Interview Questions

1. How would you describe yourself?
I am an intelligent and dedicated worker. I enjoy working with others and contributing my opinions to help ensure a success for the team. In my experience, I have learnt that it is best to keep an open mind. This is why I approach all opportunities as if they could define my future. I always try to have an un-biased opinion on new people and new experiences.

2. What specific goals, have you established for your life?
My life goals are fairly simple. I would like to, in the future, have a well paying steady job and enjoy my work. I hope that I will be in a good relationship whether I am married or dating. I hope that I can find a balance between my work and my personal life.

3. Please describe the ideal job for you following graduation.
My ideal job is one that I could use both my math and science skills but also use my creativity. I want to be able to enjoy myself while at work but also have to think and make decisions every day. My ideal job would be well paying and would allow me to work and enjoy the rest of my life as well.

4. How do you determine or evaluate success? Give me an example of one of your successful accomplishments.
I define success as achieving something that you have been working towards, in other words achieving your goals. Goal setting is a great way of measuring your success. I know that when I set a goal for myself and achieve it, it feels great. On of my biggest successes would probably be when I first qualified for provincials in swimming. I had wanted to get to provincials for a couple of years and after two new coaches and some hard work, I finally got my qualifying time. The feeling I got when this happened was defiantly a feeling of success.

5. What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?
My most rewarding accomplishment was finishing my grade 8 piano exam with the royal conservatory of music. This was a huge accomplish for me because I had been working towards it for 9 years and the last few months before my exam were a real struggle. I no longer enjoyed piano and didn’t want to practice or use up my time. Once it was over though, I was glad that I had completed my exam but was glad that I was done. This is probably my most rewarding accomplishment.

6. Are you more energized by working with data or by collaborating with other individuals?
I am defiantly more energized when I can work around people. I enjoy human interaction and think of myself as a people person. When I complete a job that makes someone happy it gives me a great feeling.

7. How would you describe yourself in terms of your ability to work as a member of a team?
I think that I work well in a team. I can contribute my ideas and it doesn’t hurt me when they are rejected. Know that sometimes I need to step down and compromise when making a decision but if I believe that my idea could really move the decision forward, I will continue to negotiate my point. I sometimes go to far though and I know that I probably should have stepped down. I can follow the lead of another person and I can also lead groups as well. My abilities to work as a team player are, I believe, good.

8. What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?
I am motivated most by challenges. If I don’t believe I can do something or someone else doesn’t believe that I can accomplish something I will be more motivated to get it done. I want to prove to them that I can and that I will. This is probably my biggest motivator.

9. Describe what you’ve accomplished toward reaching a recent goal for yourself.
I have worked towards my goal of straight As in my grade 10 school year by trying to work hard in Planning 10 by completing all my assignments and studying for tests.

10. Can you describe your long-range goals and objectives?


11. What do you see your self doing in 10 years?
I can see myself have just complete post-secondary education in the past few years and be trying to find myself the best job that I can. I can see myself working in a field that I enjoy and that uses my skills to the most of their potential.

12. How would you evaluate your ability to deal with conflict?
I think that I can deal with conflict fairly well. I try to find the compromised route in most arguments. I won’t say that I’m perfect though because I defiantly lose my temper in some arguments. I’m trying to learn how to control my extreme emotions in some situations and am getting better at keeping them to myself and trying to see things from the other side’s point of view.

13. Tell me about a major problem you recently handled. Were you successful?


14. Would you say that you can easily deal with high pressure situations?
I would say that I can deal pretty well with high-pressure situations. As long as I can stay focused on what I have to do to get out of the situation I will be fine and able to complete my task. If I start to freak out about something, then I will most likely be able to calm myself down and focus. There are, of course, times when I can’t control myself and I will freak out.

15. What quality or attribute do you feel will most contribute to your career success?
I think that the fact that I never give up until I accomplish what I set out to do is probably my best quality in terms of career success. I love the feeling of completing a job well and will finish every project that I start and I will do it well.

16. What personal weakness has caused you the greatest difficulty in school or on the job?
My biggest difficulty in school has been that I tend to procrastinate when I am not looking forward to doing something. This has caused many late night cram-sessions.

17. Describe the characteristics of a successful manager.
A successful manager would be a great leader and be able to assign responsibility to others. They would also listen to other people’s suggestions and input not just their own. They would be a team player and want to best for all members of their workers.

18. Tell me what you know about our company. (Whole Foods)
I know that your company is the biggest world-wide retailer of natural and organic foods. I know that as of this year you are the number 5 best place to be employed by and that you have very high standards about what you sell and who you employ. I know that the customer is the most important person in your company and that your company believes in shared fate and self-responsibility on the job.

19. Why did you decide to seek a position in this company?
I would like to gain experience in the retail and sales industry. I have also heard from many people that Whole Foods is a great place to work. I’ve heard that your company has the best working atmosphere and that the employees are treated well. I think that it would be an amazing place to start my work experience.

20. Which is more important to you the job itself or your salary?
Both of these things are important to me. The job, of course, is very important. If the job is enjoyable and is in a good environment then I wouldn’t mind being paid less because my time at work would be much more pleasurable. I’m not going to say that I don’t care about the salary as well but that is not as much of an issue to me as the environment that I’m working in.

21. Describe the most significant or creative presentation that you have had to complete.


22. Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.
I have had to do more then my share of work in many group projects. Not necessarily to get it done, but to get it done well. If I wanted, during school, to get an A on a group project I would normally have to do more then my share of the work to achieve this.

23. Give an example of how you applied knowledge from previous coursework to a project in another class.


24. Describe a situation where other you were working on a project with disagreed with your idea. What did you do?


25. What are your standards of success in school? What have you done to meet these standards?
My standards of success in school are doing the best I can in every subject. I want to push myself to not settle for anything less then my potential. I completed all my assignments and studied for tests. If I didn’t do as well as I would have liked to on a test then that would just make me try harder on the next one.