At Medtronic, we want to hire bold thinkers who find innovative solutions and creative ideas to help solve problems. Tell us about a time during your career when you brought forward a bold idea. How was it received?
Innovation and discovery often stem from a person taking a risk that no one before them has taken before, and in the medical device industry, breakthroughs in technology require this type of bold thinking. Medtronic wants to hire people who can think outside the box to find creative solutions to problems, and your interviewer will be looking to hear that you are willing and able to bring bold, creative ideas to the table if hired for the position. In your answer, talk about the thought process that led to your idea, explain how you brought it forward, and then describe the results. Even if the idea fell flat on its face, you can point out that you aren't hesitant to bring fresh ideas and new ways of thinking.
"A couple of years ago, my management team had taken years of implementing new practices in our warehouse to run as efficiently as possible. Knowing that more labor and material savings were still possible, I researched and pursued some great automation processes in our warehouse that would put us on the cutting edge of warehousing technology and efficiency. I created an RFP for our senior leadership team that highlighted the costs, benefits, and potential cost savings of us purchasing robotic, self-guided transport vehicles for our operation. My plan involved not cutting any labor but rather reducing our picking staff and putting more bodies in order processing to increase our output. After a trial run of six months, the results of the implementation of the robotic vehicles was a huge success and a venture into totally new territory for my organization."
"A few years ago, I attended a national conference for manufacturing engineers. I love these events to network with others in my field and get new ideas. After attending a presentation on the continued growth of plastics in the medical industry, I brought several new ideas for product lines back to our R&D and leadership team. At the time, we were a pretty small operation looking to grow our business by tapping into new markets. Within months, we had two new lines of products made for insulin syringes, and these new products doubled our company's yearly sales very quickly."
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
S: In my current place of work, I noticed that a lot of time was spent on repetitive manual labor screening, collecting and filing time sheets
T: To save time and reduce paperwork, I suggested the replacement of handwritten time sheets with auto-generated call logs.
People resist change, and so naturally, I received push back from my colleagues and the administrator who argued it was standard procedure with all agencies she knew to use handwritten timesheets. I explained the benefits of the switch and how it could save time and money
A: I explained the benefits of the switch and how it could save time and money. We replaced them with call logs which were generated when an employee punches in and out
R: We were able to save cost and time spent on filing which could be redirected to other activities that improve client satisfaction while making work easier and more efficient for everyone. Save cost and time spent on manual labor like filing to make work easier for everyone.
Rachelle's Feedback
Perfect! Your answer is very organized and gives the hiring authority a lot of results to reflect on.
Anonymous Answer
In a previous role, I was in charge of budgeting for all travel and entertainment expenses within the team. To do this I had to reconcile expenses using the company's general ledger and our expense tracking tool. This became a long process so I created a spreadsheet with tabs for each direct report so when I approved their expense reports or a report from someone on their team each month I could add it to the spreadsheet and not have to go line by line on the general ledger. This spreadsheet also made it possible to forecast any travel for the year to ensure we would stay within budget. My boss was so impressed and loved that she was able to track how much was left in the budget at any given time.
Marcie's Feedback
Awesome! You've used the STAR method (situation, task, action, result) well here. It sounds like you came up with a smart way to improve a tedious process, which will undoubtedly impress the interviewer. Just remember to emphasize how innovative and creative you are since that's what the question highlights. Good job!
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