1
Q
• When you’re working with a large number of customers, it’s tricky to deliver excellent service to all of them. How do you prioritize different customer needs?
A
- I always try my best to go above and beyond for my customer’s needs.
- relate to prioritising different students during tuition
- Grouping – may not be that relevant to customers but is very important in teaching, principle could be used for grouping ppl with similar requests/needs and then prioritising who’s who
- prioritisation done in my head considering: time/difficult to achieve, urgency, etc.
STAR: grouping students of a big class in LSC (my first time had to teach 9 students at once), grouping and then teaching with others listening in – although LSC teaches us to cover 2 or 3 topics at most and make everyone else listen in, I believe in everyone getting what they need, so I covered everything by having some cover their own work/handout, some listen in to my presentation whilst still taking questions at any time, since everyone can benefit from the main presentation.
-Result: very good since students have achieved higher grades than they ever have since having been acquainted regularly with me, and still keeping up the large classes.
Stats for students: -started in September, 100% of students not in top set have moved up since Term 1 to Term 2
As far as topic exams go, 100% of students received higher results than expected
As far as the first mock exam goes (Winter/January), Almost 100% of students who were not receiving A/A* equivalents before now have received at least 3 in their subjects, both GCSE and A-Level.
2
Q
• Tell me about a time you handled a difficult customer. What did you do? How did you manage the customer? What was her/his reaction? What was the outcome?
A
- I always try my best to go above and beyond for my customer’s needs.
- relate to handling difficult students in tuition
- my philosophy is that you have to stay calm and collected, be professional, show respect and reasoning
- specific STAR: I was assigned the “difficult” student to teach, along with his siblings. His siblings were good students and good performers. I know myself, with 2 siblings that it is not ideal to be compared with yours so I related to him by being personal. Once we built a good relationship, he was willing to learn and cooperate with what I had prepared. I think that each client/customer/student is different and just because they may be difficult, does not mean that they are not a priority, they should be attended to specifically.
Result: he is now progressing with his studies and have moved up sets in class – I have used this approach with other less well-behaved students and, after the first approach, it has been working…
Stats for students: -started in September, 100% of students not in top set have moved up since Term 1 to Term 2
As far as topic exams go, 100% of students received higher results than expected
As far as the first mock exam goes (Winter/January), Almost 100% of students who were not receiving A/A* equivalents before now have received at least 3 in their subjects, both GCSE and A-Level.
3
Q
• Most of us at one time have felt frustrated or impatient when dealing with customers. Can you tell me about a time when you felt this way and how you dealt with it?
A
- I always try my best to go above and beyond for my customer’s needs.
- relate to students again
- I like to relate these types of customer obsession experiences with experiences as a tutor dealing with students.
- There are lots of times when I become naturally frustrated due to the nature of dealing with younger students, for example STAR: teaching a troublesome student (same as previous q)
Stats for students: -started in September, 100% of students not in top set have moved up since Term 1 to Term 2
As far as topic exams go, 100% of students received higher results than expected
As far as the first mock exam goes (Winter/January), Almost 100% of students who were not receiving A/A* equivalents before now have received at least 3 in their subjects, both GCSE and A-Level.
-Lesson: It is important to remember to put the customer first, as you are a representation of something larger.
4
Q
• When was a time you had to balance the needs of the customer with the needs of the business? How did you approach the situation? What were your actions? What was the end result?
A
- I always try my best to go above and beyond for my customer’s needs.
- First experience that comes to mind is one I’ve encountered as a part-time transcriber at a company.
- Through my experiences last year, I’ve specialised in Medical Transcription but at the time, a team from the company and I was working on a large legal client with a same-day turnover.
- However, I receive a special request asking for a Tagalog transcriber and of course, no one else was able to do this task
-After analysing the situation, it was clear that I am the only one able to tend to this request so I had to redirect some of the legal workload to the subcontractors.
However, before I did, I spent some of the cases working with the new team so that they became used to it.
-I balanced the needs of the 2 clients so that they would still get the turnovers they needed (not just dropping one soon as I see it)
-Result: All transcriptions were completed to our satisfactory standard and I even received personal commendations from the client for transcribing in their language!
5
Q
• Give me an example of a change you implemented in your current team or organization to meet the needs of your customers. What has been the result?
A
- I always try my best to go above and beyond for my customer’s needs.
- First experience that comes to mind is one I’ve encountered as a part-time transcriber at a company.
- Through my experiences last year, I’ve specialised in Medical Transcription but at the time, a team from the company and I was working on a large legal client with a same-day turnover.
- However, I receive a special request asking for a Tagalog transcriber and of course, no one else was able to do this task
-After analysing the situation, it was clear that I am the only one able to tend to this request so I had to redirect some of the legal workload to the subcontractors.
However, before I did, I spent some of the cases working with the new team so that they became used to it.
- I balanced the needs of the 2 clients so that they would still get the turnovers they needed (not just dropping one soon as I see it)
- Result: All transcriptions were completed to our satisfactory standard and I even received personal commendations from the client for transcribing in their language!
6
Q
• Tell me about a time a customer wanted one thing but you felt they needed something else. What was the situation and what was the action you took?
A
- relate to students wanting to study stuff for their mocks but I knew what they had to study/what they should do… (as well as what their parents wanted)
- I relate these customer obsession questions with my experiences as a tutor.
- When some students come to me knowing they have mock exams coming up and say they want to cover specific topics, I understand their viewpoint
- However, being in that position myself not too long ago, I knew that the best strategy would be for them to do a practice exam first, then highlight their weaknesses.
- Action: I obviously relate to them first and give credit to the method by saying that this was what I went through when I was a student and that I’m trying to go the extra effort to show this.
