Balanced Interview Responses

1. How would you describe yourself?

Sample excellent response:

My background to date has been centered around preparing myself to become the very best financial
consultant I can become. Let me tell you specifically how I've prepared myself. I am an undergraduate
student in finance and accounting at _________ University. My past experiences have been in retail and
higher education. Both aspects have prepared me well for this career.

2. What specific goals, including those related to your occupation, have you established for your life?

Sample excellent response:

I want to be working for an excellent company like yours in a job in which I am managing information. I
plan to contribute my leadership, interpersonal, and technical skills. My long-range career goal is to be
the best information systems technician I can for the company I work for.

3. How has your college experience prepared you for a business career?

Sample excellent response:

I have prepared myself to transition into the work force through real-world experience involving travel
abroad, internship, and entrepreneurial opportunities. While interning with a private organization in
Ecuador, I developed a 15-page marketing plan composed in Spanish that recommended more effective
ways the company could promote its services. I also traveled abroad on two other occasions in which I
researched the indigenous culture of the Mayan Indians in Todos Santos, Guatemala, and participated in
a total language immersion program in Costa Rica. As you can see from my academic, extracurricular,
and experiential background, I have unconditionally committed myself to success as a marketing
professional.

4. Please describe the ideal job for you following graduation.

Sample excellent response (equates ideal  job  with job he's interviewing for):
My ideal job is one that incorporates both my education and practical work skills to be the best I can be.
Namely combining my education in finance with my working knowledge of customer service operations,
entrepreneurial abilities, computer skills, and administrative skills. I want to utilize my analytical
expertise to help people meet their financial goals. This is exactly why I am convinced that I would be a
very valuable member of the Merrill Lynch team.

5. What influenced you to choose this career?

Sample excellent response:

My past experiences have shown me that I enjoy facing and overcoming the challenge of making a sale.
Without a doubt, once I have practiced my presentation and prepared myself for objections, I feel very
confident approaching people I don't know and convincing them that they need my product. Lastly, I like
sales because my potential for success is limited only by how much of myself I dedicate toward my goal.
If any profession is founded on self-determinism, it surely must be sales.

6. At what point did you choose this career?

Sample excellent response:

I knew that I wanted to pursue information systemstechnology about my sophomore year in college. It
was then that I realized that my hobby (computers) was taking up most of my time. My favorite courses
were IT courses. I also realized that I was doing computer-oriented work-study that I enjoyed so much I
would have done it for free.

7. What specific goals have you established for your career?

Sample excellent response:

My goals include becoming a Certified Financial Advisor so I can obtain a better working knowledge of
financial research analysis, which would allow me contribute to my client base as a better financial
consultant since I would have that extra insight into the companies they are seeking to invest in. Also
this is the foundation block to advancing my career to portfolio manager or even branch office manager.

8. What will it take to attain your goals, and what steps have you taken toward attaining them?

Sample excellent response:

I've already done some research on other workers at Merrill Lynch to see how they achieved similar
goals. I know that Merrill Lynch encourages the pursuit and will reimburse for tuition of a graduate
degree. I plan on pursuing a MBA to give me an even more extensive knowledge of business and
financial analysis.

9. What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?

Sample excellent response:

I believe successful salespeople put forth that extra effort that turns potential clients into first-time
customers. Salespeople who attend to the details by doing whatever it takes to win over a prospective
customer distinguish themselves from the countless others who don't go to any extra effort. Second, I
think that if you label success as an attainable goal, you will never consistently remain successful. You
can only succeed if you learn all there is to learn about your product, your competitors, and personal
selling. Since this learning process is continuous, it's an unattainable goal. With good reason, salespeople
should not consider success an attainable ending point but an objective that will always linger slightly
beyond their reach.

10. How do you determine or evaluate success? Give me an example of one of your successful
accomplishments.

Sample excellent response:

Last semester I was hired by university's Council for Student Activities. The group negotiates contracts of
entertainers, sets up sound equipment, markets the entertainers to students, and generally decides
what kind of programming should be done. When I got hired, I didn't know the first thing about how fill
any of those responsibilities. I decided, however, that I wasn't going to fail. Four months later, I have
become the Webmaster for the group. I also write our campus newsletter and created Game Night, a
student competition of table games. That event yielded the biggest audience ever for a non-concert
event.

11. Do you have the qualifications and personal characteristics necessary for success in your chosen
career?

Sample excellent response:

I believe I have a combination of qualities to be successful in this career. First, I have a strong interest,
backed by a solid, well-rounded, state-of-the-art education, especially in a career that is technically
oriented. This basic ingredient, backed by love of learning, problem-solving skills, well-rounded
interests, determination to succeed and excel, strong communication skills, and the ability to work hard,
are the most important qualities that will help me succeed in this career. To succeed, you also need a
natural curiosity about how systems work -- the kind of curiosity I demonstrated when I upgraded my
two computers recently. Technology is constantly changing, so you must a fast learner just to keep up or
you will be overwhelmed. All of these traits combine to create a solid team member in the ever-
changing field of information systems. I am convinced that I possess these characteristics and am ready
to be a successful team member for your firm.

