Tell me about a time when you demonstrated you were trustworthy.

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A lack of integrity in the workplace can negatively affect morale, or be damaging to the culture of a brand that was built upon principles of integrity. The interviewer wants to get a better understanding of your moral principles and where you fall on the scale. For example, there's a type of person who would point out mistakes made by a co-worker to a manager with the ulterior motive of making themselves look better by making someone else look worse, and there's the type of person who would let that employee know before a manager noticed their mistakes, giving them a helping hand.

You can prove your trustworthiness in an example that shows a manager entrusted you with the responsibility of value, like managing money or an important client. Often a person will be given specific procedures to follow when they begin a new job, and there can be the temptation to get lazy and do things 'the easy way' as they get more comfortable. Give an example that speaks from your experience.

Integrity is one of the values of American Express. Integrity is defined as being honest with moral principles. A person with integrity will continue to follow procedures as expected, even when no one is looking. Integrity is the altruism of doing the right thing for the principle of it. Altruism wins over self-interest.

"Integrity is fundamental to me. I was once given credit for a report that I did not create. I did present the report, but one of my staff members had put it together for me. I made sure to show thanks for the compliment and alert everyone to its creator. I took my subordinate out to lunch later for making me look good."

"Our department placed a large order for a client. When the item arrived at the warehouse, they'd received the shipment, but the order they received was wrong. Management assigned me to investigate the matter, and they believed a coworker of mine who had made a few mistakes along these lines was responsible. While they prepared a write-up for this employee, I realized the mistake was mine. I confessed to the error and told them if anyone deserved being written up it was me. Due to my honesty and the fact that I hadn't made any prior mistakes, I was given a verbal warning and tasked with the cleanup. I also took it upon myself to admit my error to the employee it was blamed on. They said I didn't need to apologize since I never blamed them for it."

Anonymous Answer

"Within 6 months of starting my role as a Product Specialist, I was assigned to lead the implementation of a major charitable gift fund. This client was internally tagged as a high-value client and the success of their transition to our product was key to future engagement with similar clients. During the initial phase of the implementation, it was discovered that a key piece of functionality was not designed to work as it was described during the sales process. I raised the issue with our sales team to prevent further sales reps from sharing incorrect information, met with the development and design team to determine if and how we could address the client's need, and followed up with the client to provide full transparency on how they were misinformed and what steps we have put in place to correct the error."

Marcie's Feedback

Excellent! You've used the STAR method nicely here. Consider ending your response by explaining how the actions you took impressed the client and ultimately benefitted the company. Also, emphasize that you are full of integrity and build trust by doing what's right and doing what you say you'll do. Good job!