Creative Thinking Mock Interview

Master 15 Creative Thinking interview questions covering innovation, problem-solving, and originality.

Question 3 of 15

When have you taken an existing process and used your own creativity to make it better?

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Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"There are so many great business practices out there that there is not always a need to reinvent the wheel. I took a "touch base" practice we used to get a pulse of the team and customized it for a field-based corporate sales group to build better relationships with them. It has been effective and fun!"

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"There are so many great business practices out there that there is not always a need to reinvent the wheel. I took a "

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"I do not go into a position looking to make changes for the sake of change but, as an executive assistant, I do monitor processes and look for ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Recently I switched us to Google calendar so that we could more easily share our time and availability. It was a small tweak, but it changed the game for the executive and me."

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"We used to have a 'returns binder' where we had to track all customer returns by hand and then fax the sheet to the head office every Saturday. I felt it was an ancient process so I created Google form that we could email instead. The process was so helpful that my head office incorporated it into every store."

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"In sales, very few processes are evergreen so great sales professionals are often looking for ways to make a sale happen faster, smoother, or better. I decided to move my call tracking sheet to my phone and download it into Evernote so that I had it with me, even when I wasn't in the office. If I am stuck at a red light, I will try to handsfree call a client from the list. There is no waking opportunity that I want to miss!"

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"The math textbook provided to me to work out of when I started teaching in this district was incredibly outdated. The photos were from the 1980's and the language used were examples that kids these day's didn't understand. I mean, what is a typewriter, right?! I found an excellent online resource where I could use free worksheets and popular videos. The kids respond much better to this tool."

Rachelle Enns

Rachelle Enns is an interview coach and job search expert. She works with candidates to perform their best in employment, medical, and post-secondary admission interviews.

"In marketing, we are always changing processes. I recently changed our morning storyboarding sessions to be verbal downloads where we could talk about our weekends, what the highlights were, and why. I find that my team can be even more creative when they feel a connection with each other. They are less inhibited."

Ryan Brown

Ryan Brown created and launched MockQuestions in 2008.

Are you given the creative freedom to improve existing processes? Talk to the interviewer about your ability to take an existing process and develop it creatively. If you do not have a work-related example, think back to your time in school.

Ryan Brown

Ryan Brown created and launched MockQuestions in 2008.

"Last month my supervisor asked me to take our existing sales training package and improve it. My goal was to make the system more engaging for recruits. Once we implemented my ideas, we increased our new trainee retention rate by 16%. I was quite proud of what my creativity could do!"

Anonymous Answer

When I started managing the Marion clinic, there was a minimal count of inventory of braces and or off the shelf items. I did encourage the chief to authorize more items to be shelved to be dispensed as oppose to waiting at least four weeks for the item to arrive and be fitted following filling the consults.
After some resistance from the chief, I was able to convince him to stock up the shelves, and it worked out great.

Mary's Feedback

Great response! Consider adding how the creativity influenced results, like patient satisfaction. See below for edits.

When I began managing the Marion clinic, I noticed that patients were often required to wait long periods to receive their braces because of limited inventory count. I encouraged the chief to authorize an increase in items to be shelved, in order to reduce the wait time for patients to be fitted after their consults. His initial reluctance was eliminated after the stocked shelves and reduced wait times (i.e.: 4 weeks down to 3 days) resulted in improved patient satisfaction.

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Creative Thinking Mock Interview

When have you taken an existing process and used your own creativity to make it better?

15Creative Thinking Interview Questions & Answers

1.When have you had to think outside of the box to solve a problem?

2.What is the most creative or innovative project you have worked on?

3.When have you taken an existing process and used your own creativity to make it better?

4.Tell me about a time when you created a unique idea or solution, and it was rejected by your colleagues. How were you able to bounce back?

5.Outside of work, what type of creative activities do you like to pursue?

6.When have you created a new product or service?

7.Would you consider yourself a creative person?

8.What ideas have you created in the last year that benefited your current or former employer?

9.Tell me about a project you worked on where a conventional approach was not suitable.

10.How do you like to encourage ideas in others?

11.How often do you discuss work with your colleagues in order to think up new systems and styles of working?

12.When have you used an inventive method to stretch company resources beyond the normal level?

13.When did you come up with an innovative solution to a challenge your company, class, or organization was facing?

14.What does the word 'innovation' mean to you?

15.How can we inspire your creative side?