Tell us about a time when you were in danger of missing a deadline. What did you do?
As an Intern for KPMG, you will be under the pressure of deadlines often. The interviewers want to see how well you work under pressure, so it's essential to provide evidence of your ability to handle tight deadlines by giving an example from the past.
Behavioral-based interview questions that begin with 'Tell me about a time...' are best answered using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer. Choose a situation that is simple to explain. Focus your response on the actions you took to turn the situation around. Be sure to highlight the positive result that you were able to deliver in the end.
"Last semester, I had a paper due at midnight on a Thursday. The evening of the deadline, I sat down at my computer to complete the final 1/3 of the assignment. I figured I'd complete the paper by about 10 PM. Unfortunately, my computer would not turn on. Initially, panic set in. My first thought was to email my professor and tell them what happened and ask for an extension, but I felt that wasn't the right decision because I needed to own up to the situation I had caused through procrastination. Instead, I called my parents, told them the situation I had created, and asked if I could come to their home and use their computer. They agreed, and I completed the paper with only a few minutes to spare. When I look back on this situation, I still feel it was the right decision to avoid asking for an extension. A broken computer seems like a poor excuse the night before a major assignment is due. I could have been more proactive and had the assignment completed even days before. I feel I did an excellent job troubleshooting the issue I created, and most importantly, I learned a valuable lesson about meeting deadlines as far ahead of time as possible."
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