- Result: Worked out, getting higher short-term grades than expected, long-term these students have been moving up sets in class!
- This also relates to getting personal feedback from parents as a tutor, although I respect that parents may be concerned, I reassure them that my method works, and I do so with data!
7
Q
• When do you think it’s ok to push back or say no to an unreasonable customer request?
A
In all of my positions, e.g. WPD, customers are a priority, unless its an overtly unreasonable request, we should always go above and beyond expectations to meet them. However, an exception could be if they affect other customers’ priority/quality of their request.
- For example STAR, as a tutor, I was teaching a class on an important topic (radiation in physics) when 1 student makes the connection with radiation in chemistry. I praised him for seeing the connection but I told him that right now, I cannot teach that topic since everyone had an exam for physics the next day.
- Result: Of course, I ended up going over some of the connections later on just for students to see but I knew that they had to study Physics for their exam the next day -> getting higher grades than expected (most of them A/A*)
8
Q
• Tell me about a time you used customer feedback to change the way you worked. Why did you take the action you did? What was the outcome?
A
- relate to tutoring and parents’ feedback.
- I relate this to receiving feedback from parents of my students as a tutor.
- Of course I value customers’ feedback very much, but I do not let it dictate every single part of the way I teach. For example, when I received feedback from a student’s mum, I valued it very much. As the teacher, I know that I know best what to do in class, but I don’t know completely what happens at home.
- I was informed that the student has been having some mental health problems recently and the mum requested that she still wanted her child to go to extra classes, but not as much homework.
- Of course, I lessened the homework, but I also took it upon myself to go the extra mile and check up on the student personally during class.
-Result: The student became very open and now, more comfortable with being in class. Of course, academically, they are increasingly improving as all my students have.
9
Q
• Tell me about a time you had to compromise in order to satisfy a customer.
A
- I always try my best to go above and beyond for my customer’s needs.
- First experience that comes to mind is one I’ve encountered as a part-time transcriber at a company.
- Through my experiences last year, I’ve specialised in Medical Transcription but at the time, a team from the company and I was working on a large legal client with a same-day turnover.
- However, I receive a special request asking for a Tagalog transcriber and of course, no one else was able to do this task
-After analysing the situation, it was clear that I am the only one able to tend to this request so I had to redirect some of the legal workload to the subcontractors.
However, before I did, I spent some of the cases working with the new team so that they became used to it.
- I balanced the needs of the 2 clients so that they would still get the turnovers they needed (not just dropping one soon as I see it)
- Result: All transcriptions were completed to our satisfactory standard and I even received personal commendations from the client for transcribing in their language!
10
Q
• How do you get to an understanding of what the customer’s needs are?
A
- converse at the start, make it your aim to find out and make a plan – this is what I do for tutoring students when I first meet them
- STAR: meeting a student for the first time, he was very young and was only in the centre because his older sister was in y11, but he was very smart and decided to join the other classes so I taught him – even though I knew he was smart so I let him into some advanced topics for his age (Pythagoras and Trig), I changed my approach since I knew his urgency wasn’t a case, he was there for fun, not for studying.
- Result: I still see him from time to time and it looks like he has taken an approach to tackle higher level maths – I am proud of him since he reminds me of me when I was my age.
11
Q
• How do you wow your customers?
A
- By going above and beyond expectation, taking initiative, going the extra mile, insist on the highest standards and of course, deliver results (AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES)
- STAR example: During my last summer internship with WPD, our task (confidential) was to produce and provide propositions to our managers/notable people within the sustainability industry
- For each task that we received, I made sure to add all the necessary and additional comprehensive data, in a format that was easy to understand from someone else’s viewpoint, as well as exhaust all possible options of what the client could want.
- I think doing everything to the best of your ability (owing to time and resource constraints) is the best step to “wow” your customers.
- Result: We did very good, with our project receiving a report review and a presentation solely by the most notable people within the sustainability industry!
12
Q
• How do you develop client relationships?
A
- I relate this question to relationships with students as a tutor.
- At LSC, we are taught to spend the first 5 minutes of the 2 hour lesson not talking about work at all whatsoever, only about how the student is, introductions, etc.
- This is a tried and proven method and I have used this with every single student I’ve ever had, I think that it helps students get more comfortable and thus, more productive with work – I’ve tried this recently with a new class which contained a group of 3 who were all from the same school. This 5 minute method helped with associating each person with each other, despite not being friends beforehand.
- Result: This helped tremendously with grouping the students later in classes for similar topics. And of course, with helping students academically. (stats)
13
Q
- Provide an example of when you personally demonstrated ownership.
A
- Filisoc: , even though my responsibility is to organise events, which I have been doing a splendorous job at (affiliated with each London University, both in events and business partnerships!)
- consistently taking on responsibilities that are beyond mine: e.g. organising sister unis with Warwick (which led to charity schemes “Anawim Lay Mission for fundraising for natural disasters in PH” with Manchester, Portsmouth, Exeter, Bath, Bristol + others…) (this raised + KARMAGAWA >£30K, plus affiliated with the Philippine embassy by organising and meeting the Philippine-British officials myself!
14
Q
- Tell me about a time you went above and beyond.
A
- C++ project: all the extra solutions!
- During our end of first year project, we were building a circuit simulator LTspice based on C++.
- Even though the large-scale task only required one solution, during our brainstorming phase and even after, I continued developing 5 other alternative solutions (which we all included in the appendix) – solutions including and not-including small signal modelling and solution including and not-including Newton-Raphson iterations.
- I did this without compromising our main solution (which we perfected).
-The motive behind this was both for our own satisfaction, as well as in the hopes of receiving a higher grade.
