You will develop several structured interview questions (both situational and be
ID: 347849 • Letter: Y
Question
You will develop several structured interview questions (both situational and behavioral), along with anchored rating scales, for the job of Sales Clerk.
You will develop questions for two performance dimensions: Customer Service and Sales Ability. You will write one situational question and one behavioral question for each of these dimensions. Thus, you will write a total of four questions (1 situational Customer Service, 1 situational Sales Ability, 1 behavioral Customer Service, and 1 behavioral Sales Ability)
In addition, you will prepare behavioral response anchors for three levels of performance (poor, acceptable, and excellent). Write 2 anchors for each level.
Additional guidelines and information about developing structured interviews is provided below and on the following pages, along with examples of questions and anchors. You are not permitted to use any of the example questions or responses that I have provided (or from other classes, the textbook, or the Internet) as your questions and anchors.
You should use the format on the final page for your questions and responses.
Question and Response Development
The following steps will guide you through the interview question and response anchor development. The first step is to identify the critical performance dimensions for the job title. The second step is to develop job-specific interview questions, based on critical incidents of performance. The last step is to create rating scales for each performance dimension identified as important. The purpose of this is to help guide you through the steps of question and rating scale development.
Step 1: Identifying Critical Dimensions
Based on a Job Analysis, identify the dimensions that are important for effective performance. However, because we would like to limit the number of questions asked during the interview, we needed to determine which dimensions are the most critical so that you could develop questions based on those dimensions. Typically, you would have Subject Matter Experts rate and rank the job dimensions to determine which were the most important.
For this exercise, you will use the job of Sales Clerk. I have already identified the important performance dimensions for you. In the exercise you will use two dimensions: Customer Service and Sales Ability.
Step 2: Prepare to Develop Job-Related Interview Questions
Job-Related Questions
A good interview includes questions about situations that candidates are likely to encounter on the job (i.e., are job-related). Asking job-related questions during the interview enhances our ability to predict whether a candidate will perform well in the job. Furthermore, organizations are legally obligated to include only job-related questions on employment selection tests, such as interviews.
Thus, it is helpful when creating questions to think of critical incidents of excellent, average or acceptable, and poor performance on job tasks. Using these incidents as guides, you will be able to more easily develop interview questions for each competency.
Question Formats
There are several ways to phrase an interview question so as to provide the candidate with an opportunity to illustrate his or her level of the competency being assessed. The following section illustrates two of the question formats commonly used.
Behavioral Questions – Open-ended questions designed to evaluate how a candidate has acted in past situations. These questions assume that if a person could perform well in the past, this same person would perform well in the future. Behavioral questions ask the candidate to describe a specific situation, the actions he/she took, and the results or outcomes of his/her actions. For an entry-level job, such questions may be very general.
Example (Teamwork): We have all encountered situations where we needed a team member’s help to complete a task or project, and the person was uncooperative. Describe a time when that happened to you. How did you handle the situation and what were the results?
Situational Questions – Open-ended questions designed to identify the candidate’s intentions by presenting a job-related situation and asking what he or she would do in that situation. These questions provide the candidate with an opportunity to describe his/her intentions regarding the job-related incident.
Example (Teamwork): You are a waiter/waitress and the restaurant is packed full. One of your co-workers is new, and seems to be in some trouble—he keeps getting orders mixed up, forgets to refill drinks, etc. Suddenly he spills a tray of drinks on a customer. You are slammed with your own tables. What, if anything, would you do in this situation?
Notice that both formats ask the candidate about job-relevant information. Behavioral questions ask about job-related situations encountered in the past, and situational questions ask about job-related situations that a candidate is likely to encounter on the job.
Tips on how to Develop Good Interview Questions
Please refer to the following tips when developing your interview questions.
Be as clear as possible.
Word the questions such that they assess primarily only one dimension.
Try not to ask leading questions. Sometimes the way the question is worded can give away the correct response.
Avoid wordy language. Questions should have enough detail to provide a well-understood context but not so much that the candidates get bogged down by the details.
Avoid organization-specific knowledge, jargon, or terminology.
Step 3: Develop Rating Scales
For each of the interview questions, you will also need to develop rating scales or anchors which will help standardize the scoring of candidate responses. Rating scales are critical in providing a fair and common "yardstick" by which to judge each interviewee. In other words, such scales help interviewers develop a picture of what differentiates a good response from a poor response. The more specific these examples can be, the more helpful such anchors will be for all interviewers. You will develop three levels of anchors (e.g., poor, acceptable, and excellent). These anchors should describe typical behaviors on the job. Each level should have at least 2-3 response anchors.
