How to exactly answer top job interview questions !

1. What does success mean for me?

For me success is equal to results. As only the results are counting.
It is obvious that activities are generating the results. Therefore I would feel also great, and it will be also a success for me, if I will receive appreciation of affords I have to put in these activities.

So summing up:
1.success means for me results

1. personal appreciation
2. success is also very important when going it in the team. When the team will be the part of the success.

2. What Motivates You?

I've always been motivated by the desire to do a good job at whatever position I'm in. Challenging task and responsibility for the project motivate me also a lot. I am also happy and motivated when I achieved the goals in the team. I have also great personal satisfaction when my company's clients get the best customer service I can provide. I've always felt that it's important, both to me personally, and for the company and the clients, to provide a positive customer experience.

3. Why do you apply for this job?

I apply to this job due to some reasons. First I am ready for challenge. And in terms of these position it will be a challenge when it comes to change the company as well as the change of the country. Secondly, job description was appealing to me. Furthermore this job seems to be tailored to my competencies, which include marketing. I know that it will be a big step for my new career. And last but not least I think that it will be a great challenge to work directly to manufacturer. As I said earlier I have never been working for manufacturer of products, only for distributors. Additionally I well understand that this company is on the way up. Your Web site says the launch of several new products.

Summing up I strongly believe that my personal experience, knowledge, education background will be great asset to the company and all these features will help me to be successful at this position. I want also to be a part of your company.
What do you think the employee's responsibilities are to the company?
As an employee you have several responsibilities to your employer. They are as follows:
• to perform a good day's work
• to be loyal
• to act as part of the team
• to value the relationship with employees, clients
• to earn the employer's trust
• to grow with a passion for the product/service.

4. Why do you think that you will be successful in this role?

Because I have all skills which effective, goal oriented marketing specialist should have like:
good WRITTEN COMMUNICATION to write promotional briefs. I am PERSUASIVE to persuade colleagues to pursue a particular line of action, good at ANALYSING the pricing and key features of products, good INVESTIGATOR to be able to research the market, consumers and competitors, and well ORGANISED to manage stock levels and to plan withdrawal or launching of products from/into the market. I can meet client’s needs. I have other skills and attributes include dynamism, verbal communication, an ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines, numerical ability, flexibility, drive, creativity, imagination, multi task, presentation skills, team work, and, perhaps above all, the ability to influence others. I am also able to multi task, effectively meeting deadlines, willingness in taking on responsibilities, acceptance of new challenges, and I function well in a team oriented environment.
Furthermore I have marketing knowledge which I reach at the university during my study. I think that my education background and theory on marketing I have is a strong asset. It is obvious that the theory is important but experience is essential in marketing area. Therefore I remain informed as I follow developing marketing trends up to date reading magazines, books. By my previous experience, on what I have been doing so far and due to those backgrounds I see myself successful to this role, as I am energetic, positive and motivated.
I am also familiar with products and solution you offer as I have contact with your applications and terminals at my current company. I am good and I can be responsible for developing strategic and tactical marketing plans with the objective of driving sales and profitability. Additionally I can manage to implement the research and development of new marketing initiatives. I am able to manage new product market introductions; develop marketing plans including direct mail, Internet marketing, public relations activities, conventions/trade shows, and advertising. I am ready to forecast, track, analyze and communicate ad campaign responses, manage the web contents, write product inserts, write and send bulk emails, and manage the design processes for collateral, presentations, and newsletters. I would like to develop and maintain an expert knowledge of the market, our customers and our competitor's strengths and weaknesses. In addition, I hope that working at marketing department I will be able to provide sales support/tools and work with the sales reps or business partners to develop strategies in order to grow sales and profits.
This is why I think that I can be a person who will add value to the (company name) organization. I hope to be your solution on the problems or demand you have in your organization concerning marketing and communication area. I feel that my background in marketing and my two years experience in (company name) really makes me a strong candidate.

