At L'Oreal, we pride ourselves on being nimble and able to adapt to changes within a complex business environment. Tell me about a time when you have had to shift your priorities in response to sudden changes.
The interviewer has given you a clue - L'Oreal wants its employees to be nimble. Assure the interviewer that you can respond professionally when it comes to sudden changes. Use this opportunity to highlight your ability to multi-task and explain your techniques for staying organized, setting realistic expectations, and prioritizing your work. You can also focus on how you may have gotten other team members involved and delegated tasks to be more effective. Use this opportunity to showcase your communication skills!
"In my current role, our sales goals can change frequently based on marketplace behavior or trends, and sometimes this happens at the last minute. I have been able to adapt very well to these frequent, sudden changes, and to respond with creativity."
"This really speaks to the heart of what it means to be successful in the consumer marketplace. I believe in making sound plans, but also being prepared to abandon those plans based on last-minute changes in circumstances. For example, I may plan to spend an afternoon checking inventory, but if one of my top customers comes into the store with an urgent need, I'll let my plans go in order to help her."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
During my journey as a journalist, sudden changes occur very often, particularly from the interview process. Once I was leading a team for a new program about poverty alleviation. My team decided to report the construction progress of a big power station which would benefit locals by increasing their income. The power station was far away from our workplace, so I corrected everything, particularly the arrangement for meeting with interviewees before the day we did the interview and shooting. However, on that day, the interviewee who was the power station manager rejected our interview and shooting because of some political reasons. The failure to do this news report would decrease the merit pay of all members of my team.
I would hate for all this work to go to waste so I tried negotiating with the station manager by providing other solutions such as making his name anonymous. But he still rejected our suggestions. Then I asked if there was any other interesting story related to poverty alleviation even if it was not concerned with the power station. The manager then offered a story that the government officers helped a disabled farmer sell his agricultural products by doing some promotional advertising. This story inspired us, and we immediately interviewed the farmer after a quick checking of his availability. Although this story was not huge, it provided a different perspective of life that the government and poor households worked together to get rid of poverty. We made the story into a piece of video news that has been published on many media channels and the farmer's agricultural products also gain more attraction.
Chad's Feedback
Great answer! It sounds like you were able to respond professionally to the interview cancellation, and quickly identify a new story of interest in the region. This is a strong example to share, as it showcases your ability to think on your feet and be successful, despite unexpected changes to your plan. If possible, include any strategies you have created since this happened to ensure you are prepared to handle a similar situation in the future, such as having a backup source identified for each story idea, generating multiple angles for a story idea, creating a bank of story ideas, etc.
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