Q – 1 Tell us what have you done to promote great customer service?

Ans- Firstly, know what you think great customer service looks like. Look for situations and examples when you had an idea, a client, or customer call, where you personally went that extra mile.

Did you change a process or procedure? Or perhaps a staff member you mentored, coached or advised delivered a great customer service win or result for your team, brand or business.

Q – 2 Explain what are the key factors which make a successful call centre?

Ans- Fundamentally, if you look under the skin of the best teams and call centres, they do have certain things in common: clear communication, consistency, fun, performance management, leadership, engagement, incentives, etc.

Think what made up the best team or company you have been a part of or have seen. Have examples to back up any statements for how you would play a part in, or create, this team or environment yourself.

Q – 3 Explain the most positive team you have ever worked in. What made it this way?

Ans- With this question, the first thing to do is explain what the team skills were, and how you fitted into the team. What made it work? What lessons did you learn and what did you take away from it? If you can, identify the different components that made your colleagues work well in the team, too.

Q – 4 Tell me what key factors drive you?

Ans- Tread carefully with this question. Whilst the truth may be that you only get out of bed every morning in order to pay your rent, this is not what your potential employer wants to hear.

This question gives you an opportunity to discuss what has attracted you to this line of work and what inspires you to persevere through the tough times. In a sales role, this could be the adrenaline rush of meeting daily targets, whilst in a customer-service role, this could be the personal satisfaction you gain through helping people.

Q – 5 Tell me what is your biggest achievement?

Ans- If possible, think work related. There will hopefully be a number of things you are most proud of in your career to date. Think about your key achievements; were they commercial, people or process orientated? What was the cause and effect? How were you involved, what was improved, saved or developed?

If you are short on career-based examples, use personal achievements which demonstrate the commercial skills required for the role, such as team work, commitment, empathy, determination, attention to detail, etc.

Q – 6 Explain how do you plan daily and weekly activities?

Ans- Here your potential employer is looking to see that you are capable of planning your time effectively.

They want to hear things like how you hold team meetings to discuss the week ahead and allocate time slots and deadlines for various projects.

Q – 7 Tell me do you set performance standards for yourself, and if so, what?

Ans- It’s also important to remember that not all employers are looking for people who are overly ambitious! Sometimes an employer is looking for somebody who just wants to do his or her job very, very well. Being ambitious is not the be-all and end-all.

Q – 8 Tell us how do you measure the success of your incentives?

Ans- An ideal answer to this question will demonstrate that you are capable of monitoring a situation as it evolves.

For example:

Whilst working in a call centre as a supervisor, I introduced ‘Sugar Fridays’ – giving my team sweets and treats to get them through the Friday slog.

Prior to introducing the incentive, I compiled a backlog of sales figures from previous Fridays. I then introduced the incentive on a trial period, continued collecting data and cross-compared the results. There was an obvious peak in sales figures and so the incentive became permanent.

Q – 9 Tell me when scheduling your time, how do you determine what constitutes a priority?

Ans- We all have a list of things to do. This question is about how you look at that list and determine a process to decide where the priorities are. I want you to give examples of what the priorities are for the business, for example, as well as those for the team – that way, you can demonstrate how you weigh up tasks and add balance to them.

Q – 10 Explain how would you measure the success of you and your team over a 3, 6 and 12 month period?

Ans- This question requires you to understand the benefits of setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) objectives and developing action plans.

For example:

In line with the over-arching goals of the company, I would set personal goals for myself and my team which I would subsequently break down into weekly SMART objectives. I would monitor these closely through general in-office communication and a series of team meetings, as well as through scheduling individual appraisal meetings at 3, 6 and 12 month intervals.

Q – 11 Tell me how have you utilized customer feedback to ensure business excellence?

Ans- This question is set to test your ability to identify and analyse customer insight, trends and data, and drive continuous improvement, by identifying and understanding the root cause.

The interviewer will be looking for an example of where you have taken this insight and subsequently developed, implemented and improved your sales process. This could be through the introduction of training, post-sale procedures, a change in marketing communications, or other process improvements, to ensure that the cause of any future complaint is eradicated.

Q – 12 Explain can you give me an example of a time when you had to motivate and develop a team in a challenging work environment?

Ans- During interviews, difficult or awkward questions could come your way. The intention is not to catch you out, but to test how you operate under pressure.

This question is (again) in the format of competency-based interviewing, so remember to outline the specific actions you took to motivate your team, as interviewers want to see evidence of hands-on experience.

Make sure to describe all processes undertaken. For example: Did you use incentives to motivate the team? Did you implement training programmes? Did you improve internal communications to help engage staff? Did you implement or revisit career development plans to make the team feel valued? Did you take the time to understand each individual’s motivations?

Be clear and precise and be sure to convey any previous first-hand experience you have – they will want to feel confident that you can handle similar issues within the new role.

Q – 13 Tell us how did you recognize the level of trust or respect your team held for you and how did you ensure this continued?

Ans- Only you will know if your team really trusts and respects you. Respectful employees will usually make you coffee, hold a door

open for you, properly carry out tasks assigned to them and rarely undermine your judgement.

