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22 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What do you know about the fed?
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They set monetary policy
They supervise and regulate banks They also do financial services. |
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Why are you interested in a job at the fed?
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I'm not interested in just any job at the Fed. I am interested in the job as a bank examiner because I feel I would be an excellent fit for the position and it would give me an opportunity to use the skill set I have developed through my years as a student. I am tired of holding positions that my education has not prepared me for.
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Tell me about a time when you failed.
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My first year of college I moved away from home and attended a school in Texas. While I was there my academic career suffered. It was not slacking off but rather, it was because I lacked study skills. In order to overcome this situation I innovated and developed new study habits. I realized flashcards were the key to my academic success.
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What is your greatest strength
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My greatest strength is that I am a highly motivated self starter. What I mean by that is that I have no trouble starting a new project and/or offering up my assistance to others.
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Tell me about a time when you had to adjust to a classmate’s or colleague’s working style in order to complete a project or achieve your objectives.
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Last week I was working on a project for my auditing class. Some students wanted to split the responsibilities for different sections up. Other students believed we should work on it together. In order to accommodate the views of both sides and accomplish a successful completion of the project we decided to compromise we would split the project up into sections which we would work on separately but then we would e-mail it to one another and each person would provide feedback so we could seamlessly put the invdividual sections together.
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Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when that individual may not have personally liked you (or vice versa). How did you handle the situation? What obstacles or difficulties did you face? How did you deal with them?
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During my employment at Best Buy I had a boss whom I did not get along with because I felt some of his management practices, such as being the direct supervisor of his roommate, were unethical. The difficulties caused by feeling the situation was unjust caused me to be rather begrudging when accepting his criticism, feedback, and direction. To finally solve the communication/dislike opportunities, I ended up having a conversation with him where I respectfully expressed my concerns. Once we had this conversation, our relationship significantly improved.
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Tell me about a difficult decision you've made in the last year
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A difficult decision I made within the last year was whether or not to work full time while going to school. Over the course of the past year I have held two jobs, both of which I really enjoy. I had to decide whether to give up one of them or work both. Ultimately I decided to challenge myself by keeping both positions. I have never regretted this decision. The whole situation has taught me effective time management skills.
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Describe a time when you put your needs aside to help a co-worker understand a task. How did you assist them? What was the result?
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Working as an intern at State Street has allowed me to have several opportunities to help co-workers understand tasks. In the morning we have certain tasks that have to be completed before 9AM. These tasks include everything from uploading daily cash activity files from banks, to loading adjustable rates, to saving bank statements. I took time out of my day to teach a new employee how to download the cash activity from a complicated bank site. In the end teaching her was for the best, although it took a little extra time to teach her, the next day when someone had showed her how to do it she was able to do the cash upload on her own and we ended up meeting our deadlines well ahead of times both days.
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Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and were able to meet or achieve it
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In my second semester of sophmore year of college I set a goal for myself. I had had a terrible first semester of college and in order to keep my scholarship I needed a cumulative GPA of 3.0. Coming off a 2.75 I knew I had my work cut out for me. So I set out trying to meet this seemingly impossible goal. Instead of studying in my dorm room I would go to classrooms and sit for hours committing my notes to memory. All my hard work paid off! I was able to get my GPA well over a 3.0 and keep my scholarship. There is no greater feeling than the feeling of achievement.
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Tell me about a goal that you set that you did not reach. What steps did you take? What obstacles did you encounter? How did it make you feel?
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A goal that I set for myself while working at Best Buy was to get promoted to full time. At the time I was a part time cashier who wanted to be transferred to a full time warehouse employee. In order to meet goal I prepared for the interview by going over possible scenarios in my head and on the day of the interview I thought I had it made. However, I was passed over for a more qualified individual. At the time I felt like the individual who got the job had stolen it from me. But as I reflected on the situation for several weeks after the interview, I realized she was the ideal candidate for the job because she had already been working in the warehouse part time and had the training and knowledge I lacked.
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Describe a situation where you have had to use your initiative to solve a problem. What did you do?
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At Best Buy you have to use initiative all the time to solve problems. One particular instance occurred over the Christmas holiday rush. I overheard one of our occasional seasonal employees tell an employee they could go to another store to purchase a 700$ computer. He checked stock and saw that the other store only had one of the computers in store. Rather than letting him walk the sale and having our store miss out on the revenue we deserved, I used my initiative and got involved in teh sale and offered to call the other store and have the product reserved for them and allow them to pay for it here. The customer gladly accepted my offer and we had a satisfied customer while retaining the revenue for our location.
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Give me an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead.
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Whenever I know people at State Street are out of the office I always take the initiative and offer my assistance to their supervisor to ensure that their daily tasks are completed. By offering up my assistance, I make their return to work easier because they don't have a pile of work sitting on their desk when they return.
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Tell of the most difficult customer service experience that you have ever had to handle-perhaps an angry or irate customer. Be specific and tell what you did and what was the outcome.
