Pfizer Mock Interview
Practice 40 Pfizer interview questions covering regulatory knowledge, clinical insight, and patient-centered innovation.
Question 23 of 40
How do you determine priorities when you have multiple projects due?
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Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
This will evaluate whether you have a broad scope of the big picture or a more narrowed, focused view. They want to know if you have trouble breaking away from the one task you are working on, or if, when a more urgent situation arises, you can put your personal preferences aside for the greater good.
Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
"I will determine which project requires my attention by the number of hours we are behind and then the project size. I am comfortable delegating tasks when needed, but I know these times will require an additional commitment of hours from me. Never have I underdelivered on a deadline."
Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
Prioritizing is a skill that requires practice. There are many approaches you can take. Here are some suggestions:
1) Make a list. By thinking through and writing down each item that needs completion, you can see it on paper.
2) Mark what is urgent or essential. Take into account deadlines and meetings.
3) Order each task based on effort and estimated value. Considering due dates and how long it will take to do each item (also considering how much time you have).
In answering this question, show the interviewer that you have a system in place that helps you to think through what needs to happen, and when. The better you can prioritize, the more productive you will be, making you an asset to their company!
Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
When you feel torn between multiple projects or tasks, break down how you decide which one needs your attention the most. Describe the conflict, how you track your progress, and your ability to pick up where you left off. Assure the interviewer that you can be diligent in assessing your priorities.
Kevin Downey has an extensive background in business management, recruiting, branding and marketing. He's volunteered his career coaching services at job fairs, lecturing on interview techniques and crafting winning resumes and cover letters.
Multitasking means performing two high level cognitive tasks simultaneously. This is something the human brain is not capable of. However, the meaning extrapolated from multitasking is typically one's ability to switch back and forth from one task to another, your ability to prioritize their importance, and track your progress on each.
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Anonymous Answer
I always write them on paper and will write beside each project: urgency, how many hours each task will take to complete, deadline, available resources, and help. I will decide then which project will be the most important to start with.
Rachelle's Feedback
Fantastic! It seems you have a well-honed system for organizing and prioritizing your workload. Do you use any technology to keep yourself organized (Assuming Pfizer is likey highly technical and not a paper/pen type of company)?
Anonymous Answer
Because I always have many things to do, and in my current job, I have multiple projects, I have my system in place that helps me think through what needs to happen and when.
I have a list of my tasks and projects, and thus I don't forget anything.
I prioritize what is urgent or essential depending on the number of days we are behind or the project size, the customers' needs and the administrative decisions. After that, I order each task based on effort and estimated value.
Rachelle's Feedback
This answer is full of excellent detail - well done! The interviewer should be able to picture you hard at work. It seems you are very systematic and organized.
Anonymous Answer
When developing a final product, there is a multitude of small subsystem projects that come together all at once. To stay organized, I keep an overview list of my priorities and charts with details and progression. At XYZ Company, I was in charge of the department. By making sure my department was properly trained and stocked, I could delegate individual tasks as necessary to my staff and interns.
Marcie's Feedback
Awesome! You sound like you have a good process in place to prioritize projects. Consider mentioning that you take into account urgency (i.e., deadlines) and importance when prioritizing. Also, what department were you in charge of at XYZ Company? Can you give a specific example of a time at XYZ when you had to prioritize multiple projects? (You might also talk about assessing the value of each project, identifying what needs to be urgently done, considering how easy or hard each task is, and communicating with stakeholders and team members.)
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