RESULT: our working solutions was one of, if not the best, working solution in the whole cohorts, with our report on the whole project being the most comprehensive in the whole year! (which was undoubtedly due to the multiple solutions provided)
15
Q
- Tell me about a time when you took on something significant outside your area of responsibility. Why was it important? What was the outcome?
A
- Filisoc: , even though my responsibility is to organise events, which I have been doing a splendorous job at (affiliated with each London University, both in events and business partnerships!)
- I took it upon myself (when most of the committee were pre-occupied in studies) to organise a London university-wide meeting with students and the Philippine Embassy!
- Result: I ended up using this networking event to talk to the Ambassador and Ministress themselves to organise the process for ICL FiliSoc to be an official UK society!
16
Q
- Describe a project or idea (not necessarily your own) that was implemented primarily because of your efforts. What was your role? What was the outcome?
A
- Filisoc: charity scheme general for Typhoon Rai and charity scheme with Warwick
- Filisoc: , even though my responsibility is to organise events, which I have been doing a splendorous job at (affiliated with each London University, both in events and business partnerships!)
- I also took it upon myself to act as a FiliSoc on the most recent Philippine Typhoon Rai/Odette to sponsor and advertise a public fundraiser KARMAGAWA, which has raised over £30k!!!
- This is on top of e.g. organising sister unis with Warwick (which led to charity schemes “Anawim Lay Mission for fundraising for natural disasters in PH” with Manchester, Portsmouth, Exeter, Bath, Bristol + others…)
17
Q
- Give an example of when you saw a peer struggling and decided to step in and help. What was the situation and what actions did you take? What was the outcome?
A
- During our end-of-firstyear project (LTSpice based C++ Circuit Sim), we were grouped in 3.
- One of our teammates has had trouble throughout the whole year due to some mitigating circumstances which meant that, in terms of the content we should have known by then, he was still behind.
- It was in our best interest to help each other, but unfortunately, there was not enough time to sit idle revising old notes so I decided that we should split up the work such that my other partner and I developed most of the algorithm based on our strengths and would then feed the algorithm to our groupmate who would design the testing algorithms and evaluations for each section.
- This way, he would be able to contribute with only knowledge of Programming, not circuits, maths, etc.
- This also gave him some extra time to catch up in case we were asked questions or if he was able to spot something in the notes that we may have missed to implement.
-RESULT: This had a very satisfying result, with our simulator being fully functional and being one of, if not, the best solution in the cohort! (top 10% at least)
18
Q
• Tell me about a time when you invented something.
A
- C++ project: lin alg library before using Eigen
- During our end of last year project, where we built an ltspice based circuit sim in c++, I made a very comprehensive “mini-library” of objects and functions for linear algebra.
- This was of course, before we found out that we could actually use existing libraries xD
- Nevertheless, I was still proud of this feat because I didn’t consider it a setback since I clearly had enough all round knowledge to build a library which we checked to have full functionality and was almost comparable in speed and efficiency (almost 80% of) to beta-versions of libraries like Eigen, Armadillo and LAPACK.
19
Q
• What improvements have you made at your current company?
A
- use most recent company: WPD – our project was focussed on reducing carbon emissions.
- Although confidential, I can say that, even amongst our group, I contributed the most actual solutions/propositions – which I can’t get into detail their nature but I can say that the Result:
RESULT: We were able to hold a company-wide presentation to the most notable figures in the sustainability industry, who gave us feedback on our comprehensive report and took our suggestions to implement them in line with 2050 and Paris Agreement.
20
Q
• Tell me about a time when you gave a simple solution to a complex problem.
A
During an interview for another company (can’t say who), I had to do a coding test where the question was to implement an algorithm to convert hexadecimal to decimal
.
-Although I implemented the solution in C++, I said that the answer was simply a pre-existing function in the library hex_to_dec()
- Of course, I still talked about the actual implementation (my own and the library’s)
- Result: I received an offer from that company last year, but decided to choose WPD…
21
Q
• Tell me about a time you had to think outside the box (think creatively) to close a sale or sell your product.
A
- Since I have not worked on sales, I can link this question to thinking outside the box to have my idea heard/considered…
- I think that DATA is the most important part of any argument.
- During my internship last summer at WPD, our long-term, large-scale project was based on reducing business carbon emissions.
- At the start, of course, was the brainstorming phase for ideas. Although some are confidential since they were actually implemented, each time I presented a successful idea to my group first, I made a “mini-presentation” first. -> These ideas were definitely outside the box, e.g. using resources that are not meant to be but finding different uses for them in order to save money… (confidential)
- > For each one, I made sure to present all relevant and possible data, e.g. how much we could save, how much we could use, and how much we would reduce emissions by per year…
- Result: WPD RESULT…. Blah blah blah
22
Q
• What is the most innovative project you’ve worked on?
A
- Definitely summer internship with WPD since our project was to think of ways to reduce carbon emissions. However, since that is confidential and I can’t expand much, I would say the end of first-year project.
- C++ project: -had to use concepts from everything we’ve learnt (Maths Linear Algebra + OOP + Circuits…)
- More specifically, we implemented a solution that would use a combination of the Newton-Raphson iteration of multiplication of matrices representing circuit nodes to collectively find voltages for both linear and non-linear circuits. We implemented this in C++ using OOP, but I also implemented 5 other alternative solutions.
- Result: blah blah blah successful project…10% etc.
23
Q
“Tell me about a time you made a mistake”
A
-> in charge of making the functions -> unnecessary functions when could OOP -> wasted time and the code would have been different to fix -> …
24
Q
“Tell me about a time you disagreed with a colleague. What is the process you used to work it out?”
A
-> either Kit’s simulations or Rania’s decisions…
25
“Give me an example of making an important decision in the absence of good data. What was the situation and how did you arrive at your decision? Did the decision turn out to be the correct one?”
