To ask how you'd answer this interview question?

[Justanothernamechange2]

I didn't get a job I had interviewed for based on my response to this question.

My DP thinks the answer they wanted is quite company unique and he would have, and always has, answered like I did.. so im looking to see what others would answer.

The question: The end of your shift is here and you still have outstanding work that would take you around 30-40minutes to complete, what would you do?

I think saying you’d prioritise your work properly only works in certain roles that aren’t very much affected by other people especially clients/customers/the general public.

As in the examples above, a surgeon can prioritise all they like but are affected by availability of other staff, beds and equipment. Then the patient can have complications that couldn’t have been predicted. In a more mundane environment like a call centre, customers can call just before closing time with a whole host of issues.

I think weighing up the impact on the business of leaving it to the morning is the most sensible answer. It’s fine saying you would stay unless you can’t, but if you can’t stay and it’s something with lots of repercussions if it’s not finished, that’s not going to look good in an interview!

Apparently the answer was that i should pass on outstanding work to a team mate and should never offer to stay late...

Im working on the assumption - with limited information that your role is eg 8 till 4, and your collegue is perhaps 10 till 6 ? And you broadly do the same role, and the in basket is shared ? ergo the late shift picks up whats left ?

*Union reps in interviews - why ? And not all work places are unionised.

Nothing actually wrong with the question per se.*

To ensure that the worker's rights are not infringed upon. It's very standard practice here. They usually sit in quietly at the end of the line of interviewers, but are ready to speak up if a question is inappropriate. They're also handy for explaining to the candidate how the union set up works within the company, it's pretty nice!

That particularly question would likely be problematic as it feels like coersion to get a candidate to agree to unpaid overtime in order to get the job.

OP the whole thing sounds like utter crap. I would also be suspecting they had an internal candidate at the ready.

Wow, that's harsh.

@Damn - we arent in Norway so it doesnt apply. And again, not every work place is unionsised. Not everyone wishes to join a union and pay subs. Freedom of choice.

It's one of those questions that is impossible to answer with any degree of accuracy without a lot more information. What is the nature of the work and the impact of not finishing it today? Is there somebody else to hand it over to and do they have the capacity and competency to take it on? What personal commitments might you have and what is the impact of you staying late? Is this an isolated case or a symptom of an under-resourced or poorly managed organisation? If they expect you to routinely work late if required do they pay overtime or give time in lieu?

I think if they ruled you out on the basis of your answer to that question then you've had a lucky escape - working for idiots is rarely fun.

I was asked that same question at a job interview many many years ago - for an admin job in the local authority.

I said I would do my best to finish it and if not see if someone could help me out. Which must have been right as I got the job.

Seems very odd - and that you may be right in thinking that the job was already spoken for internally.

I can't see how anyone could say you could just pass the task on to another team member - they may also be snowed under and unable to find time for an extra job. Maybe whatever you said would have been wrong ?

There's no chance I'd have answered that question with a response of 'I'd pass it on to another member of staff!' I've worked as a medical secretary and within GP surgeries for years and I would have thought the answer you gave was what they wanted to hear OP. They sound bat shit

It may have been a bit of a 'social desirability' question. These are the kinds of questions you get in personality tests where they want to see whether you give a socially desirable answer as opposed to really thinking it through.

I'd have said it depended on the work, I'd prioritise based on urgency / impact etc.

I think just saying straight off the bat that you'd stay behind would raise a slight concern that you were only saying that to look keen.

Then again, it totally depends in some cultures (investment banking for example) you'd totally be expected to stay behind for many hours possibly, if there was a business need.

There's no chance I'd have answered that question with a response of 'I'd pass it on to another member of staff!'

Me either. OP I suspect had you answered this way they said you should have, they would have found some other excuse. Like you're workshy, not committed to fulfilling tasks and rely too heavily on other staff members.

I honestly don't think you could have answered this question correctly.

Totally depends on the job and your level of seniority. Managers are paid to 'get the job done', junior staff to work their hours. Some jobs have more autonomy, others are more team based.

Having read your update, I do see the point they're making. This is a 'work your hours' role within a team. They need to know you would be open, methodical and organised enough to have things in state to hand over easily. Not hiding half-completed tasks in some idiosyncratically-arranged mess that only you can sort out.

I would have expected you to know it was a 'within a team' job, so the team more important than the individual. That doesn't necessarily give you your answer to the question but might give you a more general 'I would find out what the team culture and management expectations are and work co-operatively in that way'.

