Behavioral/Situational Interview Question Bank. Table of Contents SKILL/COMPETENCY

Transcription

1 Behavioral/Situational Interview Question Bank Table of Contents SKILL/COMPETENCY PAGE ILLEGAL/LEGAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS... 1 ADAPTABILITY... 2 ALIGNING PERFORMANCE FOR SUCCESS... 4 APPLIED LEARNING... 6 BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM... 7 BUILDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY... 9 BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS BUILDING STRATEGIC WORKING RELATIONSHIPS BUILDING TRUST COACHING COMMUNICATION CONTINUOUS LEARNING CONTRIBUTING TO TEAM SUCCESS CUSTOMER FOCUS DECISION MAKING DELEGATING RESPONSIBILITY DEVELOPING OTHERS RESPECTING DIVERSITY ENERGY FACILITATING CHANGE FOLLOW-UP FORMAL PRESENTATION GAINING COMMITMENT INFORMATION MONITORING INITIATING ACTION INNOVATION JOB FIT LEADING THROUGH VISION AND VALUES MANAGING CONFLICT MANAGING WORK (Includes Time Management) MEETING LEADERSHIP MEETING PARTICIPATION... 54

2 NEGOTIATION ORGANIZATION FIT PLANNING AND ORGANIZING QUALITY ORIENTATION RESEARCH/SCHOLARSHIP: RISK TAKING SAFETY AWARENESS STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING STRESS TOLERANCE TEACHING TECHNICAL/PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS WORK STANDARDS... 78

3 ILLEGAL/LEGAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS The following are some illegal interview questions along with related questions that are legal. National Origin/Citizenship Illegal: Are you a U.S. citizen? You sound like you have an accent, where are you from? Where were your parents born? What is your native language? When did you arrive in the U.S.? What was your port of entry? Are you native-born or naturalized? Questions which identify customs or denomination. Any other inquiry into national origin (for applicant or his or her spouse or parents; maiden name of wife or mother). Legal: Are you authorized to work in the U.S.? What foreign language skills do you have (reading, speaking, and/or writing) if relevant to the job? After employment, can you submit a birth certificate or other proof of U.S. citizenship or other proof of the right to remain in or work in the U.S. Marital/Family Status Age Illegal: Are you married? Do you have children? If so, what do you do for child care? Are you planning to have children soon? Have you ever been divorced? Legal: Are you willing and able to put in the amount of overtime and/or travel the position requires? Are you willing to relocate if necessary? Do you have responsibilities or commitments that will prevent you from meeting specified work schedules? Do you anticipate any absences from work on a regular basis? If so, please explain the circumstances. Illegal: How old are you? When were you born? When did you graduate from college? When is your birthday? Legal: Do you have any concerns about handling the long hours and extensive travel that this job entails? Disability Status Illegal: Do you have any disabilities or medical conditions? If so, how serious? How is your health? Do you take any prescription drugs? Have you been diagnosed with a mental illness? Have you ever been an alcoholic? Have you ever been in rehab? How is your family s health? 1

4 Legal: Are you able to perform the essential functions of this job with or without reasonable accommodation? Do you have any conditions that would keep you from performing this job? Do you take illegal drugs? Religion Illegal: What is your religion? Are you practicing? Legal: Advise candidate about normal hours and days of work required by the job to avoid possible conflict with religions or other personal convictions. Does your religious affiliation, if any, interfere with your working in this position? Arrest Record Illegal: Have you ever been arrested? Legal: Have you ever been convicted of any crime other than a traffic violation? Military Service Illegal: What type of discharge did you receive? Legal: In what branch of the Armed Forces did you serve? What type of training or education did you receive in the military? Race/Color Illegal: All related questions are illegal. Legal: Have you ever been convicted of any crime other than a traffic violation? INTERVIEW QUESTIONS BASED ON SKILL/COMPENENCY ADAPTABILITY Maintaining effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work tasks or the work environment; adjusting effectively to work within new work structures, processes, requirements, or cultures. Key Actions: Tries to understand changes Tries to understand changes in work tasks, situations, and environments as well as the logic or basis for change; actively seeks information about new work situations. Approaches change or newness positively Treats change and new situations as opportunities for learning or growth; 2

