A business’s operations expert oversees workflow across all departments, and this role aims to maximize daily operations and overall business performance. Depending on the industry, an operations expert may advance to a supervisory, management, or analyst role, although this usually requires a bachelor’s degree.
An operations expert must have at least an associate’s degree, with a bachelor’s degree in business ideal. Based on this fact, you must have a bachelor’s degree in business ideal, to have the necessary skills. This article includes the top 25 most common interview questions for this role, which will help you prepare for this interview.
1. What Attracted You To This Position?
Working in this role was my passion. I started dreaming about this role last year in high school, and I had to decide which faculty I would study. But it wasn’t that hard to determine because I almost knew what I wanted to be in the future and what I wanted to deal with my whole life. Then I started studying business in the economy faculty in my hometown, and now I have a bachelor’s degree and am already working as an operations specialist.
2. What Does An Operations Specialist Do?
There are many; I will try to mention as much as I can.
- Assist the business operations manager in planning, organizing, and coordinating business-related tasks.
- Keep the client, customer, contractor, and supplier management system.
- Monitor and budget costs per the finance and accounting department.
- Make tips and suggestions for improvements in any element of improved performance.
- Assist with the onboarding process, which includes screening and interviewing individuals.
- Train new personnel and telling to follow policies and procedures.
- Keep current market trends and industry projections in mind.
- Coordinates with several departments to ensure maximum work output across the board.
3. What Are The Qualifications Of a Successful Operations Specialist?
Also, we need many qualifications for this role.
- Proven expertise in business operations or sales operations. Strong problem-solving and analytical abilities Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills
- Outstanding oral and written communication abilities
- High self-initiative and the capacity to operate well under pressure. Capable of working efficiently with little supervision
- Understanding of general office equipment
- Expertise in technology, particularly Microsoft Office programs
- Physical capacity to stand or sit for long periods during the workday.
4. How Can You Guarantee That You Will Complete Your Every Day Correctly And On Time?
I can guarantee it, and I will prove that with examples of preparing for work that I am doing a day before my work day.
Every day I check what my tasks are for the next day, and I make a schedule for them. The program includes parts which are meant for a period. I estimate how much time I will need for each task, and based on this program, I am making a plan with which job I will start first. I always start with the easiest and the hardest, leaving for the end. This type of work gave me the best results in the past.
5. How Do You Deal With Disagreements In The Operations Team?
As you know, disagreeing in every company or team seems normal. I disagreed with one of my colleagues in my previous job but never took it that personally. We are not the same, and it’s okay to have a different way of thinking from someone else. For example, I always listen to what other colleagues say, and if they are correct, I follow them, but if I am sure that my way is better, I try to explain in the best possible way. Sometimes some colleagues try to create conflict in this situation, but I am always calm and don’t allow them to make me angry.
6. How Do You Keep Track Of Everyday Operations And Guarantee That Issues And Problems Are Addressed Quickly?
I have to say that I am an excellent problem solver, and I often led the team for our company’s projects. As you might suspect, there are always some unpredictable situations in almost every project. But, I have pretty good communication and problem-solving skills, and my team and I consistently devise a solution for every problem. Also, I always pay attention to details and can address every little issue.
7. Tell Me About A Challenging Circumstance And How You Handled It.
I have about nine years of experience, and I have faced a lot of challenging situations. For example, I was on sick leave, but our firm had a crucial project. The day I started working was the last day for the project to be done. But, there were some complications, and the team was terrified that we would lose that client. I wasn’t panicked as them; I studied the project as much as possible then and found the only solution. It worked out, and everyone was happy, but we didn’t tell anything to the client about the problem, and everything was fine.
8. How Would You Handle An Angry Client?
I have many situations, but I will tell you my most significant ones. One of our clients was our boss’s best friend. He often came into the office; that’s how we know about it. That day he came in angry, something was happening with his business, and he wanted us to do one project in a concise amount of time which was impossible. But thanks to my communication skills and my ability to calm people. In this type of situation, I changed his mind. Then, he gave us enough time to finish the whole project.
9. Describe An Occasion When You Went The Extra Mile For A Customer.
We have clients that were ours all the time. We tried to make everything for them to keep them in our company. For example, at that time, we had a lot of clients, and we were busy all the time. One of our old clients asked me to take on one project, which took me a long time to work on. But because he was our old client, I accepted the offer immediately. I worked overtime for about one week, but I finished it successfully. My boss and the client were delighted.
10. What Types Of Challenges Do You Seek In This Position?
I am very ambitious and always ask for more challenges and adventures. I have worked in this field before, but there is always a place for something new. It may be more attractive to multitask, like working on similar projects for different clients—more and more work. And a bigger team than my previous one, it’s way more enjoyable to work with more diverse people and challenging. I want to meet new people and managers and learn something new from the older and the younger.
11. What Is Your Project Management Approach?
My style of managing is one and only. I am always trying to make everything correctly in a short time. For example, I had to complete a project with a tight deadline while working independently. The priority was to shift the burden. I called a meeting, and we planned the project. After outsourcing most of the extra work to myself, I requested volunteers to help with them. I chose a fast-paced management style. I set a quick pace, taking over the position from team members who could not complete it and allocating it to others. We concluded the project quite tired but simultaneously delighted because it was successful.