To maintain this level of respect, you should make time to recognise your employees’ efforts, occasionally explain how you reached a solution to a problem (this can help with buy-in for larger changes or projects) and do your best to be consistently level-headed and successful in your judgement – as it only takes one slip-up to undermine your credibility.

Q – 14 Suppose If successful in joining the organisation, what do you envisage your biggest challenge will be in joining it as a sales team leader?

Ans- The answer to this really depends on the job/company you’re interviewing for. However, it’s a good idea to discuss your understanding of the company, processes, products, clients and the marketplace. As a sales team leader, you’ll also be expected to deliver strong results against your personal sales and team targets.

Q – 15 Tell me how you have brought about business change through use of technology and process re-engineering, describing what particular techniques you have employed, e.g. 6 sigma, lean management, etc.?

Ans- What you need to show here is primarily an understanding of the particular project management methodology. For example, 6 sigma or lean management.

You should do this by giving an example of a project that went well, and show some of the challenges that you had to overcome along the way.

In particular, it would be useful to show examples of how you managed to get the team on your side and sharing the same vision for success.

If you have no experience of these types of methodologies, you should just give an example of a project that you worked on that went well.

Q – 16 Explain me how have you utilized customer complaint feedback to improve how your team are selling?

Ans- This question is especially important if you are applying for a management position.

An ideal answer will demonstrate that you are capable of assessing a situation and implementing improvements.

For example:

I started to notice that a lot of customers were complaining about feeling patronised by my agents. In response to this, I listened to the calls these complaints stemmed from and realised that words such as ‘wonderful’ were being over used.

I then had a meeting with the worst offenders in my team and suggested changes that they could make to correct this behaviour. After this meeting, customer complaints reduced and sales increased.

Q – 17 Explain about a time when you had to take charge of a group of people to achieve a particularly important outcome?

Ans- This question is about leadership qualities, so it’s easier if you’re in a management role, but you can still be a leader without managing. You can be a leader simply by the way you act and the way you are.

Q – 18 Tell me how do you ensure that your department’s goals are in line with the overall company goals?

Ans- The company I currently work for publishes an annual report of KPIs relating to the goals they hope to achieve that year. I extract the company goals that are relevant to my department and break them down into weekly objectives. I then use these objectives to ensure that my team is constantly contributing to the overall goals of the organisation.

Q – 19 Explain an example of how you have dealt with an under-performing team member in the past?

Ans- This question is a typical example of competency-based interviewing (CBI) in practice. It is the most popular interview approach, based on the premise that future performance can be predicted by past behaviour.

The best way to prepare for CBI questions is to revisit the job description and person specification before your interview. You should then ensure that you have covered all bases and can comfortably provide examples for each competency. You must also be able to describe the particular scenario, the actions you took and the impact it had on the business.

Approach this particular question by outlining the processes you followed to investigate and resolve this issue. It is also important to explain the outcome. For example, you may have set an agenda of required actions following on from the meeting you held with the particular team member – can you describe what that was? If you created a performance plan that included clear training and development objectives make sure you say so.

Always finish by explaining how the action you took impacted the business. For example, the team member started to meet all targets and bring in more revenue.

Q – 20 Explain me with an example of when you were successful in identifying and developing business opportunities outside existing business?

Ans- This is about your networking ability and your pride in your employers. It’s what we call the ‘engagement bit’ – it’s about not being afraid to recommend or refer people to the business, and how connected you are.

When I ask this question, I’m really asking: ‘Are you thinking across the business?’ A lot of people think in a silo mentality: they’ll think they’re in working solely in the call centre or the accounts department. Your example should show that you understand the overall strategy of a business, not just your area.

Q – 21 Tell me what is your experience of the whole end-to-end feedback process (talk through this process) and how do you ensure this feedback improves the service to customers?

Ans- The answer to this will depend on the job you’re interviewing for and your experience.

I would recommend thinking about a specific instance and then discussing this in detail. Outline the process stage by stage and, if there are areas that need improvement, focus your answers on the solutions instead of the problems.

Q – 22 Tell me how creative are you in comparison to your colleagues, i.e. in managing, developing, encouraging and motivating your team?

Ans- This question is asked to determine whether or not you are going to bring something to the team.

In an ideal answer you will confirm that you are creative in your job role, and markedly so compared to some of your colleagues. You should then proceed to give examples which demonstrate this.

This question gives you the opportunity to tell the interviewer about how you developed a Monday-morning prize-giving incentive to get your team fired up for the week. Or how you introduced daily staff meetings to keep your team engaged with the goals of the organisation. Or implemented a buddy-up training programme to help your new recruits settle in faster.

Q – 23 Explain outline and describe your current targets and KPIs – How do you ensure you achieve these?

Ans- Here your interviewer is checking that you are capable of working consistently towards your targets.

In an ideal answer you will outline what your current targets are, then follow this up with a discussion about how you break these targets down into weekly objectives to ensure that you are consistently working towards your annual goals.

Q – 24 Tell me wow would your team/manager describe you?

