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Panera Bread Mock Interview

Question 39 of 40 for our Panera Bread Mock Interview

Panera Bread was updated by on September 19th, 2020. Learn more here.

Question 39 of 40

Walk me through a situation when you did not have enough time to complete your assigned tasks. How did you prioritize your tasks?

"(Situation) I currently work in a casual fast-food restaurant where there is a breakfast, lunch, and dinner rush. Since reopening after COVID, we have found ourselves short-staffed and unable to hire new employees due to budget cuts. (Task) I am the Assistant Manager, which means that I hold a wide range of task responsibilities while also needing to act as a positive and efficient influence on the rest of the team. (Action) For the first couple of weeks after reopening, I often ran out of time to complete my tasks before the next business rush. To better organize my time, I decided to implement the concept of time blocking. Time blocking is a popular time management method where I divide my day into 30-minute time blocks. I dedicate each block to accomplishing a specific task, and only that task. For instance, 30 minutes will focus on cleaning, then 30 minutes to food prep, 30 minutes for back stocking, and 30 minutes for staff development and training. I give the most urgent tasks the first blocks in the day and move down the list in terms of urgency. (Result) This approach helps me to get through my daily tasks, solving our issue of being short-staffed. I have also eliminated plenty of management overtime hours for the company."

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How to Answer: Walk me through a situation when you did not have enough time to complete your assigned tasks. How did you prioritize your tasks?

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Panera Bread job interview.

  • 39. Walk me through a situation when you did not have enough time to complete your assigned tasks. How did you prioritize your tasks?

      How to Answer

      Panera Bread is a fast-paced bakery and cafe-style establishment that serves endless customers every single day. The product is made fresh, and the standards are very high. The interviewer would like to know how you approach prioritizing tasks when there does not seem to be enough hour in a day! The better you can prioritize, the more productive you will be, making you an asset to Panera Bread.

      When asked to walk the interviewer through a specific situation, the hiring authority is looking for a particular story-based example. You can form your response using the STAR framework. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. This framework will allow you to develop an answer that is both impactful and well-organized.

      Written by Rachelle Enns on September 19th, 2020

      Answer Example

      "(Situation) I currently work in a casual fast-food restaurant where there is a breakfast, lunch, and dinner rush. Since reopening after COVID, we have found ourselves short-staffed and unable to hire new employees due to budget cuts. (Task) I am the Assistant Manager, which means that I hold a wide range of task responsibilities while also needing to act as a positive and efficient influence on the rest of the team. (Action) For the first couple of weeks after reopening, I often ran out of time to complete my tasks before the next business rush. To better organize my time, I decided to implement the concept of time blocking. Time blocking is a popular time management method where I divide my day into 30-minute time blocks. I dedicate each block to accomplishing a specific task, and only that task. For instance, 30 minutes will focus on cleaning, then 30 minutes to food prep, 30 minutes for back stocking, and 30 minutes for staff development and training. I give the most urgent tasks the first blocks in the day and move down the list in terms of urgency. (Result) This approach helps me to get through my daily tasks, solving our issue of being short-staffed. I have also eliminated plenty of management overtime hours for the company."

      Written by Rachelle Enns on September 19th, 2020

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