ET Young Leaders Awards 2012: Interview question sets for young leaders

Companies come up with tricky questions to gauge candidates' abilities and preparedness . AnumehaChaturvedi looks at some typical issues that are raised , and gets some perspectives on how young leaders can handle them

JM Prasad

Chief, human resources, ING Vysya Bank

Strategy

QUESTION: Which strategic high-impact changes would you implement in your business and why?

APPROACH: The question gives a good perspective on the leader's depth of understanding, strategic thinking and change orientation. The candidate should adopt a pragmatic approach on changes worth implementing . She should also do a thorough analysis of advantages and disadvantages of the suggested changes before putting her point across.

Growth

QUESTION: How do you plan to cope with learning opportunities of the assignment?

APPROACH: Every change is bound to have a learning curve and will teach one things one does not already know. Leaders should be honest and realistic about what they hope to learn from the new assignment and their expectations from the role, instead of pretending to be fully ready for it.

Ritu Singh Verma

Regional director, HR, South Asia, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts

Teamwork

QUESTION: Take me through a situation where you had to adjust to a colleague’s working style to deliver a project

APPROACH: Typically, candidates tell how they could not get along with a colleague and had to escalate matters to make things work, but we do not want that. The leader should emphasise how he handled the colleague by leveraging his or her positive points to deliver the project, which is the larger goal.

Obstacles

QUESTION: Give us an example of a goal you set and how you achieved it. How did you overcome the obstacles?

APPROACH: It is important for a leader to have a well-thought-out , realistic plan and be aware of the deadlocks he might face. There is also a follow-up question: 'Which are the goals you did not achieve?' Leaders should be honest here, and focus on why they did not work and what they learnt from them instead of getting defensive by blaming their failure on others.

Mahesh Aras

Chief administrative officer & head, global knowledge network, JP Morgan India

QUESTION: Illustrate how you displayed exceptional teamwork in your professional environment to achieve a goal

APPROACH: At JP Morgan, we view teamwork as a non-negotiable attribute while interviewing candidates. We expect the candidate to be able to display a ‘we’ as opposed to an ‘I’ attitude in her answer. The key element to watch out for is how she is able to garner support, collaborate and channelise key skill sets and strengths within her team to achieve business objectives.

Decision-making

QUESTION: Can you make decisions when you don't have all the information and where there's more than one right answer?