Ans- Try to think about how you would describe yourself if someone asked you for your strengths, then relate these to what people say about you; peers, agents, managers and stakeholders. Have three or four at the ready, ideally in line with the role you are being interviewed for. Have examples or situations ready, in case your interviewer wants to drill down as to why you think or believe these are your key strengths.

Q – 25 Planning and project management Based Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Describe the most challenging project you have planned, where you needed to juggle the needs of multiple stakeholders. What did you do?
☛ Describe a project you’ve managed where things did not go to plan. How did you handle it? What was the result?
☛ What tools or techniques do you use to manage your time? How do you prioritize projects? Provide an example when it was difficult to do this.
☛ In any project there are times that you will find that people lose focus of the objective. Can you describe a time this has happened to you and what you did about it?

Q – 26 Teamwork Based Job Interview Questions:

Ans- For questions like these, you want a story that illustrates your ability to work with others under challenging circumstances. Think team conflict, difficult project constraints, or clashing personalities.

☛ Talk about a time when you had to work closely with someone whose personality was very different from yours.
☛ Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that?
☛ Describe a time when you struggled to build a relationship with someone important. How did you eventually overcome that?
☛ We all make mistakes we wish we could take back. Tell me about a time you wish you’d handled a situation differently with a colleague.
☛ Tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone who wasn’t very responsive. What did you do?

Q – 27 Judgement and decision making Based Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ In many cases you need to “make a call” when you have incomplete information. Describe one of these and how you approached it.
☛ Describe the toughest decision you have needed to make at work. Why was it tough? What did you do to make that decision?
☛ Give me an example of a decision you needed to make quickly and on your own?
☛ Provide an example of a decision that you made that you now realise was a poor decision. What happened? What did you do?
☛ Describe a recent unpopular decision you made. How was it received? How did you handle it?

Q – 28 Communications Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Tell me about a time when you needed to persuade someone to do something that they did not want to do? How did you go about this?
☛ Describe the most difficult communication you have needed to deliver to an inattentive audience. What did you do to prepare for this?
☛ In any role you have people you would rather not work with because their way of communicating is different to yours, or they’re known to be difficult. Provide an example of a time where you have encountered this.
☛ Describe your decision making process when you choose to communicate via the phone, email or face to face?
☛ What do you think are the characteristics of a really effective communicator? When have you won an audience?
☛ Have you ever thought that people have not listened to you? What did you do in this situation?
☛ Tell me about a time where you have needed to sell an idea to your colleagues? How did you approach this?
☛ How would you describe your written communication style? Have you ever had to sell an idea through written words alone?
☛ Describe an idea that you’ve needed to sell “upwards.” How did you go about this? What was the result?

Q – 29 Professional Delivery Driving Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Why are you interested in working as a driver for our company?
☛ How much experience do you have as a professional delivery driver?
☛ Describe a time you accidentally gave a coworker incorrect information. How did you resolve it?
☛ What would you do if you were not responsible for a traffic violation, but were pulled over by a police officer?
☛ What would you do if you got into a car accident during a delivery?
☛ How well do you know this area?

Q – 30 Time Management Skills Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- In other words, get ready to talk about a time you juggled multiple responsibilities, organized it all (perfectly), and completed everything before the deadline.

☛ Tell me about a time you had to be very strategic in order to meet all your top priorities.
☛ Describe a long-term project that you managed. How did you keep everything moving along in a timely manner?
☛ Sometimes it’s just not possible to get everything on your to-do list done. Tell me about a time your responsibilities got a little overwhelming. What did you do?
☛ Tell me about a time you set a goal for yourself. How did you go about ensuring that you would meet your objective?
☛ Give me an example of a time you managed numerous responsibilities. How did you handle that?

Q – 31 Analytical or problem solving Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Describe a time where you needed to research a problem and come up with different alternatives to resolve it. How did you determine the most appropriate solution?
☛ Tell me about a time where you encountered something new and needed to work backwards from the end point
☛ What’s the best idea you have ever had and successfully implemented?
☛ Talk about a project did not go as planned? What did you do to rectify it?
☛ Tell me about a time where you needed to consult several different groups to come up with an answer to an issue? What was the outcome?
☛ What’s the most challenging workplace problem that you’ve encountered? What did you do to come up with a solution?
☛ If you inherited a team that you sensed was not performing optimally, what would you do to begin to solve the problem? Provide a case study to illustrate where you have done this.
☛ Describe the steps you normally take to make a decision. Tell us about a time where this did not result in the answer you anticipated and how you handled that.
☛ How do you assess the quality of decisions or recommendations that other people present to you? Provide an example?
☛ Describe a time where you needed to choose between a number of ideas? What criteria did you use?

Q – 32 Leadership Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Describe the most challenging group you have needed to manage. What did you do to get the results you needed from the group? What was the result?
☛ What do you think it takes to be a truly effective leader? Provide an example of where you have demonstrated this.
☛ Leadership can sometimes be about being unpopular. When have you been unpopular? Why?
☛ Tell me about a time when you have needed to lead a group of peers. What did you do in this situation?
☛ Do you think leaders are born or made? What’s made you an effective leader?
☛ Give an example of where you have had someone challenge your authority or ability to lead. What did you do in this situation?
☛ Describe a time where you needed to juggle your own commitments with your leadership responsibilities. What did you do?
☛ Give an example of a time where you have needed to manage in a time of uncertainty, either restructuring, redundancies or a time where there has been a merge of organisations.