- > Data doesn’t have to be specific -> used a lot of electricity bills data for WPD relocation strategy. -> Therefore, the solution is to try and find other data which may be relevant, even though it is not an indication of how well the solution was to perform, it was an indication of whether possible or not and whether good or bad, thus, it ended up on our presentation
- > However, other factors come into play e.g. ethical reasons, which would make it a lower priority than the rest of our solutions….
26
• Describe a situation where you thought you were right, but your peers or supervisor didn’t agree with you. How did you convince them you were right? How did you react? What was the outcome?
- highlight importance of: if you were wrong at the end, fail quickly and commit! (have backbone principle)
- WPD relocation strat!
27
• Tell me about a time that you strongly disagreed with your manager on something you deemed to be very important to the business. What was it about and how did you handle it?
- LSC: anything less than 3 students, they’re losing money
- however, anything more than 4 and the compatibility of students doesn’t match and everyone only receives about 75% of what they’re paying for
- I thought it was unfair and said they should balance it out week by week and take payments beforehand to avoid this concern and just base classes on people wanting to do similar topics…
28
• Tell me about a time where someone openly challenged you. How did you handle this feedback?
-elections for this year’s FiliSoc committee and me running for secretary/treasurer, challenged by Luke about my social skills and potential being wasted -> ended up being the social sec… (picked by committee!) -> still do a lot anyway as RESULT
29
• Give me an example of when you took an unpopular stance in a meeting with peers and your leader and you were the outlier. What was it, why did you feel strongly about it, and what did you do?
- WPD group meeting with Woodward, he said to focus on the insetting strategies (since offsetting was more common) but I thought that there were more innovative ideas with working with existing resources (relocation strat)…
- > I let him know specifically my ideas, in which he commended me and even helped me with the directions I can take for acquiring data -> COMMUNICATION IS KEY!
30
• When do you decide to go along with the group decision even if you disagree? Give me an example of a time you chose to acquiesce to the group even when you disagreed. Would you make the same decision now?
-One day before WPD presentation, discussing how to actually speak and stuff, I thought we should take turns presenting, but everyone else was more used to having a presenter and asking the presenter to turn page (waste of time), since this was least of our worries, I decided to just let them do it their way. -> I would plan ahead and practice…
31
• Tell me about a decision for which data and analysis weren’t enough to provide the right course and you had to rely on your judgment and instincts. Give me two to three examples.
- Filisoc: valentines event with either London RGs or London big FSs (data showed bigger turnout for other, but we already had good relationships with RGs)
- WPD relocation strat: data analysis was not exactly accurate for how much we could save in comparison to Remote Working, but ethical considerations pointed to RW being better…
32
• Tell me about a time you made a difficult decision and how you knew it was the right solution (how you evaluated the options, if you received input, what data you reviewed, etc.)
-WPD relocation strat: data analysis was not exactly accurate for how much we could save in comparison to Remote Working, but ethical considerations pointed to RW being better…
33
• Give me an example of when you had to make an important decision in the absence of good data because there just wasn’t any. What was the situation and how did you arrive at your decision? Did the decision turn out to be the correct one? Why or why not?
First, emphasise how important Data is… but it’s not the only thing… (
34
• Tell me about a time you had to fix something but had no data or direction.
- relates to Coding and Debugging!
- luckily, c++ can debug for you but only for specific situations, it can’t tell you a memory leak though and we did not have the software for that…
-for our project, we separate the code into places with potential memory leaks first
Then the higher chances
Narrowing it down, this is the solution when no direction, YOU MAKE THE DATA/DIRECTION
Result…blah lbah
35
• Tell me about a time when you were faced with a challenge where the best way forward or strategy to adopt was not “clear cut” (i.e., there were a number of possible solutions). How did you decide the best way forward?
- DofE expedition, getting around the seven sisters cliffs
- either go down the beach, wait for low tide, walk and then back up or walk through the top…
- even with voting we were split 3:3 so I decided that we should walk the cliffs since it was actually safer to do so since going down was dangerous due to no clear path…
- lesson: evaluate every problem rationally and always include a unanimous vote chance, take leadership or fail quickly.
- result: dofe blah blah blah…
36
• How do you stay inspired, acquire new knowledge, or innovate in your work?
- Before coming to uni, I read Petrsoki’s book -> process of improvement -> Moore’s Law <= inspiration and innovation
- I think it’s also important to stay updated (financial times, new scientist and the economist) as well as learning new things, both in STEM and out (Horizons and Virtual Programmes for Fintech and Data Analysis)
37
• How do you keep up with best practices?
- EESoc does a great deal of advertising. I like to stay updated to what companies are in the top play (Amazon of course), as well as what’s happening in the world using the magazines
- Of course, the best possible way is to actually be in the industry, which I’ve been doing for summer internships and spring experiences (OpenText)
38
• How do you keep up with industry trends and what your competitors are doing?
- EESoc does a great deal of advertising. I like to stay updated to what companies are in the top play (Amazon of course), as well as what’s happening in the world using the magazines
- Of course, the best possible way is to actually be in the industry, which I’ve been doing for summer internships and spring experiences (OpenText)
39
• What have you learned that has helped you in your job?
-before coming to uni 2 books: McKay book helped me implement some things in WPD project, Petroski book and Moore’s Law helped me stay innovative
40
• What is the coolest thing you’ve learned on your own that has helped you better perform your job?
-McKay’s principle of microsustainability and WPD application…
41
• Tell me about a time you learned something new from your peer or your direct report at work.
Kit and Nabeel’s previous experience on EVs and LCTs, was relevant on our current WPD project then…
42
• Tell me about a time when you solved a problem through just superior knowledge or observation.
