in Careers Advice, Interviews

Interview Question 33 – Describe the project or idea that you were most satisfied to sell to your management.

Advice

This is another question where you need to have a stock of answers ready to be tailored according to the particular question that is put to you. This one gives you the chance to demonstrate something of quality that pushes your case with the company in relation to the role you are applying for and gives positive examples of why you are ideally suited for the position you are applying for. Try to concentrate on something that you can quantify and a specific achievement as opposed to a set of general achievements.

Examples of Answers

“When I started work as a GP in my training practice I discovered that the method of taking patients’ appointments was simply to write them in a big diary and copy this by hand for each doctor first thing in the morning. This meant that each doctor did not know what they were doing more than 24 hours in advance. In my own time I researched the various software packages that could be used and, knowing that the GPs were notoriously careful with their budgets, priced up the cost of hand-written appointments against a computerised package giving two or three weeks information to each GP.

I presented my findings to the other GPs who were most enthusiastic and before I left the practice the new software was introduced to great effect. I estimated that the practice would save about 10% costs each week in cancelled appointments from GP absences and made the individual doctor’s lives much easier.”

Jonathan Fagan

Jonathan Fagan LLM FIRP is Managing Director of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment. He has been recruiting solicitors and legal support staff for law firms and in house legal departments for over 20 years and handles roles from junior fee earners through to partners and law firm sales/purchases. A non-practising solicitor on the Roll since 2000, he is also the author of a number of legal career books, which are available at www.ten-percent.uk. You can contact Jonathan at cv@ten-percent.co.uk