Ayça Akal-Strader
Written Answer for aBehavioral Interview Question
Client Prioritization & Multitasking
Behavioral Interview: Situation- or Experience-Based;Focus on Past Performance and Behavior
You have three line managers (top internal clients), each of whom has what he/she considers a top project requiring your time. What do you do?
In my previous position as a Managing Translator, I performed several duties, among which was customer service. In this role, I routinely juggled multiple projects, while also performing managerial duties, such as recruitment, hiring, training, evaluation, and project assignment. Regardless of my responsibilities and deadlines, I always made time for my customers and addressed their questions successfully whether they were direct customers of my service or they needed assistance regarding one of our other services. In addition, because our company had international customers, thelocal time difference presented a challengein terms of timely addressing the concerns of the clients.In fact, most of my customers were 6-7 hoursahead of my time zone, which in turn required me to adjust my schedule to anticipate and respond to my customersin a timely fashion even though it was midnight or later in my own time zone. Nonetheless, I always addressed the needs of my customers satisfactorily and in a reasonably short time.
In light of my past approach to responding to my clients, if I were approached by three line managers (top internal clients), each of whom had what s/he considered a top project requiring my time, I would explain them the situation without revealing the identity of the other urgent clients, but also state that I had all the intentions to cooperate with them to be respective of their schedule. I would ask for their leniency as I rearranged my own schedule around theirs. I would then set up a meeting with them that same day to learn abouttheir specific needs and the level of urgency in their project needs.I would also inquire about what was minimally needed to complete their projects at a satisfactory level, given the short notice in their request. I would repeat this process with each of my line managers and establish a timeline based on the level of urgency of each project. Only if it was absolutely impossible for me to attend all three meetings on the same day, would I ask for a colleague or team member to hold the meetings on my behalf. If any of the line managers were to offer leniency in the deadline or meeting schedule, I would take that into consideration when prioritizing the projects. However, I would try to address their needs immediately, even if it required me to put in overtime that day or until the projects were completed. If I was allowed to do so, I would ask my team members to help me complete various stages of the projects for a timely delivery to the clients.
In summary, as a professional who enjoys working in a collaborative team environment and takes great pleasure in helping others, I would try mybest to address everyone’s needs and deadlines immediately after my clients met with me. Granted, it is not always possible to please everyone. I would also prepare myself for a disappointing outcome, making sure I did not overreach in my projections of when I would complete their project within their deadline. Nevertheless, in my dealings, I would keep in mind that their projects are important, that my team and I play a crucial role in this process, and that I am lucky to be the one they chose to come to for their project needs.
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