6. Tell me about a time when you had to learn something new within a short deadline.The interviewer wants assurance that you can learn new skills under pressure. The goal of your response is to show the hiring authority that you are willing to put in the effort required to learn new skills, even when it may seem difficult. This question also presents an excellent opportunity to express that you accept workplace changes with poise. Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 Think about a time you learned a new task or responsibility with little advanced notice. Perhaps your company implemented new software on which you had to give yourself a crash course. Maybe you needed to learn and implement a new procedure without notice. Perhaps your employer asked you to attend a workshop at the last minute, or you had to study for a policy exam. These make great real-life examples of times you had to learn something new within a short deadline. Discuss your diligence and actions to learn the content, task, or responsibility within a short timeline. Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 Behavioral-based interview questions that begin with 'Tell me about a time...' are best answered using the STAR method. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Organizing your response using this framework will ensure that you provide the interviewer with the right amount of information and detail to form a compelling answer. Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 Avoid giving a general answer regarding your ability to learn new skills quickly. Stay away from vague statements like, 'This happens to me every day! I am often learning new tasks on the job, and I am always up for a new challenge.' Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 "(Situation) In my most recent role, I was unfamiliar with the hospital record-keeping system at first. (Task) After a few days of on-the-job training, I was able to maintain the hospital record-keeping system, but I still wasn't happy with my fluency. (Action) I found tutorials online and spent evenings training myself to improve. (Result) I became fluent in the program in no time flat. It was nice to dive in, learn the system well, and have that sense of accomplishment early on in my role." Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 "(Situation) When I first began my administration career, I started as a temporary employee with a temp agency. (Task) Because I was placed in a variety of roles that changed weekly and sometimes even daily, I often jumped into positions where there was a lot to learn in a short time. Deadlines were often extremely tight, and technology changed frequently. (Action) I utilized and maximized my resources to the fullest, often learning technical tasks through YouTube tutorials the night before. (Result) I learned plenty of programs and software, and best of all, had fun doing it!" Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 "(Situation) Our agency implemented a new design program recently. (Task) I needed to know the ins and outs of this design program to work effectively on my largest client project. (Action) I hunkered down, put a sign on my cubicle that said, 'Do not feed the animals,' and got to work researching and learning. (Result) Everyone understood that I needed some time, and they reserved calling my name for urgent requests only. I was able to learn the program in just one day, an accomplishment that I am quite proud of." Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 "(Situation) Last year, I earned a promotion to assistant manager with two weeks' notice. (Task) While earning a promotion was super exciting, the promotion was in an entirely different department. From the employees to the merchandise, everything was all brand new to me. (Action) I took the bull by the horns and got to work, learning everything I could about the collections, what sold well, and team dynamics. I wanted to be as efficient as possible right out the gate. I also recognized that I should seek the guidance of the current staff so they knew I valued their knowledge. (Result) Leading with an eager mind and humble heart, I got down to business and up to speed within a week." Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 "(Situation) One instance that stands out is my work with a new student I had this year. This student has special needs, and his parents asked that he attend my Spanish class. (Task) As an experienced teacher, I often have moments of learning on the fly and know that I need to be flexible with all learning levels. (Action) I needed to learn overnight how to best include this student in my classroom without hindering his or the other students' learning. I wanted him to be successful. I read his IEP cover to cover and spoke with his aide and his parents to better understand his needs. (Result) The next day, this student stayed for Spanish and had a huge grin on his face throughout the lesson. It was so rewarding to see how he connected well with the curriculum and the other students." Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 "(Situation) When I started my first car sales position in 2010, I took a salary cut for a highly commissioned opportunity. (Task) I had to hit the ground running to start earning commissions ASAP. I also had to learn about the car industry as quickly as possible so that I could start making appointments and sales. (Action) I spent the first week of this new job shadowing everyone I could, reading industry-related publications, and taking myself through the customer journey and sales cycle. I wanted to understand the entire experience from the customer's perspective. (Result) By the following week, I felt ready and was making appointments and running demos." Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021 "(Situation) Our company recently implemented a new SAP system. (Task) Not only was I tasked with learning the system, but I also needed to train my team of five on the use of the system. (Action) I had two weeks to learn and train, so I took a lot of the modules home, watched a plethora of tutorials online, and even utilized some how-to videos on YouTube. (Result) In the end, I met the goal and was proud of myself for learning a complicated concept under such a tight deadline." Written by Rachelle Enns on December 14th, 2021
