Please help! Clever people step this way - am I on the right lines with this interview task?

[mrscog]

I have an interview for a job I'd really like to get, and I have to prepare for a discussion with the interview panel on '?The three most important success criteria for this post.? I also have to put my ideas on to one side of A4.

It's for an administrative manager position.

I'm struggling slightly with it as I'm not completely sure what they mean by success criteria, firstly I thought they meant how to measure success in the role, but then I doubted myself and wondered if they meant what are the three main things I need to do to be successful.

Anyway, I have three areas, and I thought for each one I'd separate my thoughts on each one in to 'why is it important', 'how do you make sure the action on this criteria happens', and then 'ways to measure success' as this then kind of covers all bases (on the actual document it will be just 'how', 'why' and 'ways to measure success').

Does this sound ok? I'm normally good at this kind of thing, but I think I'm just lacking in confidence as I'm not completely sure what they want!

Sounds a great approach to me! I would also consider a response as if the q read 'what three sets of personal abilities and skills do I have to make the position a success'. Thus is for two reasons 1. that might be what they really mean and 2. because hopefully you can show these with your answers..eg ' I would judge my success by keeping backlogs at less than 10% I can do this because I am used to planning predictive markers for workloads and reward staff for planning absences in advance'

also it will be useful anyway if they are 'three ways' questioners!'

Thank you, yes, I had considered adding in some 'nods' to my current skills as well. Glad you think it sounds ok - that's you, my work colleague and DH so hopefully I'm not too far off what they're expecting :)

that sounds reasonable.

If I was on an interview panel with a task like this, a key thing I would be looking for in the three things you choose will be the S.M.A.R.T. rules: they must be specific, measureable, achieveable, realistic and timely.

Sounds good to me. However, your third bullet also needs to include assessing where we went wrong/how we could improve alongside measuring success. Dealing positively with negative customer feedback and escalating it to those who can make a difference can only improve the organisation's reputation and the customer experience.

You might do the most brilliant job for a customer according to the brief but they might not be fully satisfied for whatever reason. A manager needs to be able to assess and respond to negative customer feedback and where appropriate take that feedback on the chin and improve customer service as a result.

It isn't always going to go well and interviewers often like to chuck the 'how would you deal with a difficult, argumentative customer' scenario into the interview.

Ooh I like itmrsP, thank you!

You're very welcome! Best of luck!!!