in this video i'm going to share a strong example answer to the conflicting priorities interview
question now this question might be asked in many different formats such as how do you prioritize
your work or workload how do you prioritize tasks or how do you manage conflicting priorities
all based around priority setting now in order to use a similar answer in your own interview you'll
need to understand why the key elements are strong so that you can create your own variation and i'll
cover that as well in this video i'm Amri Celeste a career coach and hr recruitment specialist with
over 10 years hiring experience and i make videos on how to help you secure the job that you want so
if you are job hunting do like and subscribe it really helps out this channel so first
why do interviewers ask what do they want to hear in your answer three main things that you're able
to stay calm in a pressurized situation where lots of tasks have varying levels of importance
and you don't crumble when you have more than one important or urgent task or when
someone puts pressure on you that you're able to identify the most urgent tasks and prioritize them
even when there are other things to be done and that you know what factors help to identify a
priority now this last one is important because often a task might be considered important by
managers colleagues clients or customers but it might not be the most important priority
when you have multiple conflicting priorities and as a result you can end up dealing with tasks from
those who shout the loudest or panic the most as opposed to the most important task that has the
biggest impact and this could be on the company or an individual like a customer or a client so i
mentioned at the beginning of this video that this question could be asked in many different formats
so in your interview you could be given example scenarios that may occur in the job that you're
interviewing for so your interviewer could give you for example say three tasks and ask you to
put them in order or prioritize them in order of which you would do first but they're essentially
measuring the same thing now in order to give the best answer to this question whichever format it's
asked in your answer should clearly outline what the conflicting priorities are explain
what factors you had to consider and what you ultimately decided to prioritize and why now the
easiest way to make sure that your answer fits all these points is to use the star interview method
if you've seen any of my videos on interview answers you know that i recommend using the
start interview method often because it's such a common framework that interviewers use to assess
your answer if you don't know what this is star method stands for situation task action result and
it will ensure that your answer hits all the key points that the interviewers are often looking for
so now i'll share an example answer and i'll show you after how it fits the star method
as a receptionist my job involves a lot of multitasking i cover reception book in visitors
answer phones and order stationery along with many other tasks i work alongside another colleague who
also covers reception one day my colleague was off sick and i had to cover reception on my own
so i ended up with lots of conflicting priorities and this was on a day when we had to order lunches
for a large director's meeting the following day plus i had lots of email requests to replace
printer ink because people had lots of important documents to print the phones were ringing off
the hook and i had a steady stream of visitors the first conflicting priorities i had to address were
visitors and callers arriving at the same time i prioritized visitors as they were often arriving
for important meetings that started shortly after they arrived whereas the majority of phone calls
were queries that were not as urgent i made sure that any visitors to the building were not
left waiting for a long time even if i was already taking a call i would ask the caller to hold while
i thank the visitor for waiting and determine the time of their meeting if it was about to start i
would register them quickly and if not i would ask them if they would mind taking a seat for
two minutes while i finish off the call the next thing i did is ask for help i asked if anyone in
the office could cover the reception desk for an hour and many of my colleagues were happy to help
i used this hour to first order lunches for the director's meeting as a priority as this was the
next day and then i ordered printer ink on fast delivery i also used this time to take a quick
break myself it was a busy and demanding day with lots of priorities that kept changing by the hour
but in each case i assessed the most important priority and i made sure i communicated to anyone
affected so they understood that i still had their priority in mind ultimately i was able
to complete the most important tasks successfully without disruption or complaints now this is just
one answer there are a ton of common situations that pop up at work that could be used for example
a complaint or phone call from a key customer that comes in when you're due for a meeting or
an important engagement multiple requests from colleagues who need something done like if you
work in it hr or another support function you can commonly have many people at once that need help
or you could be asked to help out with a task or project at the last minute when you already have
your day planned and this could easily create a conflict of priorities if you're getting value
from this video please do click like it really helps this video get shown to more people who are
looking for this interview answer now i also know that this answer is specific to a receptionist
job but the key elements of this answer can be used in any interview the reason i recommend
this type of answer is because this answer highlights a particularly difficult situation
where not only are there conflicting priorities but they keep changing on a regular basis
due to the busy job and the tasks required so first we have the callers and visitors coming
through at the same time then the second set of priorities the director's lunches and printer ink
for important documents now in your own answer you should explain your own situation just like this
where you show what the priorities were what you chose first and why but one of the important
things that pushes this answer over the top is that it also demonstrates that you're dedicated
to your job and giving quality service pausing the call to let visitors know you won't belong
but it also demonstrates strong communication skills and a good relationship with colleagues
as if you had a bad relationship you likely wouldn't be as comfortable to communicate
and ask for help so in your own answer you can also show that you asked for help if there were
two things just as important that both have the same deadline the last thing that makes this
answer really strong is that the priorities kept changing so if you can show in your own answer
many different priorities and your awareness of constantly being flexible enough to reprioritize
when an urgent task comes up this will put your answer over the edge but it also perfectly fits
the star interview method i mentioned earlier so we can see the situation which is covering
reception a colleague being off sick and lots of important tasks that need to be done
then the task is to decide on the priority hour by hour as things change throughout the day
your action shows how you dealt with a situation where there are two priorities
such as a visitor and a caller and the result you were able to complete tasks successfully without
disruption or complaints now if you regularly get stuck on tough interview questions and answers
i've created a guide just for you with the top 20 interview questions and answers now this guide is
packed with a ton of example answers including answers to difficult questions such as why
should we give you the job what is your greatest weakness and how do you handle pressure at work
it also includes an important bonus question and what you should be asking your interviewers
at the end of your interview and you can download that for free there's a link in the description
to that below this video what you should not do when you're answering a question about conflicting
priorities don't give vague situations that don't clearly specify what the conflicting priorities
are when someone asks a question like this it's easy to talk about how it should be dealt with
or how you might usually deal with this type of situation without giving a specific example an
answer that wouldn't be as strong for example might be something like i think the ability to
prioritize is key i'm very organized so whenever i have multiple priorities i always make sure i
address the most important first if customers are affected i'll make sure i deal with them first
or if there's a financial impact to the company although this isn't a bad answer because it
shows what factors you'd be considering when you're deciding what a priority is
it doesn't address what the interviewer will be looking for it's very vague it doesn't include
an example which allows the interviewer to see you to imagine you in a situation where you dealt with
and resolved a conflicting priority this answer is pretty much your overall view on dealing
with conflicting priorities without any specific example so being specific is key when answering
this question mastering a good answer to tough interview questions like these is not the only
thing that helps you to secure the job you also need to create the type of connection with your
interviewer that leaves an impact so how do you do this one of the ways is through confidence
researching the job the company and the interviewer and asking the type of questions that
show your passion and your interest in the job and the person interviewing you this is a whole
separate topic but you do need to nail these areas to pass your interview so i have two resources for
you one is my interview prep checklist video simple straight to the point key areas that
you need to cover when you're preparing for your interview and the second is an ultimate interview
prep guide that i created just for you this is a solid guide for how to prepare for your interview
in a way that leaves an impact it includes examples of top key skills that you can give
your interviewer what to research and where you should be looking but also the types of questions
that you should be asking your interviewer in your interview if you haven't already like subscribe
and tap the notification bell thank you so much for watching and i'll see you in the next video