5 focuses on the beneficial aspects of change; speaks positively about the change to others. Adjusts behavior Quickly modifies behavior to deal effectively with changes in the work environment; readily tries new approaches appropriate for new or changed situations; does not persist with ineffective behaviors. Questions: 1. Tell me about a situation in which you had to adjust quickly to a significant change in organization, department, or team priorities. How did the change affect you? What did you do? 2. Working with people from diverse backgrounds can be challenging. Tell me about a time when you faced a significant challenge working with people from different organizations. What did you do? What was the result? 3. New processes and procedures can be disruptive. What actions have you taken when you've been asked to significantly change a work process or procedure? What were the results? 4. Going from department to department must have been difficult. Describe the adjustments you made during the transition. 5. Your assignment as is certainly very different from what you were doing before. Can you compare and contrast the assignments? How long did it take you to feel comfortable doing the new work? 6. Tell me about a time when you were faced with an unexpected policy change. How did it affect you? What did you do? 7. Tell me about the most challenging change you ve faced at work. What did you do? What were the results? 8. Sometimes we have to work under new policies or procedures we don't agree with. Tell me about the last time you disagreed with a new policy or procedure instituted by senior management. How did you respond? 9. Tell me about the time when you had to change your work schedule to help a peer. How did this affect you? What happened? 3

6 10. Tell me about the most diverse group/team that you ve been a part of. What problems did you encounter? What did you do? What happened? 11. Not all organizational changes are clearly explained and/or communicated. What have you done when you found out about an unexpected change or were confused by a change? 12. Tell me about a situation in your job at when you had to abruptly change what you were doing. What did you do? How did the change affect you? 13. Can you give me an example of a time when you recently made an effective adjustment to a changing policy or procedure. What did you do? Why was it effective? 14. Unexpected absences can disrupt progress of a work task/assignment/project. Tell me about a time when this happened to you and explain what you did. ALIGNING PERFORMANCE FOR SUCCESS Focusing and guiding others in accomplishing work objectives. Key Actions Sets performance goals - Collaboratively works with direct reports to set meaningful performance objectives; sets specific performance goals and identifies measures for evaluating goal achievement. Establishes approach - Collaboratively works with direct reports to identify the behaviors, knowledge, and skills required to achieve goals; identifies specific behaviors, knowledge, and skill areas for focus and evaluation. Creates a learning environment - As necessary, helps secure resources required to support development efforts; ensures that opportunities for development are available; offers to help individuals overcome obstacles to learning. Collaboratively establishes development plans - Collaboratively identifies observation or coaching opportunities, training, workshops, seminars, etc., that will help the individual achieve important goals. Tracks performance - Implements a system or uses techniques to track performance against goals and to track the acquisition and use of appropriate behaviors, knowledge, and skills. Evaluates performance - Holds regular formal discussions with each direct report to discuss progress toward goals and 4

7 review performance; evaluates each goal, behavior, knowledge, and skill area. Questions: 1. Tell me about a recent performance review that you conducted with a direct report. Describe what happened before, during and after the review. 2. Tell me about a time when you worked with a direct report to identify opportunities for development. What process did you use? 3. Tell me about a recent change in your organization's business plan. Did this change affect performance expectations for your direct reports? What did you do? 4. Describe the technique/system you use to track the progress of your direct reports in acquiring and applying new behaviors, knowledge, and skills. 5. Give me an example of how you've involved direct reports in identifying performance goals and expectations. What was your role? What was the other person's role? 6. Describe what you've done to help others overcome obstacles to learning and development. 7. Give me an example of a time when you established performance standards with a direct report. Describe the process you used. 8. Can you give me an example of when you provided feedback and assistance to another person about substandard performance? What did you do? How did you do that? What happened next? 9. Tell me about a time when a direct report disagreed with the performance goals that you set for him or her. What did you do? 10. Describe what you've done to link organizational objectives to your direct reports' objectives. 11. Some people set unrealistic goals for themselves. Tell me about one of your direct reports who did this. What did you do? 12. Communicating poor performance ratings can be difficult. Describe how you've handled a situation like this with a direct report. 5

