What ideas have you created in the last year that benefited your current or former employer?
"I'm a creator by nature and constantly thinking up new ways to benefit the organization and improve processes. Most recently, I saw a gap in the new hire training and created a practice to teach new team members the information they need to be equipped and successful on the job. We continue to build upon it with training materials and incorporation of top talent into the program as mentors."
"I made a couple of recommendations on planning and organizational apps that we have recently incorporated. Most notable were the use of Google Docs and Trello."
"I suggested to my employer that we change our inventory system from Excel to a cloud-based program like AssetPanda. We are currently doing some recon to see what programs are most useful and affordable."
"This year I incorporated a morning fitness option for students who wanted to become more active. With kids getting so much screen time these days it is important to me that they take the time, every day, to move. Kids have the option of coming to school 20 minutes early every day. I lead them in a variety of stretches, and then we play fun games like dodgeball, soccer, and flag football."
"We had a large client who was not loving the marketing plan that our team presented. One weekend it just hit me that they needed a clean, simple brand strategy that spoke to their millennial audience. I storyboarded my ideas and presented them on Monday to my team. We collectively tweaked areas and presented it the following week. The client loved the new strategy."
"I recommended to my employer that we begin switching to electric company cars as part of our mandate to help the environment. Many of our clients are very involved in environmental sustainability, so it just made sense for us. Soon, we will be replacing all of our company trucks with the Nissan Leaf. It will help our brand but also eliminate the need to give gas cards to all of our territory sales reps."
The interviewer would like to know if your creative side has benefitted your employer in any way. Talk to the interviewer about a recent time when you have helped your employer through your creative thinking.
"This past year I have benefited my current employer through my creation of a new sales training program for our sales trainees. It simplified the process and made it much easier to teach our new staff."
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Anonymous Answer
One idea that was suggested and implemented was to standardize all the in-house and vendor-managed materials including hardware with visual controls. This would increase productivity by having the items identified at point-of-use. It would decrease costs by eliminating overproduction, and it would decrease the annual physical inventory time by 2-3 hours.
Rachelle's Feedback
Did you suggest this idea? If so, be sure to state that and take ownership of your innovation :)
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