Blog: Maureen Clarry

Ready...let's get started. "Raise your hand if you are involved in a BI team." OK, that's a lot of hands. "Raise your hand if you are doing a pretty good job of implementing BI in your organization." Hmmm, not as many, but still quite a few. "Raise your hand if you experience challenges in your BI team related to technology." Ah, a few half-raised arms and the ever-popular-kinda-shrug. "Raise your hand if you experience challenges in your BI team related to PEOPLE." Whoaaaa, no need to raise BOTH hands and start "The Wave," I get the picture!

I am a life-long student of people. Born into a family of eight kids, married into a family of nine siblings, proud mother of 4 unique individuals, one-and-only wife of too-good-to-be-true husband. As a former systems engineer/manager in two Fortune 5 companies and CEO of a BI consulting firm for the last 15 years, I've seen my share of people challenges, but I'll never consider myself an expert. I like helping people learn from my experiences and am always anxious to learn from yours. Let's chat about your people issues, challenges and suggestions while being respectful and focusing on solutions related to BI PEOPLE.

February 13, 2007

Beyond specific technical questions, Maureen's favorite interview questions and some believe-it-or-not but true responses.

Here are some of my favorite questions; what are yours?

Question: Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a co-worker.
Strange but true response: “Sheila really pissed me off so I waited until she was in the hallway where everyone could hear and then I reamed her. I yelled and let her have it! I really showed her!”

Question: What’s the last thing you did to improve yourself?
True but telling response: “Nothing.”

Question: What was the business impact of your last project?
Boring but true response: “We provided better reports.”

Question: (Asked after you “close” the interview and the candidate is relaxed)…What do you do for fun?
Candid but uninspiring response: “Drink beer and watch TV.”

Question: Tell me about a time you made a big mistake. What happened and what did you do?
Response: “I never make mistakes.”
Pleeeezzzee!!

Question: What is one word a previous boss used to describe you?
Response: “Couch Potato.”
(Not a great description AND it’s TWO words!)

Any interesting questions? Any entertaining responses?

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