8 13. What have you done to ensure that direct reports have adequate resources and opportunities to work on improving performance? 14. We all know that it's difficult to make a time in a busy schedule to provide developmental feedback to high performers. Tell me about your highest performer. How frequently have you met to discuss this person's performance? 15. Give me an example of a project/task/assignment you gave to a direct report to help him or her develop a specific skill. APPLIED LEARNING Assimilating and applying new job-related information in a timely manner. Key Actions: Actively participates in learning activities - Takes part in needed learning activities in a way that makes the most of the learning experience (e.g., takes notes, asks questions, does required tasks). Quickly gains knowledge, understanding, or skill - Readily absorbs and comprehends new information from formal and informal learning experiences. Applies knowledge or skill - Puts new knowledge, understanding, or skill to practical use on the job; furthers learning through trial and error. Questions: 1. What was the most difficult task you had to learn on your job at? How did you learn it? 2. Tell me about a part of your job at that was easier for you to learn than for others to learn. How did you accomplish this? 3. It's never easy to fully understand everything about a new product, service, or procedure, even after attending a training session. Can you give me an example of when this happened to you.? 4. Tell me about a complex aspect of your job at. How long did it take you to learn it? 5. In any new job there are some things we pick up quickly and other things that take more time to learn. In your job at 6

9 , tell me about something you learned quickly and something that took more time. 6. What did you have to learn to be effective at? How long did that take you? Which part took the most time? Why? 7. What technical aspects of your job at did you have to learn? Tell me about one technical aspect and how you learned it. 8. Sometimes it's difficult to understand everything about a process even when you've used it for a long time. Give me an example of a process you've used for a while but haven't mastered. 9. What formal training did you receive in your job at? Tell me about one particular training program. How did you do? 10. Being a (welder, mechanic, etc.) certainly requires a lot of technical knowledge. How did you learn your skills? How long did it take before you were able to effectively apply what you'd learned? 11. Describe a situation in which you learned something complex in a short period of time. 12. Describe a time when you had difficulty learning something complex. 13. Tell me about the most recent software program you've learned. How did you learn to use it? 14. Tell me about how you've used a computer on the job. How did you learn how to use it? How long did it take you to learn? 15. How did you learn everything you needed to know when you started in your position as? BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM Using appropriate methods and a flexible interpersonal style to help build a cohesive team; facilitating the completion of team goals. Key Actions: Develops direction - Ensures that the purpose and importance of the team are clarified (e.g., team has a clear 7

10 charter or mission statement); guides the setting of specific and measurable team goals and objectives. Develops structure - Helps to clarify roles and responsibilities of team members; helps ensure that necessary steering, review, or support functions are in place. Facilitates goal accomplishment - Makes procedural or process suggestions for achieving team goals or performing team functions; provides necessary resources or helps to remove obstacles to team accomplishments. Involves others - Listens to and fully involves others in team decisions and actions; values and uses individual differences and talents. Informs others on team - Shares important or relevant information with the team. Models commitment - Adheres to the team's expectations and guidelines; fulfills team responsibilities; demonstrates personal commitment to the team. Questions: 1. What have you done to ensure that your team clearly understood its charter/goal? 2. Describe how you've worked with a team to set specific and measurable goals and objectives. What process did you use? 3. Accomplishing team goals requires that all team members fulfill their responsibilities. Tell me about what you've done to help clarify a specific team member's roles and responsibilities. 4. There are many obstacles that can prevent a team from accomplishing its goals. Describe a time when you were able to remove obstacles so your team could achieve a goal. 5. Sometimes teams get off track when working toward a specific project or goal. Describe a time when this happened and you were able to help your team get back on track. What did you do? 6. Tell me about a time you were on a team and had to involve other team members in decisions and actions. What was your approach? 7. Describe the most effective techniques you've used to encourage team members to contribute their talents to the team's function or goal. Give me a specific example of a time when you used one of these techniques. 8

