Interview presentation: trick question?!

[headofapples]

I've got an interview for a job, I will call it Head of Apples and Pears. I have to give a 10 minute presentation on whether apples or pears are more important to the organisation, and explain how I would convince the board.

This feels like a trick question! I don't want to pick favourites, they're both important, but then I wonder if they are testing your powers of persuasion and thus don't want you to sit on the fence?

This is civil service, so I know sitting on the fence is frowned upon on in strength questions.

Very odd really as how would you know unless in the organisation and how do you determine what is more important??

It probably doesn't matter which one you say is more important they just want to assess how you come to a decision. Like is it based on facts or intuition, do you gather lots of information, do you consult other people etc.

One of those ones with no right or wrong answer as such, but more to do with whether you display the sort of behaviour they are looking for

I would start doing bullet points arguments in favour of apples or pears. Say at the end which one you personally find more convincing & why, but show that you can also see the arguments for the other option.

@Jammylou due to the context (apples and pears) and organisation I can make a pretty good estimate because I've worked in the sector a while (specific profession), and I have a clear favourite tbh...but worried it was a trick question!

@Twiglets1 that's a really good point demonstrating how I would go about demonstrating my process; research, gap analysis etc.

They are testing your ability to "communicate and influence" rather to an your industry knowledge of think. Also your decision making.

In my work I clearly love apples the most. They are my background and early career.
However as a professional I would never downplay a pear. Pears are vitally important too.

Is there also an angle about pears being more important / relevant at certain times or because of say government policy change, such that efforts will be focused there because of {X}. When {Y} is the policy / belief of choice, then apples have more relevance / importance etc.
Such that {now} pears are more important, but if {Y} were to happen then more apples would be needed. And we'd have to plan for that etc

I'm guessing it's Diversity & Inclusion?? I wouldn't say one is more important than the other- I would say some shite about them being interwoven and going hand in hand and one isn't possible without the other etc etc.

You need to imagine you are giving advice to a minister so I would make sure it is face based. Give pros and cons of both apples and pears, the impact if either apples.or pears were removed, then conclude which should stay and why.
They want to know that you can make a coherent argument .
They won't care which you choose.

However as a professional I would never downplay a pear. Pears are vitally important too.

Thinking of opening explaining the importance of Pear so I can demonstrate my understanding of that area (briefly), but feel pear is sufficiently resourced because x, y and z and feel more resource/understanding/priority needs to be focussed on apples because....explaining the importance of apples, how I've worked that out, and how I worked convince the board?

(No it's not diversity and inclusion, they're not quite that linked, 2 related professions that come under the same head but are 2 distinct professions). Sorry I would go into more detail but feel I am being very outting!)

*and how I would convince the board

How do pears and apple related to each other?

Does one support the other or does one cease to exist without the other?

For example, diversity & inclusion, there's zero point in diversity if it's not inclusive or inclusion without diversity leads to group think and narrow focus.

Do the company issue annual reports or is there any marketing material online that suggests the companies view? Do they issue a CSR report?

Any hints from what their employees post online?

Are you on LinkedIn? Have any connections with past or existing staff?

Have you googled the question or checked sites like glassdoor for feedback from previous employees?

Did you apply via a recruiter, can they give you advice?

This looks a good structure to me
I would always respond to something like this with your honest appraisal.
If they’re equally important in your mind, say so
If you consider Apples need more focus right now, say that

They may want to know how you would approach tricky budget decisions. Given budget squeeze. So your response looks good to me

In general IMO there’s no point pretending to think something you don’t, and getting a job where you fundamentally disagree with your boss about the relative importance of apples and pears

@Daffidale thank you, I agree, I'm also mindful that as the head of apples and pears it's a bit like being a parent, that impact on morale if you have a "favourite" so I want to demonstrate it's not a matter of comparing importance perse, but ensuring the appropriate proportionality of priority, deprioritising apples would have the bigger negative impact so it's finding the right way of getting that message across without devaluing pears.

@ThirtyThrillionThreeTrees they are related and impact each other but don't directly impact the existence of each other (sorry I hate cryptic posts!!) no recruiter, I only have HR's details, I've been in the CS a while now and contacting the recruiter doesn't seem to be quite as common place as it can be elsewhere (in my experience at least) we are usually given HR's details rather than the manager's and their info tends to be a little more generic. I sometimes wonder if they don't have a specific expectation of an answer but are intrigued as to how you approach it?

I am in a similar role : Think head of apples, pears and oranges, where my professional background is apples, some pears but no oranges. Agree 100% about importance of not showing favouritism to your own specialty when stretching to cover other professions as you progress. I think showing you can think about the priorities rationally and dispassionately is the way I’d go too. Not getting into a debate about which is more “important”