Q – 34 Customer or client Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Describe a time where you have gone out of your way to help a customer. What did you do and what was the result?
☛ In any role you can have people you don’t want to deal with. Describe your worst example of this and how you managed that person.
☛ Tell me about a time where a customer did not accept the information you were providing and you needed to explain it in different terms.
☛ How have you ensured that your team or direct reports have managed to keep delivering high levels of customer service in challenging circumstances? Please provide an example.
☛ Give me an example of a time where you have needed to ensure that the organisation kept focussed on a particular customer. Why was that necessary? What steps did you take?
☛ Describe a time where you took over a difficult client. What did you do to ensure the relationship ran smoothly? What made a difference in this circumstance?
☛ Give me an example of where you have needed to say no to a customer. How did you do this, and still maintain a positive relationship?
☛ Have you ever had a client change their mind during a negotiation around a service you provide? What did you do to handle this situation?
☛ How do you determine whether a team member has client orientation? Provide an example of this.

Q – 35 Team work Based Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Tell me about a time where others you were working with on a project disagreed with your ideas, yet you needed to work with them all? What did you do?
☛ Give me an example when you worked with a colleague who was not doing their share of the work. How did you handle it?
☛ We have all had times where we’ve worked in teams that did not get along. Describe a time this has happened to you. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result?

Q – 36 Creativity and initiative Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Describe an idea that you have conceived, implemented and evaluated?
☛ How do you determine whether ideas are worth pursuing? Provide an example.
☛ Give an example of a time where you needed to ‘think outside the square’ to come up with a solution to a challenging problem.
☛ What’s the best way to inspire creativity in your team? Tell me about a time when you’ve done this.
☛ When have you brought an innovative idea into your organisation? What did you do to ensure it was successful? How was it received?

Q – 37 Transportation and Logistics Industry Based Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ How much cash handling experience do you have?
☛ How would you handle a customer who is upset about a late delivery?
☛ A customer gave you $20.00 to pay their $12.67 bill. How much change should they receive?
☛ What kinds of long-haul equipment have you used?
☛ How do you maintain good communication with dispatchers and schedulers?
☛ How do you feel about a slip-seating setup?
☛ Has anyone ever suspected you of falsifying your driver’s logs?
☛ How do you stay focused when you’re on the road for long periods of time?

Q – 38 Communication Skills Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- You probably won’t have any trouble thinking of a story for communication questions, since it’s not only part of most jobs; it’s part of everyday life. However, the thing to remember here is to also talk about your thought process or preparation.

☛ Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully persuade someone to see things your way at work.
☛ Describe a time when you were the resident technical expert. What did you do to make sure everyone was able to understand you?
☛ Tell me about a time when you had to rely on written communication to get your ideas across to your team.
☛ Give me an example of a time when you had to explain something fairly complex to a frustrated client. How did you handle this delicate situation?
☛ Tell me about a successful presentation you gave and why you think it was a hit.

Q – 39 Goal orientation Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Describe a goal that you have achieved that has made you proud. Why was this important to you? What steps did you take to achieve your goal?
☛ Tell me about a time where you did not succeed at something?
☛ Many times in our lives we will have situations where we feel like we’re juggling too much. Describe a time where you have thought this. What did you do and what was the result?
☛ How do you keep track of multiple priorities and still focus on quality. Describe a time when you did this.
☛ What’s the worst setback you have encountered in your work? What did you do in this circumstance? How did you manage this situation? What did you learn?
☛ Describe a time where you ensured that others keep focussed on short, medium or long term goals? Is there anything you did to keep them focussed? How did this turn out?
☛ Describe a project you have managed where you needed to ensure others met their milestones or targets.

Q – 40 Honesty and integrity Based Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Describe a time where you saw someone doing something that did not meet company standards. What did you do? What was the outcome?
☛ What values do you use to guide your work? Describe a time where these were challenged.
☛ Describe a time in your career where you thought that complete honesty was not the right thing to do? Why did you think this? What did you do?
☛ We all have times where we are asked to implement policies that we do not agree with. What have you done in this situation?

Q – 41 Motivation and Values Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- A lot of seemingly random interview questions are actually attempts to learn more about what motivates you. Your response would ideally address this directly even if the question wasn’t explicit about it.

☛ Tell me about your proudest professional accomplishment.
☛ Describe a time when you saw some problem and took the initiative to correct it rather than waiting for someone else to do it.
☛ Tell me about a time when you worked under close supervision or extremely loose supervision. How did you handle that?
☛ Give me an example of a time you were able to be creative with your work. What was exciting or difficult about it?
☛ Tell me about a time you were dissatisfied in your work. What could have been done to make it better?

Q – 42 Client-Facing Skills Based Delivery Job Interview Questions:

Ans- If the role you’re interviewing for works with clients, definitely be ready for one of these. Find an example of a time where you successfully represented your company or team and delivered exceptional customer service.