11 8. Tell me how you determined what information to share with a team to help them achieve their objectives. Give me a specific example. 9. For a team to function effectively, every member must be committed to the team and its goals. Tell me about how you've demonstrated your commitment to the team. What were the results? 10. Tell me about a time when you had to step in to help a group or team complete a task/project/assignment. What did you do? 11. Can you give me an example of a time when you worked with a group or team to determine project responsibilities. What was your role? 12. Think of a time when you had a major role in developing a team that become very successful. Tell me one or two things you did that contributed to the team's success. BUILDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY Effectively meeting customer needs; building productive customer relationships; taking responsibility for customer satisfaction and loyalty. Key Actions Uses Key Principals - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports). Acknowledges the person - Greets customers promptly and courteously; gives customers full attention. Clarifies the current situation - Asks questions to determine needs; listens carefully; provides appropriate information; summarizes to check understanding. Meets or exceeds needs - Acts promptly in routine situations; agrees on a clear course of action in no routine situations; takes opportunities to exceed expectations without making unreasonable commitments. Confirms satisfaction - Asks questions to check for satisfaction; commits to follow-through, if appropriate; thanks customer. Takes the "heat" - Handles upset customers by hearing the customer out, empathizing, apologizing, and taking personal responsibility for resolving customer problems/issues. Questions: 9

12 1. In you job at, how did you ensure that your internal/external customers' needs were met? Describe your procedure with one customer. 2. Tell me about the most you've ever done to try to satisfy a particular customer. 3. Sooner or later, we all have to deal with an internal/external customer who makes unreasonable demands. Think of a time when you had to handle an unreasonable request. What did you do? 4. Describe a time when you had to ask numerous questions and listen carefully to clarify the exact nature of an internal/external customer's problem or needs. 5. What skills or qualities contribute to building productive relationships with internal/external customers? Give me an example of a time when you used these skills or qualities with a specific customer. 6. Describe a time when you effectively handled an internal/external customer complaint. 7. Can you tell me about a customer request you've received that was in conflict with your company's policies? What did you do? 8. Tell me about a time when you were the focus of a customer's displeasure. What did you do? 9. Can you describe a time when you didn't handle an internal/external customer complaint well? What did you do? What happened? 10. Tell me about a difficult internal/external customer you've had to deal with. Why was he or she difficult? What did you do? 11. Describe a time when you took steps to make sure an internal/external customer was satisfied. What did you do? 12. Describe a situation when you chose to involve others to help solve an internal/external customer's problem. What was the problem, and how did involving others help? BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS 10

13 Identifying opportunities and taking action to build strategic relationships between one's area and other areas, team, departments, units, or organizations to help achieve business goals. Key Actions: Identifies partnership needs - Analyzes the organization and own area to identify key relationships that should be initiated or improved to further the attainment of own area's goals. Explores partnership opportunities - Exchanges information with potential partner areas to clarify partnership benefits and potential problems; collaboratively determines the scope and expectations of the partnership so that both area's needs can be met. Formulates action plans - Collaboratively determines courses of action to realize mutual goals; facilitates agreement on each partner's responsibilities and needed support. Subordinates own area's goals - Places higher priority on organization's goals than on own area's goals; anticipates effects of own area's actions and decisions on partners; influences others to support partnership objectives. Monitors partnership - Implements effective means for monitoring and evaluating the partnership process and the attainment of mutual goals. Questions: 1. Describe a time when you participated with someone outside of your team/department/group in an activity that turned out to benefit both teams/departments/groups. What was your role? 2. Sometimes it's not easy to identify opportunities that benefit your and another department. What have you done to find new opportunities to cooperate with other departments? Give me a recent example. 3. Getting people from outside your work area to cooperate often requires them to commit time for your benefit. Tell me about a time when you asked someone outside of your work area to commit time for your benefit. What did you say to gain their cooperation? 4. In any organization there often are conflicting departmental goals. Tell me about a time when you modified your goal for another department's benefit, and a time when you stuck with your goal and asked another department to modify its goal. 11

14 5. Interdepartmental cooperation involves giving and receiving. Tell me about a time you collaborated with others to determine courses of action to achieve mutual goals. 6. Think of someone from another department with whom you've worked who would say you're a good partner. Why would that person say that? 7. One department's success often depends on cooperation from other departments. Give me an example of a plan you've developed to obtain another department's cooperation for the short term. How about a plan you developed to gain another department's long-term cooperation? 8. Tell me about a time when you had to persuade an internal/external partner to form a partnership with you. 9. What have you done to promote collaboration and cooperation in a way that supported the overall objectives of a partnership? 10. In a partnership, responsibilities must be shared so that mutual objectives can be met. Describe how you have worked with a partner to determine each other's responsibilities. 11. Partnerships are not indestructible. Describe what you've done to sustain a healthy, productive partnership with someone. 12. How do you determine if adjustments need to be made in a partnership? BUILDING STRATEGIC WORKING RELATIONSHIPS Developing and using collaborative relationships to facilitate the accomplishment of work goals. Key Actions: Seeks opportunities - Proactively tries to build effective working relationships with other people. Clarifies the current situation - Probes for and provides information to clarify situations. Develops others' and own ideas - Seeks and expands on original ideas, enhances others' ideas, and contributes own ideas about the issues at hand. 12

