Practice 38 Boeing interview questions covering technical depth, safety standards, and aerospace engineering leadership.
Question 17 of 38
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Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
As an employee at Boeing, your decisions on the job will impact others. It's important to express to the interview team that you recognize the weight of your responsibility, whether you are managing a team or leading by example in this role that you are interviewing for.

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.
"Whenever I am making an important decision, I question how the company will benefit and how it will impact customers. I also check to make sure the decision is in line with the company's values. It's important to consider how the decision will impact the company. I take steps to address these factors before I decide what needs to happen next."

Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
"The first step I would take when making an important decision would be to make sure I understand the details of the situation. I would want to know who would be affected by my decision and the exact scope of the decision that is needed. From there, I would brainstorm a list of options and think through the potential outcomes. Given that I am relatively inexperienced professionally, I would also ask for guidance and support as appropriate before moving forward."

Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
"I am required to make important decisions on a daily basis in my role. If time permits, I step through all of the options and weigh the pros and cons of each option depending on the downstream impact and potential for value. I also discuss important decisions with the subject matter experts on my team, or with my peers. However, there are times when I simply have to lean on my experience and intuition."

Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
"I begin any important decision-making process with information gathering. This includes discussions with stakeholders or my team and analysis of any available data. My next step is to define the decision options and compare them to each other. Sometimes the comparison analysis is a formal process that involves ranking and scorecards. Other times this is a lite process I run through mentally. If am the one who will implement the decision, I then select the best option and develop an action plan to move forward."

Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
"My process for making important decisions professionally typically begins with a mix of discussion and analysis. I consult with subject matter experts, peers, my teams, or my clients as needed. I then brainstorm a list of options either alone or with a team. I compare the value stream of each option and then determine the best way forward. Additionally, I always think about how the decision will be implemented and what strategic and tactical steps will be required for success."

Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
"As a systems engineer, my first step in making important decisions typically involves working to understand the customer need, and/or requirements that need to be met. From there, I review the current state of the technical design of the system and determine the areas that will be affected when the decision is made. If the system integrates with other solutions, I consider the downstream impact to those systems as well.
Once I understand the situation technically, I develop a list of options. I sometimes need to do research if there is a possibility of incorporating new technology. I might also consult with fellow engineers or architects depending on the need.
Finally, I weigh the options from a technical and business perspective and make a decision or a recommendation for moving forward if the decision needs to be approved by a technical lead, architect, or stakeholder."

Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
Prior to your interview, write out the steps that you consider when making an important decision on the job. Prepare yourself by thinking of examples of when you were faced with a difficult decision and explain the thought process you used in walking through the decision.
Be sure to align your response with the role you are interviewing for. For example, an analyst or systems engineer should include research and data analysis steps within their response. An entry-level candidate should include seeking guidance from more experienced team members.

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Anonymous Answer
When I am making an important decision on the job, I think about how it will help or hinder the company. If I believe it will hinder the company, then there is no real decision to make. My job is to help and not harm the company and move them in a better direction toward success.

Rachelle's Feedback
These are very insightful questions to ask yourself in the decision making process!
"When I am making an important decision I will first think about how each action will benefit or hinder the company. If one path hindered the company, I would choose the other option. My job is to help the company move in a better direction, and to be successful."
Anonymous Answer
In my last role, I had to make a decision as to whether to keep an employee. I was careful to ensure that I understood the context about the decision. I consulted those who would be affected by the decision to determine the most likely consequences. I then made the decision which was to terminate and recruit a new person. This went down well with the team and my boss.

Lauren's Feedback
Great example; you sought several avenues to arrive at a final decision, which demonstrates tact. I would caution the way you explain "[consulting] with those who would be affected." You don't want this to be viewed as office gossip or discussing sensitive HR issues with the person's coworkers versus discussing the situation with other team leaders and managers (which is acceptable).
There was a time when I need to weigh the pros and cons of terminating an employee. Time and sensitivity was needed to review the implications and arrive at the most logical decision. I explored all possible options, and consulted with proper staff. Ultimately, terminating the employee and hiring a new person was the right decision for staff culture and morale.
Anonymous Answer
When making an important decision, its important to get buy-in. Engage others in the know whether they would agree with the decision. I would consider the possible consequences, risks and value to the project ultimately to the company.
So before making a decision, mitigate risks where possible, communicate with others involved, get buy-in and have a plan in place for possible outcomes - have a plan B.
Kristine's Feedback
Great response! You show you would approach the decision carefully and you value the input of others. I reworded your answers slightly for clarity.
When making an important decision, it's important to get buy-in. I would engage others to know whether they would agree with the decision. I would also consider the possible consequences, risks, and value to the company. So before making a decision, I would mitigate risks where possible, communicate with others involved, get buy-in, and have a plan in place for possible outcomes, including a plan B.
Anonymous Answer
I would take the time to consider if the decision was appropriate for the business. One occasion in the last year, we had a client who was particularly challenging even before we had signed contracts. They had two members of staff running around trying to get a quote out. In the end, I weighed the pros and cons of working with this client in the future and decided that it would not be cost-effective. Therefore I presented my case to the CEO, and she agreed not to pursue the deal.

Rachelle's Feedback
A fantastic example of your ability to think critically and also to look at current behaviors as grounds for future action. It sounds as though you can make very wise decisions on the job.
Anonymous Answer
When I'm making an important decision, I think about how it will affect the company. And how others will interpret this decision outside my department. I would research previous topics and most likely try to get feedback before I published anything.

Rachelle's Feedback
You exercise good judgment and decision making skills. The fact that you would look to previous situations/topics is also very smart.
Anonymous Answer
When I make a decision, I think about the impact on the company and the group involved. I make sure that the decision I make provides benefits for the company. For example, when we implemented the Inventory template for accounting, I worked with them to ensure that the product replaced the manual process adequately.

Rachelle's Feedback
You give some excellent examples of your work in motion, which any interviewer will appreciate. Good methodology behind your decision making.
Anonymous Answer
It's important to think through the consequences and take emotion out of the equation to the extent possible. I recently had an upset employee tell me he was only going to perform a specific type of order. I took a breath and explained to him that I value his contribution, but if he were unwilling to accomplish the tasks assigned to him, I would regretfully terminate his employment. This truth sobered him up, and he explained he was frustrated and would, of course, accomplish the work assigned.

Rachelle's Feedback
Well, that would be enough to sober someone up! It's excellent that you are so forthright with your team while still being pragmatic about the situation.
Anonymous Answer
If an important decision needs to be done, I begin thinking about the consequences of my decisions, and how would this affect the company. Secondly, I don't go by only my own decisions, I always ask the opinion of others in my team and if they are happy to go with what I have in mind. And finally, I think about if our production capability could sustain the production once the final decision is executed to avoid stopping halfway through the process. Whenever I do team leading in my current workplace, I have to make sure that my goal is to make our clients highly satisfied by making sure the projects given to us are efficiently done. To make this possible, I've asked my line manager if I could request more staff members to perform the tasks with me before I pull them out of their designated areas without it being compromised. Since I already have enough people with me, I delegated the tasks to each of my members and began the project. We have successfully completed the jobs without any further delays and our clients were happy about it.

Stephanie's Feedback
You do a good job of walking your interviewer through the exact steps that you'd take when making an important decision at work, along with the hoped-for outcomes. This shows a high level of problem-solving skills!
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Written by Karrie Day
38 Questions & Answers • Boeing Co.

By Karrie

By Karrie