Job Interview Done Well

Summary

In this interview, Nicole shares her enthusiasm for becoming a virtual assistant, discussing her completion of an intensive training program focused on Google Workspace, social media management, and various VA tasks. She highlights her resourcefulness, problem-solving abilities, and strong organizational skills. Nicole also emphasizes her volunteer experience, including managing campaigns for a local politician and gaining hands-on skills in communication and project management. Despite being early in her career, she expresses a strong commitment to learning and contributing to a team, eager to prove her value in the role.

Takeaways

• 😀 Nicole recently completed an intensive 8-week program with African Leadership Accelerator to become a VA, gaining hands-on experience with tools like Google Workspace and common VA tasks.
• 😀 Nicole has experience with social media management, particularly in growing followings for performing artists, and is keen on expanding this skill in a professional setting.
• 😀 She volunteers for a local politician, managing tasks like creating communication strategies, working with data, and organizing physical letter-writing campaigns.
• 😀 Nicole values growth and learning in her career, seeking a role that will challenge her and expand her skill set.
• 😀 Nicole is resourceful, perseverant, and excels in problem-solving, often taking on difficult tasks that others may have given up on.
• 😀 Nicole is skilled with numbers, particularly in working with spreadsheets, and enjoys visualizing data for easy comprehension.
• 😀 She highly values teamwork, maintaining positive relationships with colleagues and fostering collaboration with diverse individuals.
• 😀 When faced with failure, Nicole takes responsibility, learns from the experience, and makes improvements to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
• 😀 Nicole is careful with sensitive information, taking steps to secure documents with password protection and limiting access to trusted individuals.
• 😀 Nicole is committed to fulfilling her current volunteer role with the mayor, but she is willing to work part-time immediately and transition to a full-time role after providing a month’s notice.
• 😀 Nicole is enthusiastic about the role at ABS, especially the company’s focus on animal welfare, and is excited about the prospect of contributing to their efforts.

Q & A

What motivated you to apply for this role, and what skills make you a strong fit?

Nicole was particularly drawn to the role because it involved social media management, an area she is passionate about. She has informal experience managing social media campaigns for performing artists, seeing a 300% increase in their followers. Additionally, she finds the tasks of booking travel and managing data entry to be enjoyable and easy to handle.

Can you describe the intensive training program you completed and its relevance to this role?

Nicole completed an eight-week, full-time intensive program with African Leadership Accelerator, designed to train virtual assistants. The program covered Google Workspace, soft skills like communication and time management, and hands-on practice in areas such as travel booking, data entry, and project management.

How did your volunteer work with the mayor help you develop the skills needed for this role?

In her volunteer role, Nicole gained experience managing various tasks, including handling communication with a large constituency and developing strategies to improve outreach. She also learned how to organize and prioritize tasks, ensuring they were executed accurately and efficiently, which would be beneficial in the VA role.

What qualities do you bring to the table that would benefit this role?

Nicole considers herself resourceful, persistent, and analytical. She enjoys problem-solving and is not afraid of failure, always learning from mistakes. Additionally, she is proficient with numbers and spreadsheets, and she values teamwork and building positive relationships with colleagues.

How do you handle failure, and can you provide an example from your experience?

Nicole handles failure by owning her mistakes and seeking to correct them. For example, when she missed a deadline for delivering important documents while volunteering for the mayor, she immediately apologized, took responsibility, and implemented a new system to prevent future miscommunications.

How do you approach handling sensitive information, and how did you manage it in your previous role?

Nicole takes the handling of sensitive information seriously. In her work with the mayor, she ensured that sensitive documents were password-protected and accessible only to trusted individuals. She also continuously looked for ways to safeguard data.

What challenges did you face while volunteering with the mayor, and how did you navigate them?

One challenge was a miscommunication regarding a deadline for delivering documents. Nicole addressed the issue by apologizing, communicating openly about the error, and creating a new system to track deadlines and keep the mayor updated, which improved their workflow.

Why are you looking to leave your current volunteer role for this opportunity?

While Nicole values her current volunteer work, she is seeking a role that will offer more growth opportunities, challenges, and the chance to expand her skill set. She believes the position would allow her to further develop her expertise, especially in social media management.

What do you think is essential for succeeding in this role, based on your understanding of the job?

Nicole believes that a strong learning orientation, tech-savviness, and the ability to collaborate with others are crucial to succeeding in the role. Her interest in social media, coupled with her enthusiasm for working with diverse teams, aligns well with the role's requirements.

How would you manage the balance between your current volunteer work and starting this new role?

Nicole expressed her commitment to honoring her current volunteer work's one-month notice period but proposed a creative solution of working part-time while transitioning. She suggested working 10 hours per week initially and negotiating a tapering-off schedule with the mayor's office to ramp up her availability for the new role.