weird job interview questions

[squidgy]

Ho hum, searching for someone to pay my bills again.

I went for this call centre job I saw advertised, and have just had a little interview over the phone. One of the questions that came up was something like "Are there any examples of outstanding customer service you've given at work which you can think of?"

Hmmm, that one put me on the spot. I mentioned this, and the interviewer said yes, that question is kinda designed for that purpose, to see how you react to it. I really couldn't think of anything, so I said "is it ok if we come back to that question later?" He said ok then, and went on to the next question, but never bothered to come back to this one.

Now I think that with a question like that, it's highly unlikely that they will check up on what you say to see if it's true, so you could probably get away with bluffing it. All it involves is thinking of something to say.

Can anyone think of anything? What would you say if you were asked that question? Don't worry, I'm not looking for you to identify any employer or any client of theirs, you can omit this, but I'm just hoping it'll give me some ideas in case this question comes up again. Thanks.

[squidgy]

Yay! After being down for an hour and a half, the forum is back! And in case the mods are wondering how I logged in so quickly afterwards, yes, I confess that I did set up a program to check repeatedly for a server on port 80 of hostname www.the-scream.co.uk until it finally got through.

Anyway, back to the topic. I did search of Google for "examples of outstanding customer service" and found loads of links to books and training programs, but also this ....

A guest in the Hotel Carlyle in New York is dining with three friends in the hotel restaurant. He asks the waiter to please speed up the order because he wants to catch a television show starting at 10:00.

As the hour of the TV show arrives an assistant manager of the hotel approaches and says quietly, "Excuse me, Sir, I've taken the liberty of inserting a blank tape in the VCR in your room and set it to record the show, so you can dine at your leisure."

Hmmm. I wonder if I could adapt that one? Sounds a bit weak to me, but it's the best I've found so far.

[fabienne00]

Maybe the actual fact is not what they were looking for, but just to see how you would respond to an unexpected question? To check your nice telephone manners? Which, i must say, if they are as good as your forum manners, you should be given the job immediately!

[squidgy]

Ah bless, thanks!

Mind you, the way that the "interviewer" handled the call made it screamingly obvious that he had just been given a form with a script, and was just filling it in with my answers. He was actually probably just one of the ordinary call centre staff, and just hands the form to someone else to make up their minds.

Clues that gave this away?

1) When I was first put through, he greeted with the name of the company, and said "how can I help you?". I mentioned the ad, he said ok and asked if I had a few minutes to spare, but I wasn't put through to anyone else.

2) He was faultlessly polite, but there were a few times when I said that I missed something and asked him to explain again, to which he'd say "sure", then repeat EXACTLY the same words as before! It sounded very scripted.

3) He didn't get involved in any discussion about the content of any of my replies to his questions.

4) Having said that, it was perhaps a bit odd that he was happy to comment on why a particular question was there, as in the case I've mentioned.

So there's a picture in my mind of a form with a gap on it, and someone else will make up their mind on the strength of this. We'll see what happens, anyway.

(edit) actually, that's given me an idea. If this script and form is really what's happening, then if I phone up again tomorrow and get another instant interview, they might not actually notice my duplicate application, and, of course, I'll be able to use my new answer to the unexpected question, thereby improving the chances that at least one of these applications goes through to the next stage. Perhaps I'll try that tomorrow.

[Worldlife]

Hey could it be a trick question?

For a short time I worked for a Company with a mission statement that was "In Pursuit of Excellence" . Their policy was to endeavour to give the best possible service to every customer.

Should the reply to the job interview question be along the lines that you do not recall specific instances of providing outstanding service?

The explanation might be that you provide excellent service to each customer every day of the year and not outstanding service to the occasional special customer.

[SabeanQueen]

That's not a bad answer You could expand to say that you do however have an ability to diffuse potentially aggressive callers by listening to the customer precisely so they believe that you are on their 'side' thereby showing that the company 'cares' about their opinion/problem and not just fending them off with set responses.

