We encourage creativity and innovation at Uber. How would you bring these things to this role?
As you research Uber prior to your interview, it will become abundantly clear that the company is very focused on creative problem solving and bringing new innovations that help shape local economies and infrastructure. With this question, your interviewer wants to see that you can act like an owner and take big bold bets - just like their statements of belief requests of their staff. Prior to your interview, think of ways that being creative and innovative can help bring the position you are interviewing for to new levels and be ready to speak about how you can bring this creativity to the Uber team. If you have specific examples of times you brought innovation to the workplace, don't hesitate to talk about those.
"What really excites me about this position with Uber is the greater impact that it will ultimately have on countless numbers of people. In looking to bring together and harness the ideas of the Uber engineering, data, and operational teams to help provide the safest means of transportation on the road, thinking creatively will be essential. I am a person that isn't afraid to think outside of the traditional box in coming up with new and innovative solutions. In my years of product and project management, I have developed great processes for testing new methods before bringing them to market and would look forward to bringing this line of thinking to your team."
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
In all of my previous roles, I have always been constantly questioning how could I improve an existing process or system. I always look for ways to make a leaner process or a task less time-consuming. This includes sometimes going completely outside the box and trying something new from scratch. At my previous job, we use to program every project from scratch. I quickly realized that most projects have a similar base that is quite time-consuming to develop. I also realized that just by identifying a few parameters, a lot of code could be automated. I developed the tool using VBA. Next, I had to convince my boss to let me invest some time in showing it to my team and have them go through the adjustment curve. I finally did after demonstrating how much time I was saving. In the end, the whole team adopted the tool. This lets us allocate more time to developing the harder part of the projects which in turn reduced the amount of mistakes. This made deadlines easier to meet and reduced callbacks afterward which increases profitability.
Marcie's Feedback
Excellent! You've used the STAR method well here, and your example is a strong one. It shows that you think innovatively and are proactive in solving problems and optimizing processes. Consider tying in these qualities of yours to the specific role at Uber. How will these skills allow you to excel in that position?