5. What is my career plan for the coming 4-5 years?

Although it's certainly difficult to predict things far into the future, I know what direction I want to develop toward. Within five years, I would like to become the very best marketing expert your company has. I learn quickly on the job and am willing to take classes and workshops to augment my experience. I do not think in terms of titles...I think more in terms of "How can I solve this problem? How can I be a top performing employee? Like That Text Since this has been my career style to date, I do not imagine it to change. I would like to add also that my professional growth is linked with the growth and goals of the company therefore when I will discover that company is developing in new directions I would like also to develop that way to get exposed to wider my responsibilities, activities, as I have a desire to get more responsibilities after certain period, to be able to grown in my position and to remain challenged and to develop myself through the position. I open for new position new responsibilities as after I will be able to assume (take on) greater responsibilities and add more value to the organization, just to follow famous saying that we have all the time a room for improvement, to develop our skills by internal or external trainings. In five years, I plan on enhancing my skills and continuing my involvement in (related) professional associations. I feel I will have continued to learn, to grow into a position of more responsibility and will have made a significant contribution to the organization. So as you can see my long-term goals involve growing with a company where I can continue to learn, take on additional responsibilities, and contribute as much of value as I can.

6. What do you like the most about your (current) job?

I like to be responsible for the whole project. As I like to control the project from the start till the end. To take full responsibilities and create the team which I can manage, so I like to be fully responsible from A to Z

Another thing I really like about my current job is that it allowed me to develop the relation and contact with client. In my opinion such contacts building business relations and can give both sides mutual fruitful development. I could also develop my leadership and organization skills. FOR EXAMPLE, I was put in charge of a project where I had to get some help and information from the people from multiple different departments including, IT, Sale, even Service Department. I held all the responsibility for getting this project completed on time, even though I had no real authority over my teammates since they did not report to me. I was able to create a project vision that the team agreed on, and then day-to-day I made sure that each team member completed their work on time.

7. What did you like least about your previous job?

What I liked least about my last job was that the management style was pretty hands off, and this was fine for me because I am self-motivated and work hard to achieve. But the lack of structure sometimes allowed some of my teammates to slack off from time to time -- and I often ended up having to pick up the extra work. I would not mind that SOMETIMES, but it got old after a while. I had to constructively approach my manager and let him know what was going on WITHOUT creating any friction between me and the slacker teammates, who I actually liked as people. In the end, it worked out well, because I was pro-active.

8. Why do you want to leave your current position/company? Why do you look for new challenge?

Since there are no advancement opportunities within the company, I have decided it would be a good time for me to look outside. I have set some career goals for myself that I could not achieve at that company. In fact I have bed internal feeling that I stopped on the position I am having currently. There isn't room for growth with my current employer and I'm ready to move on to a new challenge. As I am achiever I have to do something in order to developing and feel comfortable. Therefore I am looking for is a job with a bigger nationwide company with their background where I can contribute, but also move on a long-term career path that has more responsibility.

9. What do you know about the job we vacant?

As far as I know you are looking for Internal sales / Marketing Specialist, results oriented professional with a proven marketing background, who is going to develop local and international communications materials and programs as well as manage e-marketing activities. I assume that I will be involved on variety of international marketing communications programs, including creating or distributing collateral materials that build awareness, create demand, and generate leads for our products, solutions and services. I know the profile of the person in order and the profile fits.

10. Why do you want this job? / What do you wish to gain from our company?

I want this job as it will be a great challenge for me. An opportunity as seeing my background I was working for distributors only therefore direct contact with manufacturer will be a great experience I would like to have. It will be something new and challenging for me to be able to contact directly the marketing department, to cooperate with the international marketing department, as I will learn and see how manufacturer (the new ways) is doing marketing activities.
I am also very excited to see how you are making new products launching. With my prior experience I know I can provide insights and make contributions immediately. It will be also a great opportunity to meet and use a new technology, see and learn from the corporate structure a new skill, to work with 'experts” teach from them. It will give me much satisfaction. I am sure that is much I can offer and also much for me to learn.

11. 3 strongest/ 3 weakest points?