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A few weeks ago at Best Buy a customer came up to me handed me a set of speakers and asked me to ring him out. I graciously agreed. I noticed the price tag on the box was ripped and appeared to say 19.99. When I scanned the product's UPC, it rang up at 219.99. The customer demanded that I sell him the speakers for 20$ because that was the amount on the tag. I patiently explained that the tag was ripped and then proceeded to explain the company policy on discounting items. He failed to calm down and asked for a manager. When my manager came over and explained the same policy that I had cited, the customer calmed down and apologized for his behavior.
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How do you determine priorities in scheduling your time? Give examples
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In scheduling my time I typically look at what deadlines are approaching first. I work on those first and then I move down the list as needed. If I am at work and I realize I may struggle to meet a deadline, I will seek assistance from my coworkers or supervisor.
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Name a time when a coworker didn't follow through with a task and how did you overcome that?
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Working at Best Buy there were plenty of occasions when I had coworkers fail to follow through with tasks. Each night we would have certain closing duties which had to be completed before we were allowed to leave. They were extremely basic tasks such as straightening, vaccuming ect. Even though the tasks were simple, often my co-workers would ask what I needed help with and then they would promise to complete the activity but in actuallity failed to do so. When I realized who I couldn't count on I knew that when those individuals were working with me I had them watch the floor and assist customers while I performed the closing duties, that way at the end of the day everyone got off work on time and the company was able to maintain their labor budget for the week and not have employees staying late.
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What was your greatest achievement?
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My greatest achievement has been my success in college. It has been a long and rocky road however, overcoming the challenges both great and small has formed me into the adult I am today.
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How would you get someone resistant to change to adapt to new technology?
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Honestly, it's all about knowing the technology inside and out. Those who are resistant to change may be so because of 2 things. Either they don't understand why the technology is important or they have used the technology and been dissatisfied with it. If they don't understand the technology the best thing to do is to demo the technology for the individual. In order to successfully demo new technology we must ourselves understand what the technology is designed to do. If they are resistant to change because they have had a bad experience, it is important for us to know our product and to be able to explain to them the limitations of the new technology.
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Describe a situation where the requirements of a project changed, but the deadline did not. How did resolve this?
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In my Organizational Behavior class we were required to complete a group project before the last day of the semester. Our group chose to repaint a school gym. This required a considerable amount of time and resources. Unfortunately the project fell apart when the school informed us 2 weeks before semester end that there was a delay in the roof repair that was necessary before the gym could be repainted. This delay caused us to have to change projects 2 weeks before the deadline which remained the same. In order to get back on track with this project we really had to pull together as a team. Originally we had had a significant amount of conflict as far as what our project should be. But now, with the deadline looming we all came together and brought different innovative ideas to the table. We switched from painting the gym to organizing a food pantry for local homeless. This experience gave me the opportunity to learn about team conflict and also to practice effective time management and leadership. When our project fell through, I ended up taking the lead on the food pantry and organizing donation drop offs.
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Describe the approach you took in a situation where you were required to teach something to one of your peers.
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Whenever I am required to teach something to a peer, I always take the same approach. I believe the only way to teach is by giving the student an opportunity to practice what they have learned. When we have new hires at State Street the best way for them to learn is to give them hands on learning experience. Typically the way I do this is I will go sit with them and walk them through the tasks on the computer step by step. If all they ever get to do is watch, they will be likely to have a difficult time when they go to complete the tasks on their own.
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Describe the approach you took in a situation where you were required to teach something to one of your peers.
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Whenever I am required to teach something to a peer, I always take the same approach. I believe the only way to teach is by giving the student an opportunity to practice what they have learned. When we have new hires at State Street the best way for them to learn is to give them hands on learning experience. Typically the way I do this is I will go sit with them and walk them through the tasks on the computer step by step. If all they ever get to do is watch, they will be likely to have a difficult time when they go to complete the tasks on their own.
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What was a time where you went above-and-beyond?
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I go above and beyond on a daily basis. Typically I complete all of my daily tasks at State Street by 12 or 1pm and I don't typically go home until around 4PM. Rather than killing time as I have seen my coworkers do (browsing the internet ect), I volunteer my time to assist other co-workers and or managers with projects they may need help with. It's the little things like being dedicated to your position which I feel highlight your skills and will help you climb the corporate ladder.
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Describe a situation where you have received criticism. How did you take it? How did you act after the criticism?
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At Best Buy I typically would receive criticism for how I offered our services. My manager wanted us to use a top down selling strategy and offer EVERY customer the most expensive all inclusive computer package available, rather than the package that was likely to suit their needs. Once a manager overheard me selling a computer package and after I had completed the sale he came and discussed my lack of top down selling. When I explained that I had started mentioning the services and they became hostile I stopped offering to avoid walking the sale. In some situations I have responded negatively. If I feel like I am being attacked I often close off and don't try to implement changes. If I have a great boss who can say hey good job on that sale and then casually suggest ways to improve them I am ususally receptive and I will try to take their advice,
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