For instance, if you work on a project that you know will extend to the following day, share your expectations for what you can finish in an eight-hour period. This will help prioritize tasks automatically. Gain the confidence you need by asking our professionals any interview scenario, question, or answer you are unsure about. Remember to always keep the predefined processes in the lower limits. When were you able to resolve a problem within work. I am the lead on some, the delegator on others, and the reviewer on another, for instance. Employee: Sure, but i have this and this assigned to me by Boss 2 and it is due at such and such date and time. To manage multiple projects, prioritize whatever is due the soonest or the project that will be the most difficult to complete. ", "I frequently work on multiple projects simultaneously, which I throughly enjoy. ", "I had to utilize creative problem solving last month when we found ourselves short-staffed and unable to hire new employees due to budget cuts. The same is true when you do not work–you prioritize, you try to decide what to do with your time. But take care — little projects have a way of popping up all over the place. ", "In my current department, we are very systematic in our customer delivery promises; however, that is not to say that doubling up on client deliveries does not happen. Prioritize projects and deadlines. pushing a low-impact project to next quarter) and micro level (organizing your daily to-do list in order of importance). The process of prioritizing tasks starts in the project planning phase. That can't … Posted On: May 06, 2020 . Then, based on urgency I decide where to focus my attention first. 5. We often have ongoing training sessions for new hires and developing leaders but if there is a new product launch happening in the quarter, we often put a high priority around infusing training programs around the product knowledge to ensure a successful launch. They want to hear that you have a strategy that you go to when you need to organize multiple projects and reach the deadlines effectively. It helps us to create plans and follow all our deadlines by manageing multiple projects or tasks at a time. Learn to say no to projects. In my current role, I hold regular faculty meetings so that all staff members have the opportunity to be heard when it comes to what they feel is a priority on campus. Your one-stop-shop for job interview preparation. Mostly because I love crossing things off of the to-do list, but also because it helps me keep track of everything. Assess your own bandwidth. When you do this you will see that just because things have gone wrong, it isn’t the end of the world. Ideally, ... "My job has multiple conflicting priorities where it can be … ... Focus on a time when you had to get others involved in setting and approving the prioritization of your work tasks and/or projects. I separate my tasks into urgent, not-as-urgent, and long-term. Related Questions How has your education helped you apply for this job? Consider where the new project fits in among the others you are already working on. An emergency comes up on Project B and you’re called to deal with that. Describe a typical day at work. "I frequently work on multiple projects simultaneously, which I throughly enjoy. Required fields are marked *. Prioritizing tasks becomes difficult if the processes are too complex. Our interview questions are created by writers, most of whom have a long history of recruiting and interviewing candidates. This way, by splitting up the work to the appropriate parties, both my team and I can be the most efficient with our time. So prioritize work strategically on both a macro level (i.e. Start With: How You Map Out Your Day. I also estimate how long each task will take, so if I have a few minutes in between projects, I can tackle the quick to dos and use that time effectively, rather than use it to figure out 'what's next. Let’s say you had blocked out today to do something on Project A. When you worked on multiple projects, how did you prioritize? ", "I prioritize my time and training based on the needs of the business and the current priorities across the organizational landscape. And the long-term goals that make you feel accomplished and empowered. We get so preoccupied while working on multiple tasks, that we usually tend to undervalue the importance of a to-do list. You should prioritize your work.Parents prioritize their errands so they do important tasks first.To prioritize, the student set aside all work due later in the month. 9. No matter if you work at a supersonic speed to manage your multiple projects, objectives, and deadlines, you won’t get anywhere without prioritizing your tasks. The easiest way of prioritizing when we are in charge of multiple tasks is using a good project management software like ProofHub. When you worked on multiple projects, how did you prioritize? Though the answer above may not be how you prioritize under the pressure of actual assignments, it does do a good job showing that you come at these problems with a plan. Want to be ready in 7 days or less? I love to check things off my list, as it gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Whether you’re a fan of to-do lists or swear by spreadsheets, be specific about how you manage your daily workload. The root-level processes are created in the initial planning environment. Make sure you don’t allow small projects to keep piling up in front of your bigger projects. Apart from knowing how to prioritize work by doing the urgent work first, your main aim should be to complete all the things you planned to do on any given day. Try your best to think about what strategies you do use to prioritize multiple projects, and be detailed in how you respond to the interviewer. Your email address will not be published. Once you have dealt with the immediate issues, it doesn’t matter what order you tackle your tasks in as long as they all get done . Bad Answer “I ask my supervisor what he/she thinks should take priority and I start working on that, unless told to stop.” Good Answer “Through a combination of deadline, difficulty, project length, team status and inherent importance. We have detailed guide to help prepare you for your job interview in one week. Take 3 deep breathes and mentally distance yourself from your work. Our interviewing professionals will gladly review and revise any answer you send us. For example, your team might be working on five product launches at the same time. Prioritizing is one of the first