-Linearising non-linear spice circuits -> Newton-Raphson iteration (surprisingly, only I knew the method) -> circuit sim project c++
43
• Tell me about a time when you influenced a change by only asking questions.
- during wpd brainstorming phase, I asked the question “Would employees actually be willing to do that”.
- > After, considered the ethical issues of each idea and had to cut some…
44
• What is a recent book you’ve read and what did you learn from it?
-My favourite book: Petroski….
45
• Tell me about a project that required you to learn something new.
-C++ project and MATLAB…
46
• Tell me about a time you took on work outside of your comfort area and found it rewarding.
-Filisoc, despite not being treasurer, making business partners with Maginhawa group, and Philippine Embassy!!!
47
• Tell me about a time you found you needed a deeper level of subject matter expertise to do your job well.
-C++ project: OOP in C++ specifically to linear algebra and node voltages in a circuit, as well as using MATLAB for presenting data…
48
• Tell me about a time you didn’t know what to do next or how to solve a challenging problem?
- C++ project: non-linear circuits
| - > clear your head, turn to peers and work together back in notes…
49
• Give me an example of a time when you challenged the notion that that something had to be done a certain way because it had always been done that way.
-Filisoc committee (5 positions) -> since fairly new, I suggest a 1st year rep, in the works…
50
• What are you working on to improve your overall effectiveness at work?
Work-life balance: “not taking home work”, hard to get over since school and homework, but I think the idea is that you finish everything BEFORE work ends…
51
• When we enter a new role or problem space, it is common to come in and see things with a fresh perspective. Tell me about a time when you realized that you might have lost that fresh perspective. What ended up happening?
- Halfway through C++ project: got too lost in the code and forgot that we are working with circuits
- > changed all the sources to adc related stuff and eventually got out of a loop and found a simpler way (thev and Norton), although eventually using n-r iteration.
52
• What is your management style?
- to clients: I use the LSC 5 min rule, helps relationships and build productivity
- to teams and projects: Gantt chart, after what we learnt from C++ (dealing with time pressure) and applying what I learnt to WPD project (over exceeding)
53
• How do you approach managing your reports?
- to clients: I use the LSC 5 min rule, helps relationships and build productivity
- to teams and projects: Gantt chart, after what we learnt from C++ (dealing with time pressure) and applying what I learnt to WPD project (over exceeding)
54
• What is your experience with hiring people?
-Choosing the next FiliSoc committee and LSC inputs for observing new teachers: criteria includes competence and diversity (points above)!
55
• How do you ensure you hire the best people?
- The points above: Competence, Diversity and Continuous Mentoring!
- STAR: Choosing the next FiliSoc Committee or LSC new teachers
56
• How do you help your employees grow?
- The points above: Competence, Diversity and Continuous Mentoring!
- STAR: Choosing the next FiliSoc Committee or LSC new teachers
57
• Tell me how you help your team members develop their careers. Can you give me two to three examples of a specific person in whom you invested and how you helped them develop their careers, including one who wasn’t being successful but in whom you saw potential and chose to invest?
- The points above: Competence, Diversity and Continuous Mentoring!
- STAR: Choosing LSC new teachers: 2 people who had potential but weren’t confident – one was not confident but smart (Anthony), he was placed as a secretary for a month. Afterwards, he was very comfortable with the interactive environment and moved to be one of the most effective teachers.
- The other was not so smart but confident in speaking, as long as he knew the content beforehand and how to use the resources, I helped him grow into the other most effective teacher than me!
58
• Give me an example of a time you provided feedback to develop and leverage the strengths of someone on your team. Were you able to positively impact that person’s performance? What were your most effective methods?
-my feedback to Kit: spending less time on simulations and using his previous and senior knowledge on the company…
59
• How do you manage your top performers differently?
- don’t treat them differently to bottom performers, carry on mentoring them, not let them rot.
- the only different thing should be that everyone is unique and develops in their own way, but never pay less attention to someone just because they are an overperformer.
60
• How have you been successful at empowering either a person or a group to accomplish a task.
- LSC 5 min rule =>
- C++: at the start, it was overwhelming the amount of info we haven’t figure out yet.
- Although it was only a matter of time until we figured it out, I improved morale by suggesting a Gantt chart, this gave us a clear and considerable amount of time to not feel pressure. Away from the pressure, it was significantly easier to stay calm and find the right sources (e.g. QUCS)…
- result…
61
• Tell me about a time when you were able to remove a serious roadblock preventing your team from making progress.
- C++: at the start, it was overwhelming the amount of info we haven’t figure out yet.
- Although it was only a matter of time until we figured it out, I improved morale by suggesting a Gantt chart, this gave us a clear and considerable amount of time to not feel pressure (the serious roadblock given our first time working together). Away from the pressure, it was significantly easier to stay calm and find the right sources (e.g. QUCS)…
- result…
62
• Tell me about a time when you’ve been unsatisfied with the status quo. What did you do to change it? Were you successful?
- number of FS events quota (2 per term) -> increased to 9 just term 1!!!
- > link to Petroski
63
• Tell me about a time you wouldn’t compromise on achieving a great outcome when others felt something was already good enough. What was the situation?
- C++ project: our undeveloped versions, I developed all of them when there was free time so that all our efforts were recorded.
- > link to Petroski
64
• What measures have you personally put in place to ensure performance improvement targets and standards are achieved?
- When dealing with myself, I like competition. I use it to challenge myself among my peers when it comes to uni work.
- Outside of uni work, although u can get away with it at uni, you have to do ur best at WPD…
- > link to Petroski
65
• Describe the most significant, continuous improvement project that you’ve led. What was the catalyst for this change and how did you go about it?