[squidgy]

Good point actually, I hadn't thought of that.

And there was me going down the road of planning how to handle it in the event of a duplicate application being noticed. If they don't notice, then I'd either receive two rejections (disappointing but no point in worrying further) or one rejection and one invitation to interview (perfect) or two invitations to interview, could be a bit tricky because if it gets that far, it suggests they're likely to notice it very soon. I'd probably show for the first but not the second.

I wouldn't mention it, but if they notice it, I'd profess ignorance, like as though they had copied the paperwork or something. If they turn round saying that's not possible and must mean I'd applied twice, I'd say I might have done, I've applied for lots of jobs recently (totally untrue but they're not to know that), and maybe they had ads in two different media and I didn't notice it was for the same thing!

But WL's point is a good one, so I guess I won't bother putting in a duplicate now. Still, maybe I'll try some of these answers in the future.

[Onslo]

The point has already been made that this question was thrown in to try and gauge your reaction, not test your ability.

The idea is that you should provide a level of service that all clients would expect and be happy with, but at the same time follow procedure as closely as possible. Preferencial treatment can only be justified if the company has adopted a tiered support structure (ie contract customers get preferencial treatment over non-contract customers).

If the aim is to provide customer satisfaction, then that is what you must do, to all customers.

'Slo

[squidgy]

Frustrating!

I hate looking for jobs. I especially hate having to look for jobs just for the sake of keeping the benefit payments going. That's why, as long as I have a few hundred available credit on the cards, I won't even bother to sign on. I only sign on when it becomes really really necessary.

Many people say that the worst thing that can happen when you apply for a job is that you'll get rejected. Well, I know from experience that it isn't. When you apply for a job, then unless it's a company you've already worked for in the past, or someone you know, you're actually hooking up with a complete stranger, and absolutely anything could happen.

Businesses often used to complain that the jobcentre doesn't do any screening of applicants they put forward. But what people tend to forget is that it works the other way round too, they don't screen the "employers" who post vacancies either. I learnt this the hard way a few years ago, but never complained, because I thought it could have been worse, and I blamed myself for being so naive. It doesn't change the fact that I was put in a very vulnerable position, though.

But hey, I guess I'll have to open a jobseeker's allowance claim next week, because the credit won't last forever. Perhaps I'll learn self defence, or martial arts too. End of rant.

[silver]

Squidgy,

Finding a job can be a hassle, the more interviews you take part in the more comfortable you'll get. Even if it turns out you don't want the job, or if they (for whatever reason) don't want you for the job you'll have gained experiance

Good Luck

Sil

PS, when you answer questions, try to relate the answer to a 'real world' experiance you have had and recount the scenario to the interviewer, it's one thing that really helps (tho I need to do more of it as well!).

[herne70]

This is obviously a trick question and you scored 10/10 by apparently not knowing what was meant by oustanding customer service.

You have shown that you are therefore available for programming with a Company Orientated Training Module.

If you ever receive an email from Scan Computers you will know what I am getting at! They carefully explain that the message is the view of the Author and they are not involved in any way and don't know or ............etc etc.......which results in some of the shortest none-answer replies!

Please note this is a humourous comment intended to amuse and should not be regarded as a personal attack and the author completely disassociates herself/himself whatever is your opinion.

[squidgy]

[SabeanQueen]

Brilliant!

I'd employ you, you're perfect!

[tua022012]

Hi,

I agreed with you. Any way, your points of view make me thinking about some thing for my project.

Pls try to keep posting. Tks and best regards

[Mender]

That response looks like a random post by a bot to me, apart from the fact that this thread is over ten years old!

[silver]

That response looks like a random post by a bot to me, apart from the fact that this thread is over ten years old!

Originally Posted by Mender

yeah - is weird why posting bots pick such old threads,. I guess it's to pop it to the top for a later 'related' spam link

[Behemoth]

Hell I thought Squidgy had come back for a second there.

[Tia]

So did I!

[Behemoth]

Squidy has been MIA for a very long time !