lessons in learning how to manage multiple projects at work. The projects that need to be worked on this week or month. All interview questions are created by MockQuestions.com and are not official interview questions for any organization listed on MockQuestions.com. “I assume you have multiple projects running at the same time,” she said. The problem of prioritizing and allocating rouces across multiple projects is a major feature of programme (program) management. When situations occur where I have to prioritize, I will do so by the size of the client and budget. ", "I spend 10 minutes in the morning jotting down the day's tasks into a notes app, ranking them on urgency. Lately, I've started utilizing a free project management software that I use to make those lists, categorize the tasks, and mark them by the level of urgency. We strive to match our experts' background and expertise with the appropriate question sets found on our website. Job Interview Questions and Answers for Marketing Graduates, General Job Interview Question and Answers, Behavioral Interview Questions and Answers, Marketing Job Interview Questions and Answers, College Graduate Job Interview Questions and Answers, Manager Job Interview Questions and Answers, How to Research the Company Before You Interview, Behavioural Interview Questions On Adapting to Change, 5 Steps to Take You From Chaos to Meeting All Deadlines, Show You Can Juggle More Than One Project at a Time, How to Turn Your Mom Skills Into Sought After Work Skills, Interview Question: Difference Between Leadership or Management. When you prioritize your work properly, you’re guaranteed to have a … But, the biggest takeaway was that a lack of time is a lack of priorities.At first, I went ‘Really? Stay Organized As much as you want to do everything all at once, you need to accept that sometimes you just simply can’t. If there is more than one urgent need, I will work overtime, or through my lunch, to ensure that I deliver everything on time. We help you ace your job interviews. I have a few things going at once most of the time. This is all the interviewer really wants to hear – that you understand how to give priority to certain projects and you put thought into how you give that priority. How much time do you spend per week on X task? Simplifying the processes will be very helpful for completing them without … Sharad Jaiswal. Boss 1: Uh, no my work … While it might seem like an immediate time management strategy, prioritization is key in achieving long-term goals.Understanding what you’re really working toward—be it a promotion, a finished project, or a career change—helps you identify the tasks most pertinent to those future outcomes. An event might not happen for five months, but there are always details that need to be tackled along the way.". The first thing is to do a project audit. I take care of the most time-sensitive issues first and then move along to the equally important, but perhaps less time-sensitive to-dos. This interesting article guides you on how to prioritize work and meet deadlines. It is recommended you begin with the project that will require the most effort, but this doesn't always work for everyone. Your ability to organize is constantly on trial at the workplace. ", "I prioritize based on urgency and time required for the project. Boss 1: Can you please do this. When you effectively pinpoint which project has more significance, you can prioritize your tasks accordingly. Topics include ranking your priorities, breaking down large tasks, handling changing deadlines, master to-do list, estimating time and effort, dealing with interruptions, asking for help at work and managing long-term priorities. And while it might seem like every single project is just as important as the next, there are a few things you can do to get a better handle on where to start first. Collect a list of all your tasks. Also, I am a believer in following my intuition. The book shattered many of my illusions regarding time. Give me an example of how you prioritize your projects. As a teacher, there are always a lot of simultaneous to do items, so in addition to prioritizing, I have to be good at multitasking; something I find I do quite well as both a teacher and a mom. ", "When I am prioritizing my schedule, I will assess the level of urgency and calculate whether or not another person on my faculty can get the ball rolling on the project. See also: 15 Common Project Management Interview Questions When answering this question, show the interviewer that you have a system in place that helps you to think through what needs to happen, and when. In my current role, I have multiple tasks and projects all the time. Pull together everything you could possibly consider getting done in a day. “I struggle with how to manage my project-related tasks, beyond dealing with the crisis of the day.” The question of how to manage multiple projects at the same time comes up a lot. For example, if you’re applying for a job as graphic designer on a busy design team, come to the interview with anecdotes about how you handle multiple deadlines, tasks, and requests. Here are some suggestions: "I aim to be as effective and efficient as possible and make sure I can use all minutes of a day for a project. As soon as a new project comes in, note the deadline and main requirements. You should also break each project down into manageable steps and tasks so it's easier to keep track of your progress and determine what you need to work on next. – Mark Twain Like you, I’m a compulsive over-achiever. Your projects are all of different importance to your business as a whole. Be flexible with the project prioritization process. Make a to-do list before you start your day. It may seem unfair at times; however, our largest clients with the most significant spend always rule out. Use Project Management Softwares. It may require you to immediately switch your attention to deal with it. How do you organize your work when you have to juggle multiple projects/clients at the same time? What’s your morning routine? Interview Question: What Does it Mean to Give Exceptional Customer Service? Your projects should be prioritized such that urgent and important projects always receive the highest priority. Or, you may need to work simultaneously on several projects. Here’s how to prioritize projects in 5 easy steps: Start prioritizing projects based on business value. 