I would definitely say FiliSoc as the social sec; going from online to in-person, exceeding the status quo, building relationships with other unis, professional links, valentines and summer social collab…, embassy connection.
-> link to Petroski
66
• Give me an example of a goal you’ve had where you wish you had done better. What was the goal and how could you have improved on it?
C++ project: although I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved, including all of our alternate designs, I wish we didn’t spend as much time in the beginning wandering around and had a stronger work ethic at the very start…
-> link to Petroski
67
• Tell me about a time when you worked to improve the quality of a product / service / solution that was already getting good customer feedback? Why did you think it needed more improvement?
- > link to Petroski
- WPD current plans to Net Zero by 2050. Although plans are set, I was inspired when I heard notable people (old) saying that they’d want to see this in their lifetime, and I worked to improve those plans to (current WPD target: find out) and possibly to (something even less) using our business propositions (which are confidential but I can give you the number of strats and their effectiveness quantised)
68
Give an example where you refused to compromise your standards around quality/customer service, etc. Why did you feel so strongly about the situation? What were the consequences? The result?
- > link to Petroski
- WPD current plans to Net Zero by 2050. Although plans are set, I was inspired when I heard notable people (old) saying that they’d want to see this in their lifetime, and I worked to improve those plans to (current WPD target: find out) and possibly to (something even less) using our business propositions (which are confidential but I can give you the number of strats and their effectiveness quantised)
69
Tell me about a time you took a calculated risk in order to achieve a professional goal. What were the tradeoffs? What was the outcome?
-WPD relocation strat and the ethical considerations vs the effectiveness
70
• Tell me about a time you took a big risk and it failed. What did you learn? What would you do differently?
-Using ICL interview as practice for Cambridge. Although I was very prepared for both, I didn’t anticipate enough the ICL being harder than Cambridge so I was thrown off balance with the preparation in between…
71
• Tell me about a time you went way beyond the scope of the project and delivered.
-C++ project: either implementing non-linear circuits using n-r iteration or including multiple models or the testing of up to 100 RLC branches (CPU usage below 16%)
72
• Tell me about your proudest professional achievement.
-Arkwright and PA Eng scholarships -> the hardship -> reason of confidence -> linking to applying to Amazon now…
73
• Give me an example of a radical approach to a problem you proposed. What was the problem and why did you feel it required a completely different way of thinking about it? Was your approach successful?
-WPD insetting vs offsetting: everyone turned to offsetting since it was common in order to reduce co2 emissions, but I thought that insetting was more unique and that everyone’s mind is unique
=> every1 would find offsetting strats for all companies, but not all can inset. I provided 2 ways… (confidential but give stats)
74
• How do you drive adoption for your vision/ideas? How do you know how well your idea or vision has been adopted by other teams or partners? Give a specific example highlighting one of your ideas.
- > link to Petroski
- C++ project: n-r iteration method and guessing efficiently (starting point of 0.7 rand), I knew that my partners accepted my idea since they listened to me with an open mind
- > I think that in engineering, we should always keep an open minded, given how much innovation there is in the nature of our work…
75
• Tell me about time you were working on an initiative or goal and saw an opportunity to do something much bigger than the initial focus.
-Filisoc: suggested to work with LSE since we have members who are friends, expanded to ALL LONDON UNIS
=> result: all of our partnerships (both RG and BigFS group) and business partnerships, as well as registering with the Embassy.
76
• Tell me about a time you looked at a key process that was working well and questioned whether it was still the right one. What assumptions were you questioning and why? Did you end up making a change to the process?
- C++ : for n-r iterations of LTSpice circuits, it would run the WHOLE code (including lin alg calculations) through a for loop determined by step frequency.
- > Although this works and we tried it out first to get the algorithm right, I knew that there were parts of the code that were being repeated and we could minimise the amount of code that was being looped.
-> e.g. in the calculation [A] = [G B
C D]
Where [A].[x] = [z] and [z] = [I,v], submatrices B,C and D were determined by the number of nodes and voltage/current sources, which would not change throughout the loops.
This saved efficiency by about -> (thousands of loops)
77
• Tell me about a time you took a risk. What kind of risk was it?
- > Filisoc valentines social: who should we partner up with: RGs or BigFSs.
- > on one hand, RGs have higher rep, BigFSs have more…
- > I decided to go with RGs since our publicity would be higher and links to official companies would be stronger. Though I am seeing the payback of our risk as they are having a larger event (more budget)
78
• Give me an example of a calculated risk that you have taken where speed was critical. What was the situation and how did you handle it? What steps did you take to mitigate the risk? What was the outcome?
- > Can most definitely relate these to exams, but I’d like to link it to challenge exams I had during sixth form (UKMT and CamChemChall and Uni entrance exams), where you can’t finish the whole paper (they say don’t be a perfectionist!)
- > either pick the low hanging fruit if its point based or choose the most outstanding question if its competency (uniqueness) based.
- > result….
79
• Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information. How did you make it and what was the outcome?
-WPD relocation strat: data was not exactly the right format (e.g. bills instead of energy charts), but decided due to ethical considerations whether to include it or not… (or how far to include it up)
80
• Describe a time you had to make an important decision on the spot to close a sale.
- Relate to tutoring:
- on the spot decision making when we have issues since I’m the closest there is to the manager.
- timetabling issues: the cost of having less than 4 students but also balancing students’ education…
81
• Describe a situation where you made an important business decision without consulting your manager. What was the situation and how did it turn out?
-same as above, sometimes manager isn’t available – he is partially impaired and is away a lot, especially for online ones where I handle most of the managing work.
82
• Tell me about a time when you had to analyze facts quickly, define key issues, and respond immediately to a situation. What was the outcome?
- Relate to tutoring:
- on the spot decision making when we have issues since I’m the closest there is to the manager.
