Speaker 1: 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 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 STAR 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 prioritise 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 had 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 be long, 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 ask 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. Bye.