1. “I ask my supervisor what he/she thinks should take priority and I start working on that, unless told to stop.”, “Through a combination of deadline, difficulty, project length, team status and inherent importance. People that put no thought into how they prioritize multiple projects tend to struggle when coming up on deadlines. '", "I follow the tried and true practice of making lists and assigning each item a priority and tackling the list that way. I am a strong believer in hard work. Important but not urgent projects should come next in priority. The better you can prioritize, the more productive you will be, making you … If I feel that something lower on the to-do list needs to be bumped up in priority, I will tackle that right away. Identify what’s important: Understanding your true goals . 1. Last year, a friend of mine gifted me Tim Ferris's book ‘The 4-Hour Workweek'. Identify urgent vs. important. Explore expert tips and resources to be more confident in your next interview. I start my work on that list. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. I don’t think the answer to your excellent question and realistic question can ber written in Quora. Try your best to think about what strategies you do use to prioritize multiple projects, and be detailed in how you respond to the interviewer. ", "I love to keep running lists of everything that I need to do, big or small. ", "I often have multiple projects due at a time, since I am the assistant to three different executives. It's effective because it helps me keep track of my deadlines and prevents me having to rush to finish my tasks quickly. Still, there are some guidelines that can help you in prioritizing your work and answering questions about your time management skills. Too many predefined processes create complexity in the projects. Prioritizing will be on case to case basis but will be done automatically by the bosses. I ask my executives to rank their need from 1-5 in the level of urgency, including its due date. Then, be sure to mention your hard skills , like software programs that are essential to the job. To help you manage your team’s workload and hit deadlines, here are 6 steps to prioritizing projects that have a lot of moving parts. Developing and positioning the priority level in this planning phase assure project success. Multiple deadlines on the same day can be difficult, so your best bet is to show that you have a plan in mind. So, the title itself offended me. Your time blocking isn’t going to work today but that’s OK. A flexible attitude goes a long way to helping you deal with the ebb and flow that is working on multiple projects. But, eventually, I got around to reading it. Set priorities by identifying urgent and important projects. A reader got in touch to ask me how I manage my personal project To Do list. Allowing you to craft perfect responses for your next job interview. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one. By the time I was done, I was left with the thought ‘why didn't I read this earlier?' People are different, so what works for you may not work for someone else. 1. What do you think your professor has to say about you? I review my lists every morning and at the end of each day to ensure the duties assigned were completed in a successful fashion. Make your to-do list. I am the lead on some, the delegator on others, and the reviewer on another, for instance. Even Distribution. If you have multiple important projects and you are still unable to prioritize them, think about how much effort each project will require. For example, a short deadline, difficult project where a team requires my work is going to get priority over an equally short deadline, easy project, because the team’s productivity is based on my own productivity. If you’re reporting to more than one manager, how do you prioritize your duties? ", "When prioritizing, I look at the deadlines first. I also try to group similar items together and get started early on difficult, time consuming projects so that when I brush up against the deadline I am not scrambling and can give attention to other projects as needed.”. I am great under pressure, but try to make sure that I don't get myself or my team into a sticky situation by not allotting enough time for any particular project. 2. If it’s not doable, let it go. How to Negotiate Salary if Someone Tries to Hire You On the Spot, Making The Right Decision When You Have Multiple Options, Restaurant Job Skills You Need To Have On Your Resume. At one point, I made a list of my projects… Don’t worry about the order or the number of items upfront. Explain factors that go into giving priority. To make sure I meet deadlines, I identify the most pressing project and use to-do lists and a calendar to keep track of all upcoming duties and important events. I also do not hesitate to work overtime if necessary. The problem is solved, at least temporarily, until our company comes out of our spending freeze. I have a list of what needs to be done, by when, and how long I estimate that it will take to accomplish. Explain how you incorporate those factors into your decision. There are many approaches you can take. I changed our schedule to include some split shifts and received approval for a small amount of overtime spending. Explaining how you set realistic expectations for yourself during your workday highlights your ability to determine what tasks need to be completed and when a timeline should be extended. So employers may ask you how you organize. 2. ", "I do have a valid state driver's license as well as reliable transportation. Prioritizing is a skill that requires practice. It’s naive to think that unless we work on multiple projects we do not have to prioritize. Even if you work on a single project, you have to make choices: whether to answer emails firstly, or go to a meeting, or work on that report you hate doing, or forget everything and have a coffee and a cigarette. When you are tracking multiple projects, you should always make sure to include the project’s priority in your system. To make sure I meet deadlines, I identify the most pressing projects based upon their due dates, and use to-do lists and a calendar to keep track of all upcoming duties and important events. There is not necessarily a “Wrong” answer here, only an answer that is not specific enough, or one that relies on someone else. ", "I aim to be as effective and efficient as possible and make sure I can use all minutes of a day. By splitting up the work to the appropriate parties, both my team and I can be the most efficient with our time. Prioritizing Projects. 4) Consider due dates and how long it will take to do