- timetabling issues: the cost of having less than 4 students but also balancing students’ education…
83
• Tell me about a time when you have worked against tight deadlines and didn't have the time to consider all options before making a decision. How much time did you have? What approach did you take?
-C++ project: all the options were all our alternate designs so we used the one which was developed the most already since that would have naturally been the most effective design. (include specifics later )
84
• Give an example of when you had to make an important decision and had to decide between moving forward or gathering more information. What did you do? What information is necessary for you to have before acting?
-WPD relocation strat: rather than getting more stale info (that was only translatable at best), just used ethical considerations to consider its place among the other insetting strategies.
85
• Describe a time when you saw some problem and took the initiative to correct it rather than waiting for someone else to do it.
-LSC Timetabling issues and cost efficiency of 4 students:
One time we were stuck with everyone and I managed a plan that would spare us one tutor to cover online. (make up this plan and memorise)
-> when Zubair was away…
86
• Tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone who wasn’t very responsive. What did you do?
-WPD Kit’s simulations data: need crucial data from someone who wasn’t replying then replied last minute to give unusable data. First of all we were persistent. And we had a backup plan, to use translatable data, as well as other strategies in the case that we need to scrap the simulations. Persistence requires having backup sources too (e.g. from his team or someone who can contact his team/supervisor).
87
• Tell me about a time where you thought of a new way to save money for the company.
-WPD both insetting strats: remote working and relocation
88
• Describe a time when you had to manage a budget (or manage time/money/resources/etc.). Were you able to get more out of less?
-relate to uni Blackbullion and FiliSoc no money (able to get more or less through many resources…)
89
• Here at Amazon we are frugal – how will you manage projects with no budget and no resources?
- WPD: relocation strat: using existing resources for second purpose OR
- Filisoc: managing a lot with little
90
• Tell me about a time when you had to work with limited time or resources.
-Personal uni life budgeting blackbullion and Supports
+Filisoc no money…
91
• Tell me about a time you had to earn trust quickly.
- DofE Silver, working with ppl idk compared to previous year
- or NCS
92
• Building trust can be difficult to achieve at times. Tell me about how you’ve effectively built trusting working relationships with others on your team.
- in a workplace, WPD project: all different background but got together after discussing non-work related stuff, more in connection than you think! E.g. the euros at the time, Cardiff, etc.
- non-workplace: DofE or NCS
93
• Describe a time when you significantly contributed to improving morale and productivity on your team. What were the underlying problems and their causes? How did you prevent them from negatively impacting the team in the future?
- C++: at the start, it was overwhelming the amount of info we haven’t figure out yet.
- Although it was only a matter of time until we figured it out, I improved morale by suggesting a Gantt chart, this gave us a clear and considerable amount of time to not feel pressure. Away from the pressure, it was significantly easier to stay calm and find the right sources (e.g. QUCS)…
- result…
94
• Give an example of a time where you were not able to meet a commitment to a team member. What was the commitment and what prevented you from meeting it? What was the outcome and what did you learn from it?
- C++ project: Our initial Gantt chart stated that we should start the report writing a week before submission, however, due to debugging taking longer than usual, we had a very tight schedule of 3 days (even while our other team member was continuing the exhaustive testing).
- Although we still managed to complete everything to a very successful result, I learnt that sometimes planning ahead isn’t enough and the importance of distributing the work evenly and sticking to the original schedule
- > applied this to WPD project where we managed to stick to everything (mostly due to having 2 months to work on it and being comfortable) -> be less flexible on the deadlines and be tighter…
95
• Describe a time when you needed the cooperation of a peer or peers who were resistant to what you were trying to do. What did you do? What was the outcome?
- WPD project: ppl were against my insetting ideas, but I showed them the data and also some other support (from Woodward)
- > This convinced them..-> successful result…
96
• Tell me about a piece of direct feedback you recently gave to a colleague. How did he or she respond?
- WPD project: I told Kit that (since he is a returning intern), he should be using his previous experiences to the team’s advantage next time and that he should be setting the example.
- > I said this as constructive criticism and in a professional manner. He appreciated it and I hope, as he will be taking the graduate interview, he keeps this in mind
97
• How do you like to receive feedback from coworkers or managers?
- Definitely constructive criticism! I appreciate feedback as we should always be improving -> Petroski book
- Example STAR: LSC told me to keep my homework assignments more compatible with our filing system so that parents could be more comfortable, even though I am doing a good job
<= I know what I’m doing and they respected that and gave me pointers for improvement.
98
• Tell me about a time when someone (peer, teammate, supervisor) criticized you about a piece of work/analysis that you delivered. How did you react? What was the outcome?
-WPD project: at first, my relocation strat was kind of bizarre, so it was looked at weird. But I used all the data I could find, including transferrable/translatable data (+Woodward’s/others’ viewpoints or references)
99
• Tell me about a time when you had to tell someone a harsh truth.
-Telling students at LSC that they are underperforming. Personally, I already knew these students and know how hard it has been, but I believed that telling them this would be even more motivation for them…
100
• Tell me about a time you had to communicate a big change in direction for which you anticipated people would have a lot of concerns. How did you handle questions and/or resistance? Were you able to get people comfortable with the change?
• -WPD project: at first, my relocation strat was kind of bizarre, so it was looked at weird. But I used all the data I could find, including transferrable/translatable data (+Woodward’s/others’ viewpoints or references)
101
• How do you convince someone who is resistant to what you’re trying to do?
• -WPD project: at first, my relocation strat was kind of bizarre, so it was looked at weird. But I used all the data I could find, including transferrable/translatable data (+Woodward’s/others’ viewpoints or references)
IMPORTANT DATA!!!! REFERENCES AND OTHERS WHO AGREE COULD HELP OUT WITH PROVIDING EVEN MORE DATA!!
