Interview Answers Flashcards
(19 cards)
- Tell me a bit about yourself
My name is Rushil Shah, and I am 15 years old. I attend Langley Grammar School. My favourite subjects include maths and computing. I am a well-rounded individual, taking part in a range of extra-curricular activities such as playing cricket, practising the guitar and swimming for a club.
- What are your biggest weaknesses?
My biggest weakness would be the fact that I give great attention to detail, which may mean that I can take a lot of time only focusing on one thing. I just want everything to be perfect, but I start to lose out on time. However, I am improving and am starting to see the bigger picture of things, which means that I can balance out my attention to detail.
- What are your biggest strengths?
I am a strong leader, and an example of this is was during my First Aid course at St John Ambulance in which I led a course on Crime Prevention. During this course I had to plan the materials for each session, showing my organisation skills, which is another strength of mine.
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
I would see myself making progress within the insurance industry in the next five years, developing new skills while I learn about the industry. I would like to be in a management position, gaining experience until I am a manager. I would like to meet many new people and get to know a lot from them in order to help me to progress.
- Out of all the other candidates, why should we hire you?
I believe I have the skills which fit really well into this job. For example, I have strong communication skills, both orally, which is proven by taking part in Magistrates Court Mock Trial, and written. This will help with my negotiation skills. I also have very good analytical skills and like to research about a range of things that are happening in the world. I am a strong mathematician and problem-solver, which can be seen by how I have attended the National Mathematics Summer School this year, where we tackled a range of problems.
- Why do you want this job?
I want this job because I feel it encompasses all of my skills. Ever since I have found out the insurance industry and what it has to offer it has been of great interest to me. I have always wanted to be involved in a company that provides a long-term career as well which this job does. Plus, with Aviva being one of the largest insurance industries in the UK I believe that the workplace learning and training will be very useful to build my skills and experience for the job.
- Describe a situation where you have worked in a team
When I was on my DofE expedition, I had to work in a team in a range of situations, such as working out where we needed to go on the map, setting up the tents and cooking the food. In these scenarios I faced a range of challenges, such as the fact that at one point we were getting lost, but I told my team to not worry and retraced our steps so that we could get back on track. I also helped to keep the team spirit up so that if people were getting slightly annoyed they did not vent their anger out others, thereby preventing arguments from happening.
- You mention your work experience on your application form. What did you enjoy most about this?
During my work experience at the library, I enjoyed the fact that I was able to improve in my management and organisation skills significantly, through the range of roles I took on such as shelving books and helping people with the computers. At the nursing home I enjoyed caring for people who had a range of mental conditions such as dementia, and learnt how to be more patient and tolerant with certain people. I quite enjoyed this, as it was a test for me because I had never been in such an environment before.
- What do you do in your spare time that might help you in this job?
I take part in St. John Ambulance, which is a first aid course. During this course not only do we learn about first aid but we learn about a wide range of skills & subjects like Leadership and Crime Prevention. This will be useful as it means I will be able to look at different things in different perspectives in order to be able to complete the tasks that I am given in the best way possible.
- What have you done that shows initiative?
I have shown initiative when I was practicing for my grade 6 exam for my guitar, as there was a point at which I was unable to perform a technique. To overcome this I spoke to my teacher, asking him to slow down at times to allow me to understand what I am supposed to be doing. I also watched a few videos in order to develop my knowledge. This helped me to gain a high mark in my performance and overall achieve a distinction grade which is what I wanted.
- What do you think you can offer this organisation?
I think I can offer a range of skills to the organisation, for example my proficiency in mathematics and computer programming, which is shown by my attendance to the National Mathematics Summer School, means that I
- What extra responsibilities did you take on at school?
At school, I took part in a number of roles, including being the year council representative for my form, where I communicated ideas for changes my form wanted to the rest of the year. I was also involved in the Science Commonwealth Competition, and in this I carried out an experiment along with the school, which we ended up winning in the end. Finally, I take part in Guitar Club and run the sessions when the main teacher is not there.
- Tell me what you know about us
Your company, Aviva is one of the largest insurance companies in the world. They help change people’s lives by being there when their customers need them most. As well as insurance they help with investments, retirement I.e. pension schemes and health like cancer essentials.
- Tell me about a time when you dealt with a dissatisfied (customer)?
When we were carrying out a project, some people were not happy with the roles that I had given them. To solve this, I negotiated roles with other people so that everyone was satisfied and we could carry out our project effectively in order to achieve the best grade we could from our work.
- Tell me about an achievement you have been really proud of
I was very proud when I got the Student of the Year award, as it was something that showed the work I had put in throughout the year. I was very happy when I got the award and this motivated me to continue to work in later years.
- Tell me about a time you have come up with a good idea
I came up with a good idea when I chose to go to Berlin. My family and I were planning a 3-day holiday and I believe I came up with a destination which allowed to enjoy our time as well as we could. I came up with several ideas on this trip including how we should visit the places that were on offer to us.
- What do you enjoy most at school?
I enjoy the lessons most because I believe they are really helpful for our learning, and while being in a learning environment it helps us to be more productive as people. I also like to socialise with different people at school and really like the fact that school gives us this opportunity, bringing many different people together so that we can learn more about others, and by doing so, ourselves.
Give an example of a time when you had to cope with a difficult situation
We were preparing a formal dinner at my first aid course, and I was managing the arrangement of the event. The difficulties of this was that some people got stressed and I was required to organise and make sure that it ran smoothly. To overcome this problem I organised 5 minute meetings after every half hour to see how we were getting on as a collective unit, and any disputes. That way we were able to solve them nice and quickly without wasting much time. This meant that the event was really successful and enjoyable.
How well do you handle change?
I am quite flexible and can handle change. For instance,