15 Subordinates personal goals - Places higher priority on team or organization goals than on own goals. Facilitates agreement - Gains agreement from partners to support ideas or take partnership-oriented action; uses sound rationale to explain value of actions. Uses Key Principles - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports). Questions: 1. Describe a situation in which you needed to brainstorm differing/conflicting ideas with others in order to help accomplish work goals. 2. Describe a time when your goals or preferences were not included in a final team/group decision. How did you respond? 3. Give me an example of a time when you worked with a group/team to determine project responsibilities. What was your role? What process did the group/team use? What difficulties or issues came up? 4. Sometimes it can be difficult and frustrating to obtain information from other people in order to solve a problem or achieve goals. Please describe a situation you've had like this. What did you do? 5. Occasionally other people's work priorities conflict with ours. Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What did you do? 6. Working with others usually involves some and give-andtake. Describe a time when you worked out an agreement with a peer or team member. What did you do? 7. Describe a time when you wished you'd been more collaborative with others at work. What did you do? 8. Interacting with others can be challenging at times. Tell me about the greatest difficulty you faced when trying to get along with peers, team members, or others at work. How did you handle the situation? 9. Leaders often have opportunities to foster positive relationships at work. Give me an example of a time when you did this. 13

16 10. Tell me about one of the toughest teams/groups that you've had to work with. What made it difficult? What did you do? 11. Have you ever helped a peer or tem member develop an idea? Tell me about one of those times. 12. Tell me about a time you worked with someone who wasn't as cooperative as you needed them to be. What did you do? 13. Have you ever spent a significant amount of your own time and effort into helping a team/group complete a task? Give me an example. What happened? 14. Have you ever been on a team/group with an unproductive person? What did you do? 15. Can you describe a situation in which you dealt with a very sensitive person. What did you do? What happened? BUILDING TRUST Interacting with others in a way that gives them confidence in one's intentions and those of the organization. Key Actions: Operates with integrity - Demonstrates honesty; keeps commitments; behaves in a consistent manner. Discloses own positions - Shares thoughts, feelings, and rationale so that others understand personal positions. Remains open to ideas - Listens to others and objectively considers others' ideas and opinions, even when they conflict with one's own. Supports others - Treats people with dignity, respect, and fairness; gives proper credit to others; stands up for deserving others and their ideas even in the face of resistance or challenge. Questions: 1. There are many ways to show respect to others. What ways work best for you? Give me a specific example. trust. 2. Give me an example of what you have done to earn others' 3. Sometimes we are asked to do something that we don't think is right. Tell me about a time when this happened to you. What did you do? What happened? 14

17 4. Tell me about a time at work when you objectively considered others' ideas, even when they conflicted with yours. 5. We don't always work with people who are ethical or honest. Give me an example of a time when you saw another employee to something that you thought was inappropriate. What did you do? What happened? 6. Often there are people in an organization who deserve more credit than they receive. Tell me about a time when this happened. What did you do? 7. When meeting or orienting a new employee, what have you disclosed about the new person's manager/supervisor/team leader? Peers? The job? The organization? 8. It's often easy to blur the distinction between information meant to be kept in confidence and information meant to be shared. Can you give me an example of when you were faced with this dilemma? What did you do? 9. Tell me about a time when your manager/supervisor/team leader asked you to do something that you didn't think was appropriate. How did you respond? 10. Company policies vary regarding employees' personal use of office equipment (e.g., photocopiers). Tell me about a time when you used company equipment for personal reasons. COACHING Providing timely guidance and feedback to help others strengthen specific knowledge/skill areas needed to accomplish a task or solve a problem. Key Actions: Clarifies the current situation - Clarifies expected behaviors, knowledge, and level of proficiency by seeking and giving information and checking for understanding. Explains and demonstrates - Provides instruction, positive models, and opportunities for observation in order to help others develop skills; encourages questions to ensure understanding. Provides feedback and reinforcement - Gives timely, appropriate feedback on performance; reinforces efforts and progress. 15