102
• Give me an example of when you used data to make a decision/solve a problem.
-all of my WPD insetting strategies: provide data for each.
103
• Tell me a time you gave insights beyond the data.
-WPD relocation strat: used translatable data, e.g. cost of bills for an X-number house
104
• Have you ever leveraged data to develop strategy?
• -WPD relocation strat: translatable data was not enough and used ethical considerations.
105
• Tell me about a time you were trying to understand a problem on your team and you had to go down several layers to figure it out. Who did you talk with and what info proved most valuable? How did you use that info to help solve the problem?
-DECA2 MU0-ARM lab: we combined blocks, I was the ALU, which was tested but the whole CPU wasn’t working.
I talked to the others and asked them to provide their testings, which were working.
-Eventually, I actually figured out that the simulation software we were using was BUGGING!
106
• Tell me about a problem you had to solve that required in-depth thought and analysis. How did you know you were focusing on the right things?
-DECA2 MU0-ARM lab: we combined blocks, I was the ALU, which was tested but the whole CPU wasn’t working.
I talked to the others and asked them to provide their testings, which were working.
-Eventually, I actually figured out that the simulation software we were using was BUGGING!
107
• Walk me through a big problem in your organization that you helped to solve. How did you become aware of it? What info did you gather, what was missing, and how did you fill the gaps? Did you do a post mortem analysis and what did you learn?
- WPD internship: problem was net zero by 2050.
- > paris agreement and mckay books -> insetting and offsetting strats -> gathered info from brainstorming phase and other seniors -> developed ideas with data (first and second hand research)
- > could not do a post mortem since I am not currently working with them and this is confidential but I would have liked to see the implications of our ideas and which were implemented (since we all presented them to the notable people bla h lbah lbh..)
108
• Can you tell me about a specific metric you’ve used to identify a need for change in your department? Did you create the metric or was it readily available? How did this and other info influence the change?
- LSC: Study of number of students and satisfaction/amount of lesson coverage per student (surveyed and inspected).
- > this caused concern and I suggested changing the setups without exceeding the 4 student rule (cost)
109
• Describe a situation where other members of your team didn’t agree with your ideas. What did you do?
- Filisoc, I chose to partner up with London RGs rather than the others
- > lower turnout for events but now we have a partnership with the embassy, I used other socs for reference.
110
• Tell me about a situation where you had a conflict with someone on your team. What was it about? What did you do? How did they react? What was the outcome?
- Filisoc, I chose to partner up with London RGs rather than the others
- > lower turnout for events but now we have a partnership with the embassy, I used other socs for reference.
111
• Tell me about a time when you did not accept the status quo.
-Filisoc: same example somewhere above, but status quo of 2 events per term -> turned it into x…
112
• Tell me about an unpopular decision of yours.
- Applying McKay;s book how microsustainability exists but not macro.
- > learning in industry, companies do care but they also worry about money
- > I think we need another amendment to the Paris Agreement such that companies should focus on working together rather than just “promising” to each do better (actually research the Paris Agreement first though…)
113
• Tell me about a time when you had to step up and disagree with a team member’s approach.
-WPD project: Kit’s simulations
| => were not relevant but I understood that he wanted to do it because that was his expertise…
114
• If your direct manager was instructing you to do something you disagreed with, how would you handle it?
-most important thing is data! Respect but also use data!
Example: Rania telling me that we need 2 events per term but I wanted as much as I could handle as social sec because it was our first year out of incubation…
-Data: other socs (research this!) dramatically increasing events and graph of events vs number of ppl joining even outside the soc
115
• Describe a situation where you thought you were right, but your peers or supervisor did not agree with you. How did you convince them that you were right? How did you react? What was the outcome?
-WPD relocation strat: it was bizarre at first so I used data… blah blah blah
116
• Describe a situation where you had to face a particularly challenging situation while working on a project and what you did to overcome it. (Note: The challenge could be with respect to timeline, scope, people, or a combination thereof.)
-C++ project: close to deadline a lot of stuff still to do, used 2:1 parallel approach.
117
• How you check your progress against your goals?
-Gantt chart. Example: C++ project, then EXCEEDING that (Moore’s Law analogy)
118
• Do you set and communicate smart team goals, expectations, and priorities; help employees stay focused/help others remove barriers/roadblocks towards meeting team goals?
- At the start, use Gantt chart like C++… so setbacks can be quantified and analysed, minimised…
- At LSC: we are told to use 5 mins to NOT talk about work… helps morale… and productvitiy.
119
• Tell me about a time when you were able to persevere through setbacks and overcome obstacles to deliver outstanding results.
-C++ project: close to deadline a lot of stuff still to do, used 2:1 parallel approach.
120
• Tell me about a time where you not only met the goal but considerably exceeded expectations. How were you able to do it?
- WPD project: using what I learnt in the C++ project, I was more organised and used time effectively, I was able to with my group to tick all the boxes, as well as collecting exhaustive data to just prove how effective our strategies were..
(result: blah lbah notable)
(stats: provide stats)
121
• What’s the most complex problem you’ve ever worked on?
-either C++ project: combining everything we’ve learnt
Or: WPD project: a lot of innovation and using McKay and Petroski books.
122
• Have you ever worked on something really hard and then failed?
- Cambridge interview: even arranged the dates so I could receive Imperial feedback. Was hard because I tried really hard but I learnt that setbacks/failures are natural but you must be able to quickly recover and still achieve your success.
- Although I actually like being pessimistic (study of living longer and more cautious), being optimistic would help in groups…
Amazon interview prep
flashcards
Decks in class (1)
# Cards