What an odd question and even more odd to base a job offering on, how can anyone know what the culture and accepted practice is in a particular workplace at an interview?

Sounds like they don't know how to interview properly.

I was once asked a similar sort of question and I truthfully answered that I didn't know and would expect that it would be covered as part of the job training for the sucessful candidate. The interviewers both nodded and I got the job, it was a public sector type job and I had only worked in the private sector at that time so had no idea what the correct procedure should be.

Apparently the answer was that i should pass on outstanding work to a team mate and should never offer to stay late

Well unless you knew that others had different set times how would you know to do this.

Without this information I would have answered that it depended on a lot of other factors.

Was it urgent, could it wait, did I need to collect from childcare or have an appointment I couldn’t miss.
Was it frowned upon to work late or was it an office that regularly expected people to work late.

There is no real answer and I suspect that the reason you didn’t get the job was a made up excuse

So basically they don’t want to pay overtime.

My answer to that question would have been:

1. Determine whether it was critical to do immediately.
2. Seek support. Can someone help you finish it off? What can you do to make sure that it doesn’t happen again?
3. Either stay and finish or do it first thing tomorrow/possibly take it home with you or come in early the next day as appropriate.

I agree with caughtinanet. What an odd question to hang the whole job offer on.
They are asking you to mind read and guess their office cuilture. There's any number of suitable answers to that question, as something like that has so many variables, depending on the urgency of the work etc..
In some companies they'd let you go if you dumped your unfinished work on a colleague to go home on time. It would never be seen about being a team player. If they wanted to know if you were a team player, they could just ask you about that. I'd be tempted to reply, it won't make any difference as I suspect they were looking for an excuse, eg other candidate, but you might feel better.

At a guess, some manager has gone on a day's workshop on lean management, and is all about the need for you to identify inefficiencies in your workflow (too much to do in normal working hours) and how they can be addressed at a team level (pass it over). It's not necessarily wrong, but it relies on a lot of assumptions or background knowledge about the way the work is handled across the team.

It amuses me that self-styled leaders are complete and utter sheep when it comes to fashionable management theories.

I think it does cut straight to 'do you see yourself first as an individual or as a member of the team?'. You answered as an individual.

That sort of 'taking personal responsibility' approach can be very desirable in a more autonomous role. In a team, 'individuals' can be a nightmare; secretive, defensive, introspective and hard to work with.

I think that is what they were getting at.

Just to tie up a few loose ends.

I was told at the start of the interview the ins and outs of the job - that each member of staff on per day is allocated a set of tasks located in a coloured folder.. so for example.. monday mornig 8am everyone turns up and julie will be on the red folder containing prescriptions etc.. susie on the blue folder containing referrals for surgery etc.. and that with the specific 30-40min mentioned i just assumed that i should stay to finish my tasks set for the day.

In the feedback she did say that its extremely rare to ever finish a full days tasks, but i guess i wasnt supposed to know that at the time?

Im not overly disheartened to be honest - but its good to know that im not the only one who thinks i didnt answer too wrongly...or at least with the information provided and with how the question was asked.

Onwards and upwards!

The real life answer (that you wouldn't say!) is it depends on the company that you work for and how valued and appreciated you feel, and how the company would treat you if you had an emergency that you needed to leave early for one time.

Sounds like you not getting the job was a blessing in disguise. I wouldn't want to work for a company with such a 'tick box' approach to recruitment.

In the feedback she did say that its extremely rare to ever finish a full days tasks, but i guess i wasnt supposed to know that at the time?

So if Suzie goes at 3 and hands to Julie , who leaves at 4, who then hands two folders to Mary - who clearly isnt going home anytime before midnight!

I think you might have dodged a bullet there!

What a horrible company to work for. I think you did well by 'failing' to answer correctly.

I think they were just making up reasons because it's illegal to say 'the other candidate looked like she'd be a laugh on a night out' etc.

I suppose the point is that there are no tasks only one person can do so everything's open and transferable, but really you'd have to be psychic to know that was the answer they were looking for.

If I'd known it was a medical admin type job I would have gone for the team answer. These roles often rely on teamwork and people being able to do lots of roles to help out when it gets busy. You'll know next time to prep an answer that covers both. Good luck with the job hunting.

Goodness. I wouldn't have made that leap, to conclude that this meant you weren't a team player!!

Who knew!!
No wonder I've just had 2 interviews and not got the job!