Interview basic sample questions
1) So, Tell me a little about yourself.
I've been in the food science field for over seven years and I have
gained very good experience in industry. I have worked as
quality assurance specialist in dairy and chocolate company
which was in Kathmandu( Nepal) and Chicago (IL). My most
recent work was Graduate research and teaching assistant in
university of Wisconsin. And now I'm looking to expand my
experience more in food safety sectors or most prominently in
quality side. which is why I'm so interested in joining a big company
like yours where I learn more while giving best output to them.
2) How do you think you'll be a good fit for the position, provided the
scope of your previous professional experience?
As this position requires comprehensive knowledge about the
working principle of lab instruments such as PCR and HPLC,
titration etc, I believe I have good and required knowledge
about them and sound experience about reviewing the data.
Identifying the deviation, flaws and mistakes by reviewing in
statistically and finding the root cause were some task I have
done in previous job. In addition to that, I believe I have
molded myself in the situation where I can extract out the best
of my skills gained from previous experience. My work ethic,
self-starter and never giving up behavior can be a good plus
point for this position.
3) Why did you apply in this organization/Why did you apply?
As my first priority is making career in quality sector. Jane
introduced about the job requirements, about the rotating shift
and working hours, I believed that the requirement for this
position is matched with my experiences and the skills needed for
the role and it is something that I have been doing from past
several years. I applied this job because working with PCR
chromatography and other modern techniques could enhance my
analytic ability and thus help in improve the quality and as for the
reviewing document is most prominent part for quality
improvement.
She also talked about that it is 70% data reviewing and 30% lab
hours.
4) What will you bring to achieve organizational goal? What will you
bring at the table?
5) What relevant experience do you have?
Experience about previous job related to data review
There was a situation, when approving the roasting log came
from DVI machine was read false reading. I was in the shift, after
carefully checking most of the batch didn’t meet the process
parameters. Those pallets which were out of limit were put on
hold. And directed to put them for animal feed. I put all the batch
in excel and ran some statistical analysis such as mean
temperature, standard deviation. After consulting with
manager, based on the result those batch which were
significantly less burnt and close to time and temperature were
reworked. From this experience I have learned that by applying
statistical tools big number of batches can be reworked. And it
helped to utilize knowledge.
6) What is your biggest weakness?
I am too much of a perfectionist.
I work too hard sometimes.
I care too much about my work.
7) What is your greatest Strength?
My strong work ethic, self-starter and never giving up to the
challenge.
8) Describe a time when you had a disagreement, and how you
handled it (decision UMN/Disagreement )
In the weekend shift, our chocolate coating trucks need to pump in.
it was winter time when the coating get freeze quickly. Our
warehouse team member wanted to pump in even when there was
low temperature. Which they also want to approve from QA. I was at
the situation and reject to pump in because freezed coating can block
the pipeline and motor. It was the disagreement against warehouse
team and transportation team. From this incident, it helped me to
not take quick action eventhough production team wanted. I was
able to think scientifically about the situation. Next day my team and
manager appreciate the decision.
9) Describe a time you had to manage multiple competing deadlines.
What did you do?
There was a situation when forklift driver mishandled the big stacks
of pallets, pallets were containing regular and dark chocolate. I was
at the situation and it was weekend where only I was working. At the
same time there was time for auditing and multiple FFA test for good
and bad oil which I need to test and make report before the deadline.
I talked to manager who was in vacation and started segregating
affected bricks. For identifying the type I took viscosity and total
soluble solid by refractometer and set up the sensory test. For that
amount of bulk, it took 13 hours to complete. From this I was able to
prioritize the work and gave more emphasis on the work that has
more value.
STAR
There was a situation in bark thin production line. Enrober and piece
breaker was not producing right size of barkthin. Our manager told
us to take data in every 2 hours and run them in excel to see the mean
diameter, and standard deviation.
Data reviewer
10) How do you handle stress?
I actually work better under pressure, and I've found that I enjoy
working in a challenging environment. As working in manufacturing
company, I thrive under quick deadlines and multiple projects. I find
that when I'm under the pressure of a deadline, I can do some of my
most creative work. For example, when I was assigned for the new
project bark thin, for that line I gave my foremost priority such as
changeovers, allergen test, auditing of that line, corrective action
and calibration of the equipment’s. I was assigned to report about
the average width and length of barkthins in every two hours. As a
result after that there was not any issue occur and the probation
period for the line was successfully completed. I used the pressure of
that deadline to harness my creativity and focus.
There was situation, when our company launching new dietary
supplement. I was assigned to measure the process parameters of
the dumolin line. I stayed 14 hours by the line and checked every
deviation and parametes.
Sample Questions for interviewer
What do you most enjoy about your work with this company?
What are some of the major skills and abilities necessary for
succeeding in this job?
How does this company define and measure success?
How long you are in avexis? And what project you are working
for?
