Tell me about the last time you undertook a project that demanded a lot of initiative.
This interview question allows you to demonstrate your ability to be a self-starter. It will also offer insight into your leadership skills. Offering a detailed example will allow the interviewer to assess your concept of initiative and evaluate your strengths and what motivates you in your work.
"Recently, the corporate head office requested a major inventory count. At the time, our manager was away on holiday. No one knew where to start or who should take the lead. I took the initiative to lead my co-workers through the inventory project. I taught myself the tracking software in a short amount of time and created a schedule for the inventory counts so everyone knew what was expected of them. We completed the project three days ahead of schedule! It was a great success."
"I was tasked with changing our health benefits provider. Completing this project successfully was crucial to our employees and our bottom line. I made a lot of calls and RFQs and spent a lot of time hearing proposals to make the best choice before enrollment time."
Show the interviewer that you are a motivated individual by telling them about a specific time you took the lead. Include details of your project timeline, who you led, and what you had to teach yourself for the project to be successful. Complete your answer by telling the interview about the outcome.
The interviewer is asking about the last time you were tasked with a project of this nature. If there have been many examples, elude to this, and discuss your skills with confidence.
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
I was tasked with creating a dashboard/centralized hub for our team that consolidated all necessary work-related information in one place. That was the only guidance I was given, along with access to an internal tool. So I had to sit down and create an outline of the necessary information that was queue/job-specific, along with facility information, pay stub/ADP information, etc. I then reached out to our project manager for any changes he would like to make or information he would like to add to create a concise dashboard with all necessary information.
Kristine's Feedback
Nice response! You picked an excellent example of a project you handled well with little guidance. The employer will see that you are flexible and can work autonomously effectively. As this is essentially a story, be sure to mention the ending, which is the outcome of your efforts. Was the project a success? Were people happy with the results? I reworded slightly for ease of understanding.
I was tasked with creating a dashboard/centralized hub for our team that consolidated all necessary work-related information in one place. That was the only guidance I was given, along with access to an internal tool. My first action was to sit down and create an outline of the necessary information that was queue and job-specific, along with other items like facility information, and pay stub/ADP information. I then reached out to our project manager to ask him about any changes he would like to make or information he would like to add to create a concise dashboard with all necessary information. Along with the list of items I had already identified, I incorporated his feedback into the dashboard, and the result was"
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