Strongest
I am motivated and enthusiastic person with positive attitude. A person you can relay on and achieving goals. I am also deadline oriented, problem-solving person and a good team worker. I have ability to focus on projects and work well under pressure. I am also organized and manage my time well. Additionally I am eager to learn and try new ideas and systems.

Weakness
I need to be focused as due to the enthusiasm I am doing some things in parallel and I know it by myself that I have to remain focused on my goals in order not to change a path. Additionally I noticed also that I am sometimes too much concerned with details but I have learnt that delegation solves this aspect therefore I am trying to use it often as possible.
Applying for this position I am also conscious that my weakness might be that I cannot speak Dutch but I think that I will learn it quite quickly.

Would only mention when asked
My weakness has been also my lack of proper planning in the past. I would over commit myself with too many variant tasks, then not be able to fully accomplish each as I would like. However, since I've come to recognize that weakness, I've taken steps to correct it. For example, I now carry a planning calendar in my pocket so that I can plan all of my appointments and "to do" items. Here, let me show you how I have this week planned out . . .

Weaknesses
I enjoy talking to people. Sometimes this can be distracting to the task at hand. I have learned how to politely extract myself from a conversation so that I can get back to my work.

I focus intently on projects. When I am "into" a project, I tend to ignore interruptions, questions, earthquakes!! I have learned to mark my "spot" and look up from a project to pay attention to the person interrupting me. However, I have also learned to go and apologize if I've offended anyone by ignoring them!

12. What have you learned from your mistakes?

Good question. I deeply believe that I am able that you are able to learn from my mistakes. Although it takes some time to examine your own behavior so that you can learn and grow and be a better employee. Well, I have been successful at every job I have had, but I have had the normal ups and downs. I'd say that I do actively try to monitor my work habits and the quality of my work so that I can constantly be improving myself. FOR EXAMPLE, I have had one or two hiccups with customers where their satisfaction was not where I thought it was. I learned that I have to really monitor certain difficult customers closely and "take their temperature", feedback so I can keep their satisfaction level as high as possible.

13. Do you live in Poland now? How I integrate myself?

If I got this job I am ready to relocate to Nederland. It is a big step, a big challenge for me. Well how I integrate myself. I think that the most important will be to study (language) in order to feel better in a new country and new company. I think that the biggest barrier for me is the language therefore I will have to put a lot of efforts to study (language) hardly. Before I decided to apply for this position I had discussion with my parents, my friends, the closest as I wanted to know their opinion and get their support. As I said earlier it was for me very serious decision and I really thought over this step.

14. Are you 9 to 5 person?

AS I said before I am really focused on my project I have to do currently at my job therefore when I have to meet some deadline I am not watching the clock and I am working as long and as hard to meet deadline or keep promise I made to my client or my boss or my team.

15. How do you handle conflict? Are you able to handle stress and work under pressure, for example deadlines?

I know everything cannot run smoothly at work all the time. When there is a conflict I usually try to determine the source of the problem and see if it can be solved. This might involve other members of the work team discussing the problem and offering possible solutions. I try to take a systematic approach to problem solving where I take the time to gather the relevant data, clearly define the problem or goal, then come up with possible solutions. I think it is important to get the information and clarify the problem first before you start coming up with possible solutions, or wasting other people's time. I would then try to pick the solution which appears to have the best outcome and put it into action.
On the job, there are many possible sources of conflict. Conflicts with:
• fellow employees
• management
• rules, procedures
• clients, customers
• demands of work vs personal life, family
Have you ever had a conflict with a boss? How was it resolved?
Yes, I have had conflicts in the past. Never major ones, but certainly there have been situations where there was a disagreement that needed to be resolved. I've found that when conflict occurs, it's because of a failure to see both sides of the situation. Therefore, I ask the other person to give me their perspective and at the same time ask that they allow me to fully explain my perspective. At that point, I would work with the person to find out if a compromise could be reached. If not, I would submit to their decision because they are my superior. In the end, you have to be willing to submit yourself to the directives of your superior, whether you're in full agreement or not.
Stress?
Workplace stress is an issue for everyone. Of course I can deal with stress and cope with difficult situations. I am also trying to act calm under pressure, and know how to avoid stress in the first place through planning and time management. Well I think it is important to remember that stress effects everyone, and it is inevitable that sometimes people are going to have bad days. That is why I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they seem to have a short fuse. What I do personally is try to control my response to a situation. You can't necessarily control what happens to you, but you can control your response. What I try to do is lengthen the time between the stressful situation and my response -- so that I can identify the cause of the stress and decide what I can do about it. FOR EXAMPLE, on several occasions I have had to deal with very irate customers who actually yelled at me. What I did was stay calm and not let them get under my skin. I really tried to listen and decide exactly what it was that was at the root of their problem. Then I provided solutions that could be completed within a specific time-frame. I always find that it is best to face those types of situations head-on and be objective about them. I do my best to be professional and not get my emotions involved. Also, I try to avoid stress in the first place by tackling difficult tasks or conversations sooner rather than later.