12. What Is One Project You Handled That Has Numerous Involved Teams? How Did You Handle The Problem, And What Was The Outcome?
Sometimes, we had to work with multiple teams, which seemed difficult initially. I used to work with about 40 or more people at once. But there were other “leaders” from the other teams. We tried to listen to everyone’s ideas about the project and work like a real team without misunderstandings. There was the pressure, of course, but we knew that we all had the same goal, motivating us to work harder, which had great results.
13. What Do You Do When You Have A Limited Budget Or A Scarcity Of Resources? Have You Ever Experienced A Similar Challenge?
Of course, I have had this situation multiple times. We worked with companies that were on a low budget. Some of them were our old clients, and some of them were not. If the budget wasn’t that much low, we were accepting the offer. Regarding our senior clients, even if the budget at that time was down, we knew that he would stay working with us, and we were also accepting the offer. But, there were times when the budget was meagre, and we couldn’t work for that much money, so we made offers based on the client’s situation. Most of the time, they accepted the request, for which we were both satisfied.
14. Have You Ever Struggled To Fulfil Business Objectives With Your Team? How Did You Deal With The Situation?
In my past years of experience, I have seen almost everything that can happen in this role. There were challenges and hard times. For example, three years ago, one of our team members did something wrong, which made our client angry. The client wanted to leave our company, and we will lose a large sum of money and one of our oldest clients. I phoned the client and recognized their dissatisfaction with the issue. I kept a collaborative, calm tone and let him rant about the circumstance. We corrected the case, and then everything was fine.
15. What Would Your Ideal Company Culture Look Like?
The ideal business culture allows me to learn and grow as a professional while building on my present talents.
That would be a work atmosphere where I can share my thoughts and ideas about the work and successfully interact with the people around me to achieve a shared objective.
16. What Is Your Typical Day As An Operation Specialist?
I’ll outline some of the activities I as an operations specialist, perform daily
- Examines financial records, sales or activity reports, or other performance data to determine productivity or target attainment or to discover cost-cutting or program-improvement opportunities.
- Directs and organizes the actions of enterprises or departments involved in product manufacturing, pricing, sales, or distribution.
- Directs administrative operations are directly tied to producing of goods or services.
- Creates staff work schedules and assigns specified responsibilities.
- Monitors suppliers to ensure they provide essential products or services efficiently and effectively while staying within financial constraints.
17. What Tactics And Thinking Are Necessary For This Role?
To succeed in this role, you should have many necessary skills. For example, you should be a great communicator with almost everyone, like your boss, your clients and also your coworkers. Also, it would help if you were an active listener, and you should listen to your coworker’s ideas and help each other. And finally, you must sound confident, so your boss and client believe in your skills.
18. Why Do You Think That You Are Qualified For This Position?
It’s like that because I have everything you need. I am confident that my experience and ability to communicate and collaborate with everyone make me a strong candidate for this position. Also, I am open to new experiences and want to learn new things here. Every time I can update my skills based on what we are looking for at the moment.
19. What Will You Do If One Of Your Clients Is Unsatisfied With His Previous Experience?
We are always doing everything we can for our clients. I have a previous experience with this. We worked on multiple projects, and I had to manage the team. At the same time, one of our past clients told us that he is not satisfied with our service and wants to improve it for his next project, or he won’t be our client in the future. Above all, I accepted all the critics, and I asked him if there was something we could do with our last project. He told me what he wanted, and I corrected it independently.
20. Would You Agree To Train, Our New Employees?
Yes, of course. The company had new employees in my previous workplace who needed training every year. I invented the training program, and because of my experience, the program was accepted, and they wanted me to be the trainer. I was patient with them and taught them a lot about this role. And thanks to my professional training program, most of them stayed in our company as employees.
21. You Told Me Everything About When You Were A Leader. Can You Be A Follower Too?
As you know, I wasn’t a leader at the beginning of my career. For me, following the other was very easy. In the front, I had no experience, and I wanted to learn more and more. I learned a lot from my leaders, and I think they have a share in the leader I am today.
22. Can You Assist In The Upgrading Of Old Processes And Procedures?
Of course, yes. I am always trying to find a way for an easier and better solution for our tasks. It will save us time, and that’s the real reason why I want to assist in the upgrading of an old process or a procedure.
23. How Do You Respond To Negative Feedback?
I am calm and don’t take this type of feedback personally. I accept critics because I want to be better than the previous one. After submitting the work, I always tell them that if there is any problem with the project, I want to know and fix it. Sometimes the clients are furious, but they are our clients, and I will do anything to keep them in our company.
24. What Are Your Weaknesses?
I have to say that I have more strengths than weaknesses. I try to implement my strengths. For example, I pay attention to details; sometimes, it is excellent, but sometimes not. Also, I will take the will for multitasking as a weakness. Sometimes it is necessary to multitask, but if you see it as a challenge and if you like it, that can be a problem. But I am trying to control them; of course, I won’t let them affect badly on my work.
25. Where Do You See Yourself In 6 Years?
I see myself as a successful operation specialist who is also a leader of multiple teams. I want to stay in this company for the next six years, learn something new, and gain new experiences. Also, if you are satisfied with my job, I may have some progress.
Conclusion
These are the 25 most common answers for this role. Study them carefully and try to give explanations on your own but still follow this type of concept. With some experience, if you provide the correct answers, you have a big chance of winning the job.
