Tell me about a time when you successfully prioritized your tasks and completing a project on schedule.
Zillow frequently has many projects going at the same time, and they want assurances that your project management, time management and attention to detail meets their standards. Detail your approach to planning, adapting, staying organized, and adjusting your priorities while effectively multitasking.
"I am a naturally organized individual. Without proper organization, a project can get out of hand quite quickly. I was recently involved with a project that required 30 hours of my time in two weeks while I was also in the middle of several other projects. I was able to stay on track with visual reminders, mid-day check-ins, and a strong support team. I ended up working some overtime, but that is par for the course as a software engineer."
"When working as a freelancer, every project success was entirely my responsibility. Every new client project that I took on meant a great deal of organization on my part. To minimize time lost, I like to map out my plan of attack and then start the action sequence. I use a few tools like Monday and Evernote, to help me remain organized."
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 helping a start-up company and had 4 days to get it up and running.
salesforce- I entered 380 outfitters
created emails
Website- Go, Daddy
Quick Books
I finished all of it in the 4 days- 20 hrs a day
Whatever it takes to accomplish a project. I am driven!
Stephanie's Feedback
Wow! That is a lot to accomplish in four days. This s a great example and shows that you are a go-getter!
Anonymous Answer
Being an investment analyst requires organizational skills and the ability to prioritize at the moment. When I decided to convert my data-driven insight into a differentiated investment strategy, I took on the responsibility of two jobs: the day job and all that went into launching a new fund on schedule. Then the real work began: supporting the existing team as an analyst and managing the new find.
Cindy's Feedback
Very interesting answer. Round it out by discussing the ultimate result of your efforts. Were you successful? What challenges have you faced?
Anonymous Answer
Just a few weeks ago, I was put on a high-profile project to help pull data for a presentation my boss is putting together in order to push for some much-needed improvements to our internal processes. We only had a few days to complete this project ahead of my boss' presentation to upper management. I was also working on another side project for my boss to come up with a scoring system on the quality of tickets worked by our production support team. This was also a rather high-priority project for my boss because she wants to have something in place as soon as possible for the team. Luck would have it that I would also have a long-awaited doctor's appointment I can't miss on the same day as the deadline for the high-profile project. Undaunted, I prioritized the high-profile project after I complete my daily required tasks and worked on the second project whenever I could leading up to the deadline. Since my doctor's appointment is set for the afternoon of the deadline, I knew I won't have time to complete the project after the appointment. I also couldn't just stay late and finish the high-profile project ahead of schedule because the data I'm pulling has to be for each day so we can show the changes and time-lapse in data. On the day of the deadline, I communicated with my boss to come in early (5 am) so I can finish the project before my appointment. I was able to submit both projects on time before leaving for my appointment. A few days later, after I returned back to work, my boss called me to let me know that the presentation was a huge success. She also thanked me for all the effort I put into the project and gave me a recap of the presentation. She explained that my portion of the project actually saved the entire presentation because of the level of detail and the amount of data I was able to provide despite having less time than others. She was actually unable to use a lot of the data from another team member due to parts being incomplete and inaccurate. My boss shared that she basically use my data for the majority of the presentation which is humbling to know.
Marcie's Feedback
Excellent! This is an amazingly thorough example that clearly shows that you are able to effectively prioritize tasks and projects. It also shows that you are proactive, hardworking, and deadline-driven, in addition to being able to manage your time. Great job! The interviewer will undoubtedly be impressed by this response.
Anonymous Answer
When I was at Zillow, there was a problem that arose with the acquisitions team on valuing Townhomes and certain Zip codes in the Houston market. Because I'm native to Houston, I was familiar with the areas and suggested I could do a deep dive into the area and try to pull insights to boost accuracy. These were some of the biggest misses inaccuracies at the company because of the intricacies of these particular asset classes and areas so I needed to accomplish it quickly to have a new SOP put in place so that we wouldn't miss these targets anymore. I quickly did a deep dive and blocked out a part of my day every day to focus on this project and by setting myself goals each day of what to finish/cover, I was able to accomplish a detailed 60-page slide deck delving into every factor contributing to differences in price (flood zones, retail, thoroughfares, amenities, historic districts, school zones, etc.) which showed a projected accuracy improvement of around 4%.
Marcie's Feedback
Wow! You've done a great job of explaining how this project came about, what your role was in it, and what the end result was. Good job! You come across as proactive, eager to help, detail-oriented, and dedicated to achieving success. Perhaps just emphasize a bit more the timeline of the project and how you met the deadline. Great response!
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