 |
|
Because of the need
for the modern organization to continuously drive for improvement
as a means to assure competitiveness and survival in the marketplace,
employers are
beginning more and more to seek individuals who have an entrepreneurial
spirit and who are willing to take reasonable risks. As a result,
you may begin to see more job interview questions having to do
with the subject of risk taking.
Here are some examples of the kinds of questions you may encounter
during the course of your interview discussions:
- What is your feeling about the importance of taking risks in
today's business climate?
- Tell me about some business risks that you took recently.
- What were the risks you took?
- What were the results?
- What is the biggest business risk that you have ever taken?
- What was the magnitude of the risk (the possible consequences)?
- What compelled you to take the risk?
- What was the outcome?
- Would you do anything differently?
- Tell me about some risks you elected to take in order to bring
certain improvements about.
- What were the risks?
- What improvements were you aiming for?
- How did things work out?
- If you had to rate your willingness to take business
risks on a scale of 1 to 10 ( 10 = extremely high, 5 = average.
1 = extremely low), what rating would you choose and why?
- Give some examples of innovations that you brought about that
required some risk taking on your part.
- What were the innovations?
- What risks did you assume?
- What
were the results?
- Do you feel it is more important to take risks or to be reliable
and thorough? Why?
- In your opinion, what is the difference between
prudent risk
taking and imprudent risk taking?
- Do you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur? Why?
- What business
risks have you taken that backfired on you?
- What was the nature of the each risk?
- What was at stake in each?
- What were the consequences of your decisions?
- Would you take
these same risks again?
- In hindsight. what risk do you 11WSt regret not having taken?
Why?
- What was the nature of this risk?
- What were the stakes of being wrong?
- Why did you elect not to take this risk?
- What have you learned
from this experience?
- Would you likely
make the same decision today?
The Classic Answers
In order to present a fuller understanding of effective
answers to interview questions having to do with the subject
of entrepreneurship and risk taking, I have distinguished between
the two basic kinds of organizational cultures - "employee-empowered"
and "controlling." It is unlikely, however, that you
will get many (if any) questions about risk taking from organizations
that favor a controlling style culture, since they are not really
looking for risk takers.
|
1."On a scale of
1 to 10, I would rate my propensity for risk taking at
about the 8 or 9 level. I believe that being creative,
entrepreneurial, and willing to take reasonable risks
is the only way to bring change and improvement to the
organization. Continuous improvement and increased productivity
require you to constantly question and challenge the way
that things are being done, and it is the only way that
change and improvement can come about. There is always
risk associated with change, but unless you are willing
to take these risks, no progress can be made. Although
I don't believe in being foolhardy about the kinds of
risks I'm willing to take, I am very prone to take prudent
risks in the interests of progress and improvement. "
|
|
2. "On a scale of
1 to 10, I would rate my propensity for risk taking at
about the 8 or 9 level. I believe that being creative,
entrepreneurial, and willing to take reasonable risks
is the only way to bring change and improvement to the
organization. Continuous improvement and increased productivity
require you to constantly question and challenge the way
that things are being done, and it is the only way that
change and improvement can come about. There is always
risk associated with change, but unless you are willing
to take these risks, no progress can be made. Although
I don't believe in being foolhardy about the kinds of
risks I'm willing to take, I am very prone to take prudent
risks in the interests of progress and improvement. "
|
|
3. "I don't believe
that it is the role of employees to make a lot of changes
and take risks. Although I'm certainly prone to make recommendations
for improvement, I believe that the responsibility for
decision making, along with risk taking, really rests
with management. My job, as I see it, is to carry out
management's decisions to the best of my ability and to
achieve the objectives established for my area of responsibility
by my manager. "
|
|
|