"Working as head bartender at TGI Fridays, part of my role was to ensure my team, and I was always up to date with new cocktails/ promotions. As the Christmas season was rapidly approaching, there was several new products and promotions to learn. I took home the latest product information and spent some time learning them and coming up with fun games/ rhymes to help my team learn them. In result, this created a fun, lively atmosphere on the bar and the Bartenders enthusiastically promoting the new products." Written by an Anonymous User  Our Professional Interview Coach Great answer! Again, you follow the STAR method here, which is very beneficial in a behavioral interview. I love your example - it not only shows how you learned something quickly, but also goes above and beyond to show how you also helped others learn that. "Recently, I went on exchange and decided to undertake an intro physics unit to improve my problem-solving skills. However, I underestimated the amount of prior knowledge expected, so I was really struggling to keep up with the content in class. We had a test coming up in a couple of weeks, so I couldn't afford to keep falling behind. I decided to rent out a high school physics textbook to go over the class's expected knowledge. I allocated time to go over all the necessary chapters about rotational kinematics and thermodynamics to learn the foundations before each class. I allocated time to go over these chapters again after class to make sure I could understand everything. As a result, I was now up to date with the content, and I managed to score an A+ on the test despite my initial struggles." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Wow - this is an incredible achievement. You should be very proud of your success. This answer puts a nice spotlight on your diligence and smarts! "When I first began my Analyst career, I started as a temp with an agency. I was placed in roles that changed weekly and sometimes even daily. I had to learn in a short time and deadlines were often due on short notice. I utilized and maximized my resources to the fullest. I had the opportunity to learn more about the industry and felt successful doing it." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Good for you! Years ago, I worked as a temp recruiter and built the utmost respect for those who would adjust well to changing jobs monthly/weekly/daily. This temp work is a great example of adaptability. "Every training I've ever had in the medical sales industry has been like drinking water from a fire hydrant. I value education because I taught high school for many years before switching to corporate sales, and I know how to learn. When I only have a short amount of time to learn something new, I find that YouTube is an excellent resource." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach That first sentence made me laugh out loud! Hilarious but so accurate. I like that you brought in your high school teaching experience (which I hear from my teacher friends is also like drinking water from a fire hydrant) :) I noticed you have mentioned YouTube a few times now. Try branching out to other resources or, as mentioned earlier, be specific on what channels you subscribe to. YouTube isn't always seen as a serious resource since you can learn to do brain surgery but also watch cat videos. "I was tasked to take lead in reviewing and negotiating a complex International Software Agreement worth 80 million on behalf of the company. I quickly had to learn more about the technical operations of the software and conduct in-depth research on Software Agreements and give my comments on the draft Agreement. I quickly learned this and had a successful negotiation. In regards to the company's material contracts, this contract was said to have a zero exposure when due diligence was conducted." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Software is a challenging topic, and it sounds like you nailed it! Good response. "I was tasked to take the lead in reviewing and negotiating a complex International Software Agreement worth 80 million on behalf of the company. I quickly learned about the technical operations of the software and conduct in-depth research on Software Agreements so that I could give my comments on the draft agreement. I quickly learned and was able to lead a successful negotiation." "In my current role, my manager gave me a project that required me to use the software I was unfamiliar with, I went to the internet and I found tutorials about the software, training myself. I have become very good with the software, confident, and manage to execute my task on time. I was proud of myself for that and my manager was very impressed with the results." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Excellent response! You clearly illustrate your orientation to detail and quick learning capabilities. This specific example shows the interviewer exactly how you approach needing to learn a new skill quickly. "For a software development project that I undertook beyond my responsibilities at my company, I realized that using a cloud database was not good enough in and of itself, as it would not allow me to effectively preserve the state of the application after a user stops using the application and logs out, and return that state once the user logs back in. Therefore, I figured that I would also incorporate a local database solution so that the state would be instantly available without having to wait for a response from the cloud, thereby speeding up the application launch and improving user experience. I had only a couple of days to learn this local database solution. In order to do this, I channeled most of my experience with cloud database management, which translated well, and closed the gap by learning about the differences between the two solutions, which turned out to be quite a few. This method allowed me to learn the technology within the allotted time and saved me a lot of headache versus what would have happened if I had sat down and tried to learn it from scratch." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Wow, this sounds like a heavy undertaking! To give even more perspective, I recommend adding details regarding (approx) how long this would have taken an average individual under a more relaxed deadline. "When I started in pharmaceuticals, I was an associate rep. I worked with the territory reps to ensure all their accounts were taken care of. Since I was the #1 associate in my training class, I was given the task of taking over a territory reps' accounts while he went home to visit his family in Indonesia. I had a week to not only learn his entire book of business, but introduce myself to them, and learn how they did business as they were all foreign-based pharmacies that spoke very little English. I was expected to maintain his business and not lose any accounts while he was gone for four weeks. However, I exceeded expectations and grew some of the accounts. I was promoted shortly after doing this to my own territory." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Bravo! It seems that everything you put your mind to turns to gold "” very strong example. "As the Department Coordinator for the School of Education, the Dean wanted me to take on additional responsibility. To implement, issue, and maintain a new course evaluation system. I was the lead on the project. I had to work with Department Chairs to code all course id numbers into the system, create the survey, and maintain all users in the new course evaluation system. I had to learn a brand new system within three months and train all new users. The implementation was successful, and we were able to issue our first course evaluations with no errors." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Wow! This sounds like a huge project, and it sounds like you had to learn a lot very quickly! This is a great example to provide for a question like this. The interviewer will be impressed by your ability to learn quickly and to take charge. "___ college has recently just moved their application process to another system. This is quite a complex system that needs 2 years to build. I was actually the first "superuser" for the system. I have been trained how to use the system in 2 weeks' time and then provide training for other team members. It was short notice at that time but we did not have many options since semester 1 is approaching and the new system has been delayed to launch more than 6 months. I grabbed all the opportunities and times I got within 2 weeks to ask questions, test the system, writing down testing scenarios and test the system functions, provide feedback, and document the process. I was able to train the rest of the team to go through the process and at this stage, we are confident using the system as a whole team." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Excellent response. You clearly demonstrate how you successfully learned a new system in a short period of time and then trained the rest of your team. This shows that you are a quick learner, smart, and a leader who can teach others. Nice! "In one of my previous roles, I asked to join a team that builds a mobile card game using a programming language Java that I wasn't familiar with. After 2 weeks, I was able to implement my first task very easily because I did deep learning for multiple Java tutorials and I tried different websites that helped me to solve some tasks that mock real situations using this programming language, and that helped me to understand this language in a better way." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Wow, very impressive. This is a terrific example, but I'd add some context. Were they short on Java resources? Were you the only person who could learn Java? "When I joined my first job with ____, I had been given the task of hosting a yoga class for the next quarter. Due to my background, I had little to no knowledge of Yoga. I decided to take the challenge head-on and research through youtube and online resources. I hosted the class and had the second-highest attendance of the quarter." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Great answer! You follow the STAR method, and your example demonstrates the ability to learn new skills in a short amount of time, and accept new challenges in the workplace. Good for you! However, it is not clear from your response why you had little to no knowledge of yoga due to your background. Consider revisiting that part of your response to provide the interviewer with more information. "In my current role, I've had to quickly adapt to recruiting and admissions structures, software, and timelines. The information provided by that team has been great, but I needed more so I could train my faculty in participating in both National Portfolio Days and reviews. Researching best practices, I was able to quickly and thoroughly understand the rhythm of the job, and provide guidance to my faculty to bring both teams together." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach This is a rich example to draw from and you've made a good start. If you revised by showing (rather than telling) what and how you learned, that would help the interviewer see your work in action and apply it to the needs of the job. Try using the STAR format which stands for situation, task, action, and result. The STAR format is a useful guideline for structuring narratives. If you'd like to learn more, we have a guide here: Master Behavioral-Based Interviews Using The Star Method "A few years ago, I worked in the _________. Everything was all brand new to me. I was unfamiliar with their internal banking system at first. After a few days on the job training, I was able to maintain the banking system, but I still wasn't happy with my fluency. So, I got to business and learned everything I could about the system processes and team dynamics. I wanted to be as efficient as possible and I also recognized that I should seek the guidance of the current staff, so they knew I valued their knowledge. Leading with an eager mind and humble heart, I got down to business and up to speed within a week." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Great example! You make good use of the STAR framework to organize your response, which is highly beneficial when answering behavioral questions. To further strengthen your response, I recommend expanding on the methods you used to learn about the system processes and team dynamics. What did you do in addition to seeking the guidance of the current staff? "When I was hired as a server at ________ in college, the first thing I was assigned to do was study restaurant specific material on the menu and service standards, then pass a test on those subjects. I set a goal to study for 30 minutes each night and was able to pass my test within a week of getting started." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach You have provided a strong example of a time when you had to quickly learn something new. Great job! "When I transition from my role as RN to the position of an NP, the computer documentation system was a bit different from what I was used to and I needed to learn the system in a short period of time. I made friends with one of the IT personnel who came to help me during my lunch break. With that help, I was able to learn the system faster than expected." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Great example! This clearly illustrates how you used creativity and maximized your resources (example: befriending the IT personnel) in order to achieve your desired outcome. "When I was studying, I was working in a marketing company as a distribution team member. At that time they had, vacancies arise for assisting accounting for the distribution team. So I went to the owner of the company and asked him to give me a chance for that position, he agreed and asked me to learn new software within a half-hour, I did agree as I needed experience in my field. Finally, I made it. I learn the software and I got my first permanent job." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Your answer demonstrates ambition and an ability to learn new skills under pressure. Good for you! Are you able to share any specific tools or techniques you utilized to learn the new software in such a short period of time? ""(Situation) In one research project, I use survey data from training providers to create a measure of provider quality. Until recently, I subjectively selected the most important variables among the large set of available information to create a quality index. Knowing that there exist machine learning methods for variable selection in the field, I was not satisfied by my subjective approach. (Task) Thus, I wanted to improve the measurement of provider quality. I faced a deadline for submission of the research paper for a conference which was two weeks later and this created some time pressure. (Action) In order to learn about machine learning algorithms and their application, I decided to book an online course provided by Stanford University in which I could work through the material at high speed and train myself to a deeper level of knowledge. After working through 20 hours of material, videos, and coding exercises that were automatically reviewed and graded, I knew how I could improve my analysis. (Result) The application of an algorithm for dimensionality reduction improved the analysis a lot and the paper was accepted for presentation at the conference. My approach of learning and applying a state-of-the-art method will help to sell the paper in a future publication process and increases my skill set which is beneficial in all of my future projects."" Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Excellent! This answer definitely shows how you learned something new within a short deadline. It also shows that you were able to identify a weakness in your research process, uncover a quick and thorough way to learn more about how to fix this issue, and follow through by submitting a paper with improved analysis. The interviewer will undoubtedly be impressed. Great job! "For my recent job at ______, since it is a rotational program, the turnover time is quite short. We have one week to learn all the responsibilities of the previous employee. I began by scheduling meetings, asking for work instructions or any documents out there, and discussing plans with my new supervisor. I stayed on late and started early to ensure it would be a smooth transition. It resulted in me understanding my new responsibilities and being prepared to complete the job solo." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Excellent! Your answer definitely demonstrates how you had to learn something new within a short deadline. It also shows that you take initiative, and have a strong work ethic. To further strengthen your response, consider adding additional details to ensure the interviewer has the full scope. For example, you could discuss the number of positions that you ultimately rotated through and had to learn. "20 minutes before opening a disaster recovery site I was put in charge of crowd control. Thousands of people were lined up, and there was a 1/4 mile distance to get to the offices. I assigned a team to work the parking traffic flow and another team to bus the seniors and disabled clients to the site. We were able to move 15,000 - 30,000 people daily with no safety incidents or traffic accidents." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach This is a really strong example of a time when you had to think quickly on your feet. And ultimately you were successful in handling this large and potentially very stressful job. Great job! Perhaps you can talk a bit more about how you decided what to do. Did you research crowd control on your phone? Did you ask someone more experienced than you in this area for advice? Did you just go with your gut and use your logic? "When I was working as a lead coordinator, one of my colleagues had an emergency in his back home country and he needed to travel in the next two days. I was assigned to his project, which required a specialized test called SPIROMETRY. And I had never done this test before. I had to learn in one day as my colleague will be leaving and also I need to conduct a spirometry test on one patient. My colleague taught me to how to perform this test, I took notes of the procedure and stayed long hours to learn. I searched, how to perform the spirometry on youtube and finally, I was confident enough to perform this test without any supervision." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach This is an excellent example! (This example would actually also work for question #31.) "When I first joined, the flexible office facility was at nearly 55% occupied and in disarray. My job was mainly leasing and customer-facing role, but I quickly realized I needed to get a marketing and relationship management strategy in place. We assessed the market and competitor pricing and then I quickly learned Adobe Suite to utilize updated photographs., information, flyers, pricing to actively market the space. We ended up increasing occupancy up to nearly 85-90% consistently through my term and many of the leasing strategies have stayed through to today." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Wow! This is a great stat to include in your answer. Your example clearly shows your ability to quickly learn something new and then use those skills to succeed. Excellent response. "When I returned to school to earn my graduate degree, I was very unfamiliar with some of the computer programs that we had to use for our classes. After a few days, and asking my student colleagues for help while using the programs, I managed to fumble my way through. However, I wasn't happy with my fluency. I devoted weekend time to studying online tutorials and taking classes to get more familiar with the programs. I am happy to report that I am now fluent and I look forward to using the programs now." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach This shows your commitment and willingness to go the extra mile when needed. I'm glad that your hard work paid off and that you now feel well versed in this program! "At one of our grocery stores, we had made a sizeable investment into adding gas pumps outside. This was a huge project that mainly my boss had handled, but when they were about completed we remembered that you had to have a certified manager to operate gas pumps. I rushed off to a certification course and passed the test to become certified and started learning how to manage this new adventure. The result was we were able to operate and did it successfully regardless of the short learning curve." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Your answer demonstrates a can-do attitude and an ability to absorb information and learn new skills under pressure. Good for you! If possible, discuss any specific strategies or techniques you utilized to learn the course material in a short timeframe and successfully pass the certification course. "I had to meet deadline after deadline on a daily basis in my last job. I had to resolve issues generated in systems during workflow with appropriate solutions, in one moment there is one or no problem, and within a few minutes the system is brimming with problems. My Area manager and superior wanted to resolve these problems ASAP for on-time shipment. But I love this busy area, such pressure and deadlines motivated me to learn and work faster, to not waste time on any unnecessary tasks and movement. I think that I eventually became very efficient in my work and hope I will benefit from it in the new job as well." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Great response! It sounds like you work very well under pressure, which is such an important skill set to have. "I had to learn how to manage our inventory with a short deadline. I had to learn how to order supplies and also how to use the software." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Great example. I'd recommend relying on the STAR method to answer this question. Structure your answer so you're discussing the Situation, Task, Action, and Result. I've given you an approach to answering below, and if you'd like to learn more, we have a guide here: Master Behavioral-Based Interviews Using The Star Method "Recently, I had to learn how to manage a new inventory system in a matter of weeks. It was critical that I learn it quickly because (here, talk about why you had to become proficient. What are the consequences if you didn't understand the system by the deadline?). I approached the task by (here, talk about the steps you took to learn the system. Did you read up on it? Ask for a tutorial? Learn by doing?). I eventually learned (here, again talk about specifics) and was fully proficient by the deadline." "While implementing the EGRC Archer, I had no knowledge about the system and the framework, I had to learn while running the project, then guide the team to implement the system, I divided my time between understanding the requirements and mapping them to the needed technical details by going through all the educational materials, as result, we were to make it as a successful story and deliver the system within the given deadline." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Good example! It sounds like you had to teach yourself the system and framework while simultaneously running the project, which is impressive. Just make sure to include enough details about the project that the interviewer can understand the end result and how much you had to learn. "In my most recent role, I was unfamiliar with their record-keeping system at first. After a few days of on the job training, I was able to maintain the record-keeping system, but I still wasn't happy with my fluency. I found tutorials online and spent evenings training myself to a deeper level of knowledge. I became fluent in the program in no time flat. It was nice to dive in, learn the system well, and have that sense of accomplishment early on in my role where I was able to show current employees time saving techniques." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach This is a solid example, but since the question itself mentions a short deadline, you may wish to share a few more details about the timeline involved and why it was so important for you to learn this information on an abbreviated timeline. "When I first got started at my current position, I knew very little about the world of consulting in long-term care facilities. I had to focus on what my manager was doing in order for me to pick up on what I needed to do once I am on my own. I asked many questions to my colleagues and thankfully they were very happy to help. But within a few weeks time, I was comfortable performing my tasks independently, and I was recognized for being a quick learner as I later learned that I received the shortest amount of training time among my peers." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach This question is the interviewer's way of gaining insight into your method for learning something new because chances are you won't know everything that your new role will require. They want to understand how you learn something new so they can determine how well you would fit with their organization. You can make your answer stronger by talking about the other strategies you used to learn quickly. Did you take notes about processes or regulations? Did you job shadow for a set period of time? Did you memorize any specific information or data? "Our company recently implemented a new open-source DMaap (Data Movement as a platform) system. Not only was I tasked with learning the system, but I also needed to train my team of five on how to use the system. I had two weeks to work with the DMaap team to onboard our application and start using it for reporting. In the end, I met the goal and was proud of myself for learning a complicated concept under such a tight deadline." Written by an Anonymous User Our Professional Interview Coach Good start to your response! The 'Action' piece seems to be missing, so I encourage you to give detail on what you did to meet your goal. Load More Community Answers |
How Do You answer tell me something new you learned at work
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