INTERVIEW GUIDE - Senior Secretarial Posts SUGGESTED GOMPETENCY AND BEHAVIOURAL BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Competency ‘Suggested Questions + Why are you interested in this position? MOTIVATIONAL FIT — | + What do you think your strengths are that you would be briqging into tne team yu were auctor the peso | + What are your developmental areas you have become award of? ‘COMPETENCY TEST ‘* How did you find the tost? L + Candidate to give thelr analysis & interpretation of in + Explore candidate's experience with regard to: RELEVANT EXPERIENCE | + Sound administration skis (summary) + Good Record keeping skills and experience + Numeracy and literacy skills + Computer Literacy- MS Excel, MS Word, email, internet + Flueney in English and Afrikaans + Avelid code 08 drivers License + Good communication interpersonal, organization, co-erdination and time management skills Experience in a Research environment advantageous = _ Working knowledge of Good Clinical Practice + _MS Access litera * At one time or another, everyone is pressurised to sacrifice quality i TIME MANAGEMENT & ‘otcer to get work done on time. Tell me about a time that happened to you. STRESS TOLERANCE ‘(What cid you do?) ‘+ Every ob has its stressors. What was the most stressful aspect of your job and ‘how did you react to this? 1 “ADMINISTRATIVE + Whet administrative checks do you put Im place to ensure that an SKILLS acuity wll run smooty, Can you ave an example of whefe you dd this? PLANNING “AND [+ Tell us about a time when you were faced with conflicting lores ‘ORGANISING How did you determine what was a top priority in scheduling your time? + What _methods or tools do you use for planning and managing activities? Can you glve an example where you applied this? Time Management * Gan you give an example of how you go about prirtisina Your Wark sah ith a pressurised envit + We sometimes have to work or interact with team aaa 7 INTERPERSONAL, colleagues that are dificult to deal with / that have come from very SKILLS & different backgrounds to ours. Can you give an example of such an STAFF MANAGEMENT: Interaction and how you resolved the situation? + Can you tell me about a time where you went beyond the cal! of duty + CUSTOMER FOCUS to assist either an Internal / external client? + Customer requests can often be unreasonable, or could come at + TEAMWORK inconvenient times, Tell me about a time when this happened to you. How did you respond? ‘+ What go you see as important cnterta for a team player? (Trust, respect of colleagues, listening, loyalty, acknowledging diversity WRITTEN + Have you been responsible for drafting written communication? ‘COMMUNICATION Please share more about your role In this? (ENGLISH) + Languages: Speak / Read / Write? (English /isixhosa / Afridaans) ‘+ Which software packages have you worked with? (MS-Excel, Word, ‘COMPUTER LITERACY emaiyinternet) ‘+ Rate your competence with this (or these) package(s) ... 2/10? + Have you worked on SAP-R3 / similar financial management kystem?_ 308 FiT = When were you most satisfied/dissatified in your work? What was ‘most satisfying / dissatisfying about that? i > Drivers licence? How long? WRAP-UP QUESTIONS & | + Availablity - if you were the successful candidate? (30 days INDICATION OF calendar month) RESPONSE TIMELINE — | « Salary? Relation between current calary and PC6 range in advert? + Do you have any questions for us?COMPETENCY AND BEHAVIOURAL BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Work standards + How would you go about setting performance and work standards for others? Can you tell us|about a time that you had to do this? ‘+ How would you ensure that team members continually attain high standards of performance? ‘+ Can you tell us how you would resolve a situation where a team member disagrees with the! performance standards expected from them? ‘© Desertbe the things you do to control errors in your work. Tell us about a time thet these methods helped you. What did you do? ‘+ We are exposed to various work processes in our dally work activities. How would you describe a work ‘process? Can you give an example of one such process? ‘+ Do you have experience of introducing new work processes in order to improve the efficiency if an activity ‘or Job? What was this? How did you go about doing this? + Can you give an example of where you had to document or explain a work process to others? |How did you do this? Coaching: Fadltating the development of others knowledge and skills; providing timely feedback and guidance to help them reach goals, ‘+ Give me an example of a situation in which you successfully reinforced the performance of someone who ‘worked for you? Todividual Leadership: ‘appropriate interpersonal styles and methods to inspire and guide individuals toward goal achievement, modifying behaviour to accommodate tasks, situations and individuals involved. L ‘+ Specifically what have you done to set an example for other employees? Initiative: ‘Making active attempts to influence events to achieve goals; self-starting rather than accepting passively; taking action to achieve goals beyond what is required, being proactive. ‘+ What have you done differently from your colleagues in your organisation? (Why? Give an example of what ‘makes your work unique) ‘What steps have you taken to improve your skils or performance? Describe a time when you saw @ problem and took corrective action rather than walt for someone else to doit ‘Customer Service; ‘+ Who do you see as your customers? ‘+ Being a professional person yourself what skills do you think are important to deal with people Innovation: Generating effective solutions to work situations, trying different and novel ways to deal with ofganisational problems and opportunities, * Tell me about a way in which you worked with your team members to develop new and creative ideas to solve business problems? (Give an example) Sometimes it Is necessary to abandon “tried and true” methods of solving @ problem, Tell Ime about @ problem that you were responsibie for solving that you knew required a unique solution. (How did you know established methods wouldn't work?) Planning & Organising skills: Establishing a course of action for self and / or others to accomplish a specific goal; planning proper assignment of personnel and appropriate allocation of resources,‘+ Tell me about a time when you were faced with conflicting priorities. How did you determine what was a top priorty in scheduling your time? ‘What methods or tools do you use for planning and managing activities? Cen you give an ekample where you applied this? ‘+ Can you give an example of an activity you had to plan/manage where you were responsible for the output of others? What did you do? What was the outcome? ‘+ What do you think are the three most important success factors for successful planning? ‘Team Leadership and Teamwork: Working effectively with @ team or those outside formal line of authority to accomplish organisational goals: taking actions that respect the needs of contributions of others; contributing to and accepting tHe consensus; subordinating own objectives of the organisation or team. ‘+ What do you see as important criteria for a team player? (Trust, respect of colleagues, acknowledging diversity, listening, loyalty) ‘What couid you offer to this team? Interacting with others can be challenging at times. Have you ever had any difficulty getting along with team members at work? Tell me about a specific time this happened, How did you handle the situation? * Can you give me an example of a team decision you were involved in recently? (What did you do to assist the team reach the decision?) ‘What steps do you take to make sure that those reporting to you understand their role andifunction and deliver what is expected? Can you give an example? * Can you give an example of an activity or task that involved organising and directing the work of others? How did you go about this? What was the outcome? + How do you ensure that a team as a whole work smoothly? Can you give an example of where you achieved this? Antemersonal skilis: + We sometimes have to work or interact with people that are difficult to deal with. Can you give an example ‘of such an interaction and how you resolved the situation? * Tell us about a situation when a team member or peer strongly disagreed with your ideas or actions. How: did you handle the situation? Financial knowledge: «Have you managed budgets before, give us examples and details thereof? ‘Administrative Skilis: «Can you give an example of where you had to co-ordinate the administrative function for an activity? What did you do? © What administrative checks do you put In place to ensure that an activity will run smoothly? Gan you give ‘an exemple of where you did this? ‘Time Management: * Can you tell us about @ time when you were particularly busy and you had to prioritise youl activities in ‘order to get them done? How did you do this? What was the outcome? + Can you glve an example of how you go about prioritising your work when faced with aj pressurised environment? ‘Information Gathering: * Its hard to know the most critical data/Information to monitor on an important project. Tellme about a time you focussed on the incorrect information.