said that he always talked about the lessons at home and always looked forward to Tuesday afternoons! What I learned from this is that no everybody learns in the same way and that a supportive environment that values diversity is the best learning environment.
Cannisters
When I worked as a Sales Assistant I often worked closes. This meant that I became really efficient and quick at closing. My manager noticed this and asked me if I could write a closing schedule based on how I closed the store so that other employees could follow it and it could be used to train new employees. I created this schedule and had great feedback that it really helped others to feel motivated to stay on track and close quickly. It was also implemented by my manager when training new staff.
This could be tweaked to say that you noticed others weren’t closing as quickly as you and that it was a bonus for both parties as it meant you could leave earlier and the company wouldn’t have to pay the staff for extra time unnecessarily. So I offered to create a closing schedule.
One of the graphic designers in my team used to complete a set of reports of website engagement every week. I noticed that she had a lot of other tasks on her plate and I was really interested in learning about analytics and reporting so I offered to take over them. So she trained me on how to complete them and I continued to do this for the next two years. As a result I also felt confident taking on all the other reporting tasks within the business and it became one of the main elements of my job and was one of the first things that sparked my interest in finance and accounting.
Tell me about a time you showed leadership
When I was in high school and college I was lucky enough to be the youngest person ever invited to join the senior girls choir Bel Canto. Every year we would compete in national choral events and even completed a tour around New Zealand. In my final year at college I was invited to be the student conductor of the choir, which involved leading rehearsals twice a week and conducting in performances throughout the year. For the rehearsals I would plan each rehearsal in advance i.e. everything we were going to work on, what pieces we were going to practice and then within the rehearsal I would conduct the choir, isolate any issues, identify ways in which these could be improved, demonstrated this myself to the girls and then helped them implement it within the choir. That year in the national choir competition The Big Sing, we actually won the gold award which placed us within the top 5 secondary school choirs in the country.
After receiving a brief to revamp O2’s digital newsletter that was sent to over 50 of their partners and hundreds of recipients every week, my team organised a number of strategy meetings where we all contributed ideas to enhance the newsletter. I then took the lead on this project and worked closely with in-house graphic designers to overhaul the design, website developers to perform A/B testing and improve the click-through experience and with O2’s senior marketing team to streamline the recipient list. Incredibly, actioning these changes achieved a newsletter open rate increase from 16% to 35%, 18% above industry average. Upon reflection, I believe we could have improved on this even further by continuing to monitor the changes and action further enhancements to endeavor to push this number even higher.
Tell me about a time you had great communication skills
Working closely with the accounts department to prepare quotes, invoices, purchase orders and financial summaries for clients, I was the first point of contact for client financial queries. This meant that I needed to effectively communicate not only with the client but with the rest of my team to be up to date on the progress of all of their projects as well as my own. To ensure an accurate and efficient system, I organised weekly team meetings to check in about where each project was sitting, as well as communicating to the team via spreadsheets and internal systems the financial situation of each project. I then organised weekly phone calls with the client to communicate this information to them, similarly via spreadsheets and digestible breakdowns of what required payment, how much credit they had to spend or any other financial details surrounding their projects. This resulted in an efficient system that meant the client was always informed and no payment was ever missed, and also streamlined the process internally so that other team members had more time to complete other work.
Overcame a key setback/showed determination?
When I started university I found that my fitness levels sharply declined as a result of being indoors and studying regularly. Prior to this my lifestyle had been very physically active and I discovered that this lack of activity was actually having a negative impact on my concentration levels and mental health.
To remedy this, I set a goal to run 3 miles within 8 weeks. I bought a gym membership, made a schedule to attend 4 days a week and aimed to run for 1 minute longer than I had the previous session. This was a challenge to me as, while I had been active previously, I had never run before and my fitness levels were now extremely low.
A key setback in this journey was the announcement of lockdown only a few weeks after buying my gym membership. However, I didn’t let it impact my goals and instead I started running along Brighton seafront during the allocated exercise time. I also suffered an injury to my ankle after slipping on ice and while this did push my goal date from 8 weeks to 10 weeks, I knew it was important to rest and recover instead of exacerbating the injury.
As a result of persiversing despite the circumstances I achieved my goal of running 3 miles, improved my fitness levels and found I had much better mental clarity when completing my work. I have continued this habit and now enjoy going for a run at least twice a week.
Tell me about a time you overcame a challenge
Helen funeral
Accept the things I can’t control
Not let it make me angry or more upset
Find the positives in the situation - more people could attend from around the world as it was online
Running and the gyms being closed
Not let it anger me
Adapted to the situation by running along Brighton beach in the allocated exercise time
Helium cannisters
Managing an event for an O2 partner based in the aisle of white. Everything was really when on the day we were informed that the boat that was taking all the supplies was unable to transport helium, which was key for many of the decorations.
We were in England so as a response I called all the party stores on the aisle of white and managed to find someone that was happy to deliver helium to the location.
Thankfully we were able to use all the decorations and had fantastic feedback from the partner on the quality of the event and even promoted us on the company website.
Tell me about a time your integrity was challenged
So I used to work with a client who had a very strong and long relationship with the agency and put a lot of work through us. At one point she was looking to move to the different company and for the interview she had to give a presentation on a made up brand strategy. She asked me as she didn’t have time if I could create the presentation for her and she would use it in the interview. I felt uncomfortable doing this as obviously she would be passing of my work as her work but I was also concerned that if I said no the agency’s relationship with the client would suffer. However, I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do so I said that I wasn’t able to do that for her and I also explained to my manager the situation. Thankfully when I explained to the client why I felt that wasn’t honest and that it is best if she put the presentation together herself she understood and said she admired my integrity.
Tell me about a time you used a wide variety of information/data and analytics to implement something?
So I was managing a project to refresh a client’s website. So using Google Analytics to complete my weekly reports, I noticed engagement was consistently dropping so I suggested an update of the website to the client. So I then used the data provided in analytics to identify more specific details and also sent out a social media poll asking what people thought should be improved and what they liked. i.e. which pages of the website had the least traction, the demographics of the users most likely to visit. I also sent out a social media poll to ask users what areas they think should be improved.
This range of data allowed me to isolate problematic areas such as areas that had poor functionality and pages that needed to be cleansed and archived athat we then were able to improve, which we did and as a result website visits increased by 25%.
Tell me about a time you had to analyse and compare information to make a decision?
- Leaving marketing and going to uni
Financial implications
Relationship implications - moving away from friends and family
Career implications and what it would mean for my future
Ultimately decided that getting a degree would be very beneficial to my future career and give me the opportunity to challenge myself and try something new.
- I was working with a client who a big product launch coming up and only had certain budget to spend. We needed to decide between refreshing the website ahead of the launch or creating and sending out an email marketing campaign. To help decide analysed a range of data. Firstly, I went to the reporting section of Mailchimp to identify how many users clicked through to the website on previous campaigns, I then used the website analytics to identify areas of weakness. I also sent out a social media poll on their platforms asking for customers feedback on the website.
This led me to make the decision that it was better in the long run that we use the budget to update the website as we would be able to run future campaigns but they would be less likely to be successful without a good website.
As a result of updating it website visits increased by 20% and the product launch was a big success.
Tell me about a time you were future focused and innovative
Creating a closing timetable at work?
Log the timetable into the work system
Creating a zoom study group?
Tell me about a time you worked effectively in a team?
Partner event
Same at campaign refresh but just change the event
Tell me about the biggest challenge you have faced?
Helen funeral Support family Accept the things you can't change Not let it anger or upset you Look for the positives - more people could attend from around the world being online
