“Tell me about a time you were unable to meet an
important deadline. How did you handle this?”
■“There was one job I had where I was unable to satisfy the
customer’s request. I had done everything in my power to
pull it off, but I had to call and talk to the customer and
convince him that I needed two or three more days before
I could complete his job. He wasn’t happy, but when I told
him about the quality that I was striving for, he allowed me
three extra days. As it turned out, I only needed a day and a
half before I was able to complete the project and send it
to the customer.”
■“I have never really been unable to meet a deadline, but
there was one time in my career when I almost broke my
record.The upgrades had not arrived for me to complete
the installation of parts in a machine. Even though I had
placed numerous calls to try to expedite the shipment,
they weren’t going to make the deadline. I got on the
phone and called every local supplier that I could find. I
was able to find a small shop that said that if I were willing
to drive across town, they would have the parts ready for
me. I did, and I was able to meet my deadline and hold my
record of never missing a deadline.”
■“This is an unfortunate story that I prefer not to tell, but
since you asked, I will tell you about an order that did not
get shipped and cost the company several thousands of
dollars. I hadn’t verified shipment of an order, which I nor-
mally did, and it was late getting to us and in turn we didn’t
get it to the customers when they needed it. The order was
cancelled, and the revenue lost. I learned a valuable lesson
about follow-through from that experience.”
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