Examples of Both Types of Questions and Behavioral Anchors
Initiative Situational Question:
You have received a request from your manager to prepare an important report, which must be completed early tomorrow morning. Your manager has left for the day when you discover that he has left out information which you must have to complete the report. What would you do in this situation?
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Wait until the manager is in tomorrow morning to start working on the report.
Complete the report without the information, blaming the manager if it’s wrong.
Pass the request along to a co-worker.
Complete as much of the report as possible, and ask the manager for the information tomorrow morning.
Ask for a team member’s help in completing the report.
Complete the report with your best guesses, and verify it with the manager in the morning.
Attempt to contact the manager at home or by cell phone to obtain the information.
Attempt to contact others in the organization who might have the necessary information.
Complete the report as best you can, and email it to your manager to get the needed information.
Teamwork Behavioral Question:
We have all encountered situations where we needed a team member’s help to complete a task or project, and the person was uncooperative. Describe a time when that happened to you. How did you handle the situation and what were the results?
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Did nothing.
Demanded team member’s help.
Project was late, incomplete, or a failure.
Politely requested team member’s help, and received some help.
Went to manager for assistance in obtaining team member’s cooperation.
Project was completed.
Persuaded team member to help by emphasizing project’s importance.
Sought help from other team members to get team member to cooperate.
Project was a success.
Template for Developing Interview Questions
Customer Service Situational Question:
Type question here
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Poor anchor
Poor anchor
Acceptable anchor
Acceptable anchor
Excellent anchor
Excellent anchor
Sales Ability Situational Question:
Type question here
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Poor anchor
Poor anchor
Acceptable anchor
Acceptable anchor
Excellent anchor
Excellent anchor
Customer Service Behavioral Question:
Type question here
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Poor anchor
Poor anchor
Acceptable anchor
Acceptable anchor
Excellent anchor
Excellent anchor
Sales Ability Behavioral Question:
Type question here
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Poor anchor
Poor anchor
Acceptable anchor
Acceptable anchor
Excellent anchor
Excellent anchor
Initiative Situational Question:
You have received a request from your manager to prepare an important report, which must be completed early tomorrow morning. Your manager has left for the day when you discover that he has left out information which you must have to complete the report. What would you do in this situation?
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Wait until the manager is in tomorrow morning to start working on the report.
Complete the report without the information, blaming the manager if it’s wrong.
Pass the request along to a co-worker.
Complete as much of the report as possible, and ask the manager for the information tomorrow morning.
Ask for a team member’s help in completing the report.
Complete the report with your best guesses, and verify it with the manager in the morning.
Attempt to contact the manager at home or by cell phone to obtain the information.
Attempt to contact others in the organization who might have the necessary information.
Complete the report as best you can, and email it to your manager to get the needed information.
Explanation / Answer
Customer Service Situational Question:
The customer has been very unruly and abusive in his behavior, while addressing your company. He is creating a scene as the other people are enjoying the abuse. How will you handle such a customer?
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
I cannot tolerate abusive people, got into a fight with the customer
I said sorry for all the blames put on the company and left the place.
I tried to calm the customer. Then tried to put the case perspective from business point of view. Assured the customer that his valid complaints will be resorted on priority
Sales Ability Situational Question:
The company has launched a new product but the marketing budget for the same is vey low. How would you make sure the customers become aware of such product?
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Leave the promotion as it is as it is the responsibility of marketing team. I will focus on my sales target only.
Will try to talk with my customer base in general about the product. Will not go to any extra extent to convince the customers.
Will discuss about the distinguishing features of the product with my customer base. Will try to convince them with conviction
Customer Service Behavioral Question:
In our sales domain, we try to put the customers first in any situation. Share a scenario where you went above and beyond for a customer. What were the results?
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
Did nothing extra. Usually a team follower in such situations
Tried to help the customer within the domain of my job.
Tried to evaluate all possible scenarios in which the customer can be helped and then resort to the most applicable scenario.
Sales Ability Behavioral Question:
In marketing and sales, we are given many products to sell. Some sales go good, some don’t fare that well. Share the incident when you landed your most successful sale? What did you do?
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
I try hard to achieve my sales target. I am usually chasing my targets.
I achieved my sales target quite early in the month. Went for a vacation during rest of the month
I achieved my sales target quite early. So continued with my efforts and tries to outperform my previous best target.
Customer Service Situational Question:
The customer has been very unruly and abusive in his behavior, while addressing your company. He is creating a scene as the other people are enjoying the abuse. How will you handle such a customer?
Poor
Acceptable
Excellent
1
2
3
4
5
I cannot tolerate abusive people, got into a fight with the customer
I said sorry for all the blames put on the company and left the place.
I tried to calm the customer. Then tried to put the case perspective from business point of view. Assured the customer that his valid complaints will be resorted on priority
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