How to Answer: Elaborate on your process for prioritizing work.
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Siemens Finance Excellence Program job interview.
32. Elaborate on your process for prioritizing work.
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
This will help them assess your approach to your work. Being singularly focused is a strength, so long as you're able to shift gears and exhibit flexibility when the need arises.
Written by Kevin Downey on March 4th, 2022
How to Answer
Talk about the tools and resources you used to plan your work and stay organized on the job. Exhibit strong time management skills. Exhibit your consideration of exploring what standards are used to prioritize work, and an ability to assess the timing, commercial importance, and positive externalities of other priorities. Additionally, convey your ability to follow the chain of command, and know when to tap into the resources on the job.
Written by Kevin Downey on March 4th, 2022
What You Need to Know
Multitasking is challenging for most people. How you track your progress and pick up where you left off on a task you had to shelf when more pressing priorities took precedent is important. As Siemens states on their site: "The future holds many questions. Focus on the essentials: a clear goal, the right tools, and the right people at your side." Staying productive and preventing rework is part one of this. Your ability to exhibit sound judgment and prioritize based on the greater good for the team is of equal relevance.
Written by Kevin Downey on March 4th, 2022
Answer Example
"The first greatest achievement of the human race was discovering and being able to control fire, the first innovation. So, I like to imagine that every goal is the spark of an idea set in motion. Every goal generates work, and some are closer and burn more brightly than others. So, I like to think that I am harnessing the power of fire, or ideas. Whichever burns the brightest and closest needs to be tended to first, then the next brightest. I don't like to say I am putting out fires, but rather harnessing the fire. So I look at task management through this lens. I look at everything that needs tending to, and evaluate which is burning brightest, and prioritize accordingly."
Written by Kevin Downey on March 4th, 2022