☛ Describe a time when it was especially important to make a good impression on a client. How did you go about doing so?
☛ Give me an example of a time when you did not meet a client’s expectation. What happened, and how did you attempt to rectify the situation?
☛ Tell me about a time when you made sure a customer was pleased with your service.
☛ Describe a time when you had to interact with a difficult client. What was the situation, and how did you handle it?
☛ When you’re working with a large number of customers, it’s tricky to deliver excellent service to them all. How do you go about prioritizing your customers’ needs?

Q – 43 Basic Delivery Person Job Interview Questions:

Ans- ☛ Are you familiar with the products we sell?
☛ Do you have experience working unsupervised?
☛ Describe your customer service experience.
☛ Are you comfortable around dogs and other pets?
☛ This position will require you to work in all weather conditions such as rain, cold, snow, wind, etc. Will you be able to meet this requirement?
☛ How comfortable are you with driving in unfamiliar areas? How would you describe your sense of direction?
☛ Do you have a valid driver’s license and a clean driving record?
☛ Would you consider yourself physically fit? Are you able to lift moderate amounts of weight?
☛ How flexible is your schedule? Would you be able to work weekends?

Q – 44 Tell us an example of a time when your ideas were strongly opposed in a discussion. How did you react?

Ans- This question is about conflict. How did you react to being strongly opposed – did you get upset? In many situations ego is involved and people react rather than respond. This isn’t about whether you ‘won’ the argument – I want to hear how you got over the fight to get to the end result.

Q – 45 Tell us any projects or tasks that were primarily undertaken because of your efforts? How successful were they?

Ans- This is about initiative. We want to identify whether or not you’re a self-starter. Can you see something beyond the initial problem? Are you prepared to do something beyond what you’ve been employed for? Are you prepared to step up?

Q – 46 Tell us how do you manage time and priorities?

Ans- Here your potential employer wants to know that you are capable of organising yourself properly and ensuring that nothing gets forgotten.

Do you keep a diary? Use Google Calender? Write daily to-do lists? Use wall planners to keep track of out-of-office appointments? Whatever you do, now is your opportunity to tell them!

Q – 47 Explain how often do you challenge the way your current company does things or challenge something that you feel needs to change?

Ans- This is a bit of a tricky question to answer, as how you answer can determine whether your interviewer thinks you are too strong-minded or, worse, too sheep-like in your approach to work. An ideal answer will show a degree of balance.

For example:

Throughout my term of employment, I keep a constant note of any areas that I feel can be improved. But I only present these concerns to my boss when I have developed in-depth and realistic solutions.

The frequency of these meetings is determined by how stable the company is. If the company implements several changes throughout the course of the year, I am more inclined to provide regular feedback to my boss.

Q – 48 Tell me what is your greatest success and achievement to date?

Ans- Here your interviewer wants to see that you will bring something to their company and not just fade into the background.

Whilst this question does open the floor for you to recite how you once doubled your team’s sales figures, employers are equally interested in hearing about how you have developed and maintained a strong professional network, or how you pride yourself on your reputation for being reliable and hard working.

Whatever you end up talking about, try to keep it short. You don’t want your ego to get in the way of you being offered the job.

Q – 49 Explain can you give me an example of a particularly difficult customer you had to deal with and how you used your skills to successfully overcome the problem they had?

Ans- Many interviewees freeze at this question, simply because they cannot think of an example, rather than the fact that they have never dealt with one. So have an answer prepared and make sure it is one where you resolved the issue, not one where you had to refer the customer to a higher authority (it’s amazing how many people do this). What the interviewer is looking for are the skills you possess in handling difficult customers, not the intricate detail of the particular issue the customer had.

In your pre-prepared answer you should include the following:

☛ I listened carefully to what the customer had to say.
☛ I apologised and empathised with their situation.
☛ I confirmed my understanding of their concern.
☛ I took responsibility to resolve the issue.
☛ I offered a solution (plus alternatives if possible).
☛ I confirmed the customer was happy with this.
☛ I thanked the customer for raising the issue with me.
☛ I took immediate action following the call to resolve the situation.
☛ I remained calm throughout the whole process.
☛ (If appropriate) the customer wrote in to my supervisor congratulating me on my efficiency.

This may seem like a very long answer. But by explaining the situation, without going into the minutia of the product or the complaint, your response need be no more than one minute or so. You will also impress your prospective employer by demonstrating that you already have the skills necessary to handle the most difficult calls.

Q – 50 Explain what do you know about the centre/company/role?

Ans- You are not required to be an expert on the organisation or role, but a genuine interest and basic understanding is expected. If you are working with a recruitment consultant then they should be able to provide you with extra details and assist with preparation.

In addition, look for and use press releases, corporate and social websites. Ring the call centre to see how they handle your call: do they offer ‘up-sell’, ‘cross-sell’, how was the service? Read the job description to prepare for this question, a few key facts or some knowledge show a genuine interest and commercial awareness.

Q – 51 Explain me about a time when you helped to turn around your team’s sales performance?

Ans- We lifted sales by 60% and exceeded sales targets by 25% in the first quarter, and continued the upward trajectory throughout the next year.