16. Salary?

Just make me an offer which I can’t refuse based on my education, experience, knowledge and capacity.

17. What was your role in your department's most recent success?

Be prepared with at least three examples concerning your recent successes, and make sure at least one of them relates to teamwork and something you accomplished as part of a group. Make sure you address how your work made other people FEEL, as well as the time you saved and the revenue or cost-savings you generated.

I guess that would be a recent project for client "X." I handled all of the communication with the client for our last project. It was a three month long project where my team had to build a custom package based on the needs of client. I was instrumental in translating the client's business needs into detailed product features. I had to make sure that my team understood what the client wanted, and then check the quality to make sure that we were delivering a quality product with the features that the client was expecting.

Well, it was an ongoing process that required a lot of communication and teamwork with my team as well as the client. I think my role really was to clarify the scope of the project, and then "manage the client's expectations." We were able to deliver on time, and the client was thrilled! I was able to make sure no time was wasted on adding unnecessary features, and since we were working on a fixed bid price, we saved my company time and money. My manager and everybody on my team felt great because the project went so smoothly.

18. Describe a situation when working with a team produced more successful results than if you had completed the project on your own.

I think that I am good team worker-player. I have an ability to solicit ideas from others, listen carefully, and persuade people to my point of view. I have worked both independently and as a member of team, throughout my career. I enjoy both, and can do both equally well. I will have to say, though, that working with others can bring the great results for projects specifically when it comes to brainstorming. Usually, I try to get everyone involved in coming up with new solutions by making time for sessions where "there are no wrong ideas or answers." The creativity of a group of people is always going to be greater than that of one person, and thus the results will be more successful. Working with others allows you data-mine other people's skills and experiences, get perspectives and ideas that you would not have on your own, and check the quality of your own work before it goes out the door. FOR EXAMPLE, at Job at Hit I am working with many great people. Especially before exhibitions we need such meetings in order to discussed the details of our advertising materials, booth etc. I would not have been able to do my job as effectively without them.

19. If I were to ask your boss to describe you, what would they say?

I believe they would say I'm a very energetic person, that I put my mind to the task at hand and see to it that it's accomplished. They would say that if they ever had something that needed to be done, I was the person who they could always depend on to see that it was accomplished. They would say that I always took a keen interest in the subjects I was studying and always sought ways to apply the knowledge in real world settings. Am I just guessing that they would say these things? No, in fact, I'm quite certain they would say those things because I have with me the letter of recommendation from my previous boss, and those are her very words. Let me show you . . .

21. If you had to live your life over again, what would you change?

That's a good question. I realize that it can be very easy to continually look back and wish that things had been different in the past. But I also realize that things in the past cannot be changed, that only things in the future can be changed. That's why I continually strive to improve myself each and every day and that's why I'm working hard to continually increase my knowledge in the marketing field. That's also the reason why I want to become the very best specialist at your company has ever had. To make positive change. And all of that is still in the future. So in answer to your question, there isn't anything in my past that I would change. I look only to the future to make changes in my life.

Be positive:)