Focus on providing a work-related example when you had to be extra diligent to meet a deadline. The interviewer wants to hear that you are organized and manage your time well to complete your tasks. Being a diligent employee shows you are a responsible team player who puts the company's needs first.

"I am always diligent when it comes to deadlines. Recently, I had a strict deadline at my current job. The clinic was audited, and we had to produce seven years of back paperwork to the auditors. I was the office manager and was given two weeks to produce the information. I knew it was a job that would take months to complete, so I hired temp staff to help me get the affairs in order. Even though I had staff, it was taking longer than expected. I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning and canceled social events for two weeks, and was able to meet the auditor's deadline."

"I pride myself on being diligent when it comes to deadlines. I am organized and prioritize tasks to meet every deadline with ease. I recently had a situation where my supervisor asked me to prepare a company newsletter. She originally gave me three days to prepare the newsletter but moved the deadline to one day for an unspecified reason. I stayed up until four in the morning working on the newsletter to meet the deadline, which I did. My supervisor was very pleased with the work I did on such short notice."