Q – 52 Explain your most satisfying experience in attempting to gain management’s support of an idea or proposal. What was the situation and how did it turn out?

Ans- This one is about managing up. Are you prepared to challenge an idea you don’t agree with? Are you prepared to present new ideas to follow them through – unprovoked. Have you got a good relationship with your manager, or your manager’s manager? It’s about having some presence and visibility.

Q – 53 Explain what if you can’t think of an example?

Ans- Then apply it to a problem you’ve had with somebody you’ve worked with, or to someone in your family.

Q – 54 Explain an example of an occasion where you have given constructive criticism to a member of your peer group?

Ans- No matter what level we operate at, we are all able to lend our experience of success to our peers – we just have to be careful not to patronize or undermine them in the process.

When answering this question, make sure that you give an example that is truly constructive and had a positive outcome. This will show your interviewer that you understand how to help improve your colleagues’ performance without hurting their feelings.

Q – 55 Tell me how would you manage your time and objectives in your role?

Ans- This is your opportunity to assure your potential employer that you are capable of working in line with your objectives and getting the job done on time.

For example:

In my current role, I break down my objectives into daily targets and outline periods of the day when I am going to focus on achieving them. I find this system works well for me and I expect to carry it into my next job.

Q – 56 Explain me about an occasion when you had to analyse a large amount of complex information which led to you identifying an improvement in service delivery or cost?

Ans- Here your interviewer is testing your ability to analyse data. An ideal answer will clearly outline the problem you were faced with, the information you extracted from the data and the changes you subsequently made to improve.

For example:

Problem: The appliance-delivery company I work for was getting consistently low ratings on its delivery service.

Action: I looked at all of the online feedback forms and personally phoned customers who had rated our service 0.

Findings: I found that the majority of our unhappy customers hated waiting in all day for their items to be delivered.

Solution: I piloted a new system where the delivery driver phoned the customer an hour before their item was due to be delivered. This stopped our customers from having to hang around the house all day waiting for their delivery.

Outcome: During the trial period, we saw a marked increase in our customer satisfaction ratings and the new system soon became standard practice.

Q – 57 Give an example of your strengths and weaknesses behaviour?

Ans- Having given your strengths and weaknesses, you are then likely to be asked to give examples of when you have displayed this behaviour. Your credibility will plummet if you cannot give an example of the strengths you have stated. With the strengths listed above, a good response would be: “In my present job, I am often asked to handle difficult customer situations because my supervisor knows that I will handle them politely, efficiently and diplomatically and therefore only a few cases would ever get referred to her.

Also, because of my strong interpersonal skills, I have often been asked to buddy-up with new team members, to make them comfortable in their new role at the earliest stage possible”.

When asked to give examples on the weaknesses, you need to think very carefully, and plan in advance what your response will be, as many people dig a very deep hole here. A good response to the weakness quoted would be: “I had a situation once where I knew that a more experienced colleague was regularly absent from work following nights out drinking, but she would say that she had a migraine.

When this happened my workload increased significantly. I undertook this willingly but I must admit I was annoyed that this person was taking advantage of me and the company. However, I decided to let the supervisor do their job and just get on with mine. In quite a short space of time, the issue was addressed and the problem was resolved”.

Q – 58 How do you manage change as Delivery Person?

Ans- Change is an essential part of life in any call centre environment, as the industry strives to achieve best practice for their customers and stakeholders. Have some examples on how you personally managed, or were affected by, some change. What was your focus, what were you aiming to achieve and how did you deliver the outcome? Know what the problems encountered were and what was learned through and following the transformation.

Q – 59 Tell me what is the biggest challenge you have faced in work in the past 12 months?

Ans- This is often an opening question, as it allows you to use one of your strongest examples and may help you relax. For the interviewer, it is also an indication of where your natural focus or achievements may be – people development, process, cost reduction, change etc.

Q – 60 What is CAR Approach?

Ans- One way of dealing with this type of question is to use the CAR approach. CAR stands for Context, Action, Result. It helps you to structure your answer like a mini essay.

Context is your introduction, where you describe the scenario you faced, the date and the place. The Action forms the main body and should be the longest part of your answer. The Result is the conclusion and like the introduction, should be quite short.

☛ Context: Describe the situation and the task you were faced with, when, where, with whom?

☛ Action: How? What action did you take? Sometimes people focus on what the group did without mentioning their individual contribution.

☛ Result: What results did you achieve/conclusions did you reach/what did you learn from the experience?

Q – 61 Explain us three examples of the types of problems you like to solve?

Ans- Really, I’m looking for a variety of approaches to problems here. I want to hear whether you’re consultative? Or do you race ahead and do your own thing? Are you collaborative? Do you engage other people?

Q – 62 Explain the most difficult customer you have ever had to deal with. What was the problem, what did you do and what was the outcome?

Ans- This is about customer service skills. I want you to tell me how you went the extra mile. I want to hear how you responded to the problem by doing something so positive it converted the customer, so the problem was resolved and the customer continued to work with you and recommend you.

I’m interested in hearing whether or not you lost your cool, how you felt about the situation – were you able to step outside of what makes you angry in order to solve the issue?