12. What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?

Sample excellent response:

A recent satisfying accomplishment I was sent to one of our branch banks that was notorious for not
growing their loan base. The branch had logged Rs 75,0000 in new loans in an 18-month period prior to
my arrival. Having a reputation as a "hired gun" when it came to loan production I was successful in the
solicitation and booking of Rs700,0000 in my first six months at the branch.

13. If you could do so, how would you plan your college career differently?

Sample excellent response:

I wouldn't change anything. All that I have done was a great learning experience that I will carry forward
throughout the rest of my life.

14. Are you more energized by working with data or by collaborating with other individuals?

Sample excellent response:

I like the validity of information and also like the energy that comes with working with people. The best
thing about working in a group is combining the great minds from different perspectives and coming up
with something extremely great, compared with when you're working alone. At the same time,
information can generate vitality in the project you're working on. No matter how many heads you've
got together, without information, you can't go very far. The perfect situation would be a combination
of working with information and people, and I'm confident of my abilities in both areas. 

15. How would you describe yourself in terms of your ability to work as a member of a team?

Sample excellent response:

I have had many opportunities in both athletics and academics to develop my skills as a team player. My
tenure as a rower with my college's crew team serves as a good example. I learned a great deal about
teamwork while rowing because all the rowers in the boat must act as one, which meant that we
incessantly worked to keep each movement in the boat synchronized. On an individual basis, we still
worked toward group goals through weightlifting and land-rowing. My experience as a
marketing research team leader also helped me to learn the role of "team player." I viewed my position
as that of group leader and of group member. I ensured that everyone in the group had equal
opportunity to contribute, maintained excellent communication among group members, and
coordinated their energies toward reaching our team's goal.

16. What motivates you to put forth you greatest effort?

Sample excellent response:

You would think that because I am interested in sales, only financial compensation would motivate me
to achieve. Although monetary rewards are important to me, I am driven to succeed internally. More
than anything, I want to be respected by my friends and coworkers for being the best at what I do.
Whether I am considered to be the best car detailer in my hometown or the best columnist for my
college newspaper, I want to be recognized as the best.

17. Given the investment our company will make in hiring and training you, can you give us a reason
to hire you?

Sample excellent response:

I sincerely believe that I'm the best person for the job. I realize that there are many other college
students who have the ability to do this job. I also have that ability. But I also bring an additional quality
that makes me the very best person for the job -- my attitude for excellence. Not just giving lip service to
excellence, but putting every part of myself into achieving it. In college and at my previous jobs, I have
consistently reached for becoming the very best I can become. I think my leadership awards from my
college, and my management positions are the result of possessing the qualities you're looking for in an
employee.

18. Would you describe yourself as goal-driven?

Sample excellent response:

Yes, and I demonstrated my goal orientation as president of the local Jaycees, a community service
organization. I am very proud of the fact that I set a goal of signing 50 new members by the end of the
year, and I accomplished that.

19. Describe what you've accomplished toward reaching a recent goal for yourself.
Sample excellent response:
My first few years in banking had me on the fast track to branch management. I realized at some point
along the way that my true passion was in offering financial advice not limited to checking accounts and
loans. It was at that point that I made the necessary arrangements to go back to school full-time to
pursue my goal, which I am just about to achieve.

20. What short-term goals and objectives have you established for yourself?

Sample excellent response:

My short-term objectives are to graduate from the Professional Development Program before the
standard two years and begin developing a clientele. As an intern, I prepared ahead of time by studying
for the Series 7 and Series 64 exams that constitute a majority of a beginning financial consultant's time.
I'd like to make make the company that hires me wonder what it ever did without me.

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

Sample excellent response:

My primary objectives are to learn as much as possible about your company's product offering,
organizational structure, and professional sales techniques so that I may become the most productive
member of your sales team.

22. What do you expect to be doing in five years?

Sample excellent response:

Although it is hard to predict the future, I sincerely believe that I will become a very
good financial consultant. I believe that my abilities will allow me to excel to the point that I can seek
other opportunities as a portfolio manager (the next step) and possibly even higher. My ultimate goal
continues to be -- and will always be -- to be the best at whatever level I am working at within Merrill
Lynch's corporate structure.

23. What do you see yourself doing in ten years?

Sample excellent response:

Ten years from now I see myself as a successful consultant for a world-class firm like yours. I want to
have developed a wonderful bond with my employer I will have proven myself a highly competent
systems analyst and will represent my company in helping others find solutions to their information-
systems needs in a professional and timely manner.

24. How would you evaluate your ability to deal with conflict?

Sample excellent response:

I believe I am quite good at handling conflict. Working in retail and in the residence halls required that I
make many unpopular decisions at times, whether it was terminating an associate or taking judicial
action on a resident. Often the person in conflict with me would be upset and sometimes physically
outraged. I would always make sure that I fully explained the situation, the policies behind my decision,
and why those policies exist. Usually by the end of the conversation, the person could see the other side
of the situation.

Sources and Acknowledgement

1. Source: Quintcareers