18 Used Key Principles - Establishes good interpersonal relationships by helping people feel valued, appreciated, and included in discussions (enhances self-esteem, empathizes, involves, discloses, supports). Questions: 1. Tell me what you've done to help a peer/team member understand what knowledge/skill areas to strengthen. Give me a specific example. 2. Tell me about how you've coached a peer/team member to become more successful. 3. Describe a recent coaching discussion you conducted. What was the task? How, it at all, did you involve the other person in the discussion (e.g., offer suggestions, listen to concerns, etc.)? 4. Tell me about a time when you gave feedback to reinforce someone's effective performance. 5. Give me an example of feedback you gave to someone you were coaching who was having difficulty with an assignment. (Probe for the use of Key Principles and how specific and objective the feedback was.) 6. Sometimes our best coaching efforts don't yield successful results. Tell me about a time when you worked with someone, but the person failed to improve. (Probe for coaching methods.) 7. Describe how you coached two different people to accomplish a comparable task. What similarities and differences were there in your approaches? 8. Tell me about a time when you conducted on-the-job coaching. How did you know if your coaching was effective? 9. Describe a complicated task that you had difficulty teaching someone to perform. What approach did you take? What were the difficulties? 10. Tell me about a face-to-face meeting in which you had to give feedback for improvement to a sensitive person. What did you do? How did the person react? 11. Tell me about a time when you provided feedback to someone after that person performed poorly. 16

19 COMMUNICATION 12. Tell me about a direct report/team member whom you found difficult to coach. Describe a specific situation. How did you handle it? What were the results? Clearly conveying information and ideas through a variety of media to individuals or groups in a manner that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message. Key Actions: Organizes the communication Clarifies purpose and importance; stresses major points; follows a logical sequence. Maintains audience attention Keeps the audience engaged through use of techniques such as analogies, illustrations, an appealing style, body language, and voice inflection. Adjusts to the audience Frames message in line with audience experience, background, and expectations; uses terms, examples, and analogies that are meaningful to the audience. Ensures understanding Seeks input from audience; checks understanding; presents message in different ways to enhance understanding. Adheres to accepted conventions Uses syntax, pace, volume, diction, and mechanics appropriate to the media being used. Comprehends communication from others Attends to messages from others; correctly interprets messages and responds appropriately. Evaluate the candidate s behavior in the dimension of communication. Review your notes and determine whether the candidate s behavior in the dimension s Key Actions was effective (+), neutral (o), or ineffective/absent (-). Place a check mark on the appropriate line for each Key Action. Use a five-point scale (5 much more than acceptable; 4 more than acceptable; 3 acceptable; 2 less than acceptable; and 1 much less than acceptable) to rate the candidate s behavior in the dimension. Write the rating in the space provided. + o - Organizes the communication Maintains audience attention Adjusts to the audience 17

20 Ensures understanding Adheres to accepted conventions Comprehends communication from others Communication Rating: CONTINUOUS LEARNING Actively identifying new areas for learning; regularly creating and taking advantage of learning opportunities; using newly gained knowledge and skill on the job and learning through their application. Key Actions: Targets learning needs - Seeks and uses feedback and other sources of information to identify appropriate areas for learning. Seeks learning activities - Identifies and participates in appropriate learning activities (e.g., courses, reading, selfstudy, coaching, experimental learning) that help fulfill learning needs. Maximizes learning - Actively participates in learning activities in a way that makes the most of the learning experience (e.g., takes notes, asks questions, critically analyzes information, keeps on-the-job application in mind, does required tasks). Applies knowledge or skill - Pouts new knowledge, understanding, or skill to practical use on the job; furthers learning through trial and error. Takes risks in learning - Puts self in unfamiliar or uncomfortable situation in order to learn; asks questions at the risk of appearing foolish; takes on challenging or unfamiliar assignments. Questions: 1. Describe how you have identified and pursued learning opportunities in new areas. 2. What was the most difficult task you had to learn on your job at? 3. In any new job there are some things we pick up quickly and other things that take more time to learn. Think about your last job, and tell me about something you learned quickly and something that took more time. 18