Q – 63 Explain an example of a time when things happened in work to dampen your enthusiasm. How did you motivate yourself and your team?

Ans- This question is a test of character and is especially important if you are being interviewed for a management role.

An ideal answer will demonstrate that you are able to support your team, even when things don’t go according to plan.

For example:

Whilst I was working in a fast-food restaurant, an unexpected coachload of football supporters came through the door. What followed was a hectic half-hour as the few staff we had on struggled to serve the high influx of customers.

To motivate my team, I came out of the back office and signed onto a till in the middle of the counter. From that position, I could support my team either side of me with phrases like ‘you’re doing well, Kelly’ whilst helping to offset the work load.

When the rush was over, I congratulated everyone on their efforts and brought chocolates in for my team the next day.

Q – 64 Explain wow have you educated your front-line agents to ensure excellent customer feedback?

Ans- As a leader or manager charged with delivering excellent customer feedback, you will know how important it is that customer feedback and insight are monitored, measured and acted upon, whenever appropriate or necessary.

But how about your agents? This question is very much aligned to your engagement, coaching and development skills. You need to think about the culture, communication and interactions you have with your agents.

Discuss how you impart your knowledge and experience to your agents and how you ensure that they can continue to develop the confidence, skills, knowledge and habits that will drive excellent customer feedback with every interaction.

Q – 65 Tell me what attracts you to the position?

Ans- This is an opportunity for you to show off your research on the role and company.

Talk about the benefits the company has to offer and how they suit you at this point in your career. For example, if you are joining the company as a graduate, discuss how you plan to utilise their highly-structured training scheme.

Also comment on the company’s reputation and try to make reference to a recent success you have seen on their website.

Q – 66 Please explain your current role and your reasons for applying to the organisation?

Ans- Before your interview, you should have researched the company and seen a full job description. This information will be key to how you answer this question and show that you have made a considered application.

You need to try and align the experience gained from your current role to some of the challenges or responsibilities of the role you are applying for. Keep it to a few clear bullet points where you can.

Also think about where you are at your happiest or best. The role you are applying for may be in a new field or industry, but you may already have many of the transferable skills required.

You then need to be able to concisely explain what you can bring to the role and demonstrate how some of the skills you have (making passing reference to some of the experience you have just mentioned) would make you a good fit for this role.

Q – 67 Explain about a situation where someone was performing badly in your team?

What was the situation? How did you deal with it? What was the outcome?

Ans- As part of my regular team monitoring, I assess all advisers call quality in order to measure them against the relevant KPIs. When reviewing calls for one adviser, I noticed a trend where the advisor was quite abrupt with callers. I scheduled a meeting in private with that adviser, which I prepared for by reviewing supporting information (including their performance statistics for the month).

I adopted a supportive style as I raised my concerns with the individual regarding their approach with customers, and confirmed their awareness of the business expectations regarding excellent customer service. I sensitively discussed with them any reasons they felt they were unable to deliver this, and emphasized the balance which needed to be maintained between quality and quantity.

I adopted a coaching style to enable the adviser to work through any barriers and identify solutions, agreed reasonable and tangible expectations for improvement, arranged appropriate support and scheduled weekly meetings to review their performance against these expectations. As a result, the advisor improved their performance and now consistently achieves all targets.

Q – 68 Tell me why do you want this job?

Ans- Whilst more money, shorter hours or less of a commute are all potential factors for your next role, they are unlikely to make you the ‘stand out’ candidate of the day.

Know what the company are looking for and the potential job available, and align this with your career to date. Highlight your relevant experience, goals and aspirations in line with the role, to showcase why you are the best person for the job.

Q – 69 Please tell us about a time when you failed to complete a task or project on time, despite intending to do so?

Ans- During my final year at university I failed to deliver my dissertation by the due date. This was because I was heavily involved in cutting-edge research right up until the end of my course and was waiting for imminent results from surveys being undertaken by researchers at other academic institutions.

Considering this was my final piece of academic work, I wanted to ensure it was based on the most accurate and up-to-date sources of information available, even if this meant a delay in production. To ensure no marks were deducted from my dissertation, I contacted my course director and personal tutor two weeks before my dissertation due date to discuss my particular situation. I argued my case, and was consequently allowed an extra two weeks to produce my work.

Although my work was delayed, I feel that this delay was justified in that the work was of the highest quality it could be. Furthermore, I sufficiently organised myself in relation to my department and tutors, so that all relevant people were aware of a possible delay in the production of my dissertation.

Q – 70 Tell me when did you last lose your temper? Why? What was the result?

Ans- This is my favourite question, some people are so honest! Some people enjoy losing their temper – which might be fine in your living room but not in the office.

Q – 71 Tell us about a time when you’ve had to communicate an unpopular management decision to your team. How did you deliver this information?

Ans- I think the most important part about this question – and most of the others – is that they’re behavioural questions, so we want to see examples of where they’ve done it before. You can’t just fluff it – you need to give an example.

So in this scenario, I’m interested in hearing how the information was delivered. What did you take into consideration first? Did you collect all the facts and have all the necessary information? What conflicts were there, if any? And how did you deal with those conflicts? Finally, what was the outcome?

There are two ways to give bad news. You can do it while considering those around you, or you just deliver it not thinking about the outcome.

Q – 72 Tell me how do you deal with work issues? Would anyone know you were having a bad day or would you keep it to yourself?

Ans- Morale is infectious – whether positive or negative – and, when working in a team-orientated environment like a call centre, it’s important that there is always an air of positivist around.

It’s therefore vitally important to ensure that if you’re having a bad day, you contain this and don’t let it influence the morale levels of the team, and in turn the productivity and efficiency of the overall operation.

Q – 73 Explain an example of when you have been really stretched for a deadline, and how you made sure you completed your work on time?

Ans- In asking this question, your potential employer is looking to see that you are prepared to go above and beyond the call of duty when the company needs you.

But you have to be careful when answering, as it is easy to fall into the trap of slagging off your current employer or seeming disorganised. Your interviewer does not want to hear how your current boss failed to provide you with resources or that you once pulled an all-nighter to meet a university deadline.

An ideal answer will centre round the busiest time of your company’s year (i.e. the Christmas rush in retail). In your example you should outline the reason for your stretched deadline and say what you did to ensure that you met it.

For example:

Whilst working in retail over the Christmas period, there was dramatic increase in stock which needed processing. To ensure that I continued to complete my daily tasks over this time period, I frequently started work at 5am rather than 7am.

Q – 74 Explain how do you keep yourself motivated?

Ans- This is your opportunity to tell your potential employer what keeps you focused. Possible answers include:

☛ Breaking your workload up into daily or hourly targets to ensure that the next small success is never too far away.
☛ Living a healthy life-style. Eating the right foods and drinking lots of water in the office can have a big impact on your concentration levels.
☛ Motivating others and promoting a positive atmosphere in the office.

Q – 75 Please explain a situation in which you inspired trust and respect in your team?

Ans- It’s important to think of and talk about a situation that’s relevant for the position you’re interviewing for. Ideally this will have had a positive outcome. By doing this you will help the interviewers to understand why you are a great fit for their team.

Q – 76 Explain about a difficult obstacle you had to overcome recently at work? How did you overcome this?

Ans- Here your interviewer wants proof that you will tackle problems head on and not just bury your head in the sand.

A strong answer will clearly demonstrate a problem, an action and a solution.

For example:

Problem: When I was first promoted to team leader, I consistently struggled to ensure that my team achieved their sales targets on a Friday.

Action: I sought the advice of more experienced team leaders to find out how they motivated their teams through the Friday slog.

Solution: Acting on the advice of the other team leaders, I implemented a combination of incentives over the next few weeks and successfully boosted my team’s sales figures.

Q – 77 Please explain what are your strengths and weaknesses?

Ans- Many interviewers will ask you to name your strengths and weaknesses. Typically, people find it easier to express their strengths, but struggle when it comes to identifying even one weakness. Part of the reason for this may be that they do not want to disclose a particular weakness, as this may result in them failing to be successful in getting the job.

A good initial answer (bearing in mind you are applying for a telephone position) to the ‘strengths’ part would be “I have been told that I am an excellent communicator, especially on the telephone, but I feel I have good interpersonal skills generally and find it easy to get along with all sorts of people”.

For weaknesses you need to think of something which is really a strength but put it across as a weakness. It is also important to make it clear what you are doing to address that ‘weakness’.

A good example would be “I am a very conscientious worker and I get irritated by colleagues who don’t share this value and take any opportunity to take time off work or do the minimum required when they are there. I am learning, however, that these people generally get found out and I leave it to my supervisor to recognise these problems and address them”.

An answer such as this would probably make the interviewer think “well that’s not such a bad thing, actually”.

Q – 78 Tell me what was your reason for leaving?

Ans- Wherever possible be positive, even if your role was short term or didn’t quite work out as expected, as it will have added extra experience or skills to your career history.

Although you are now looking to move on, acknowledge what you learned and what was on offer at the time. Demonstrate good reasons for the decisions you made and show that you understood what was to be gained, or acknowledge what you have learned from your past employer.

Q – 79 Tell me why do you want to work here as Delivery Person?

Ans- To answer this question you must have researched the company. Reply with the company’s attributes as you see them and how your qualities match them.

Q – 80 What is STAR Technique?

Ans- This is also sometimes known as SOAR, where Task is replaced by Objective.

☛ Situation: Describe the situation.

☛ Task: Describe what task was required of you.

☛ Action: Tell the interviewer what action you took.

☛ Result: Conclude by describing the result of that action.

Be positive about your actions throughout your response and do not make up an example as you will not come across as believable. If you cannot think of good examples instantly, ask the interviewer for a moment or two to think about the question and then give your answer.

Q – 81 Tell me what management style do you find works best for you?

Ans- This question is designed to identify whether you know your own management style – a lot of people don’t. They don’t know how they like to be managed, or how they manage.

I want to know if you work best alone, or in a team. Are you somebody who gets up and talks to your colleagues, or do you prefer to send an email? Are you easily distracted? You need to understand how you liked to be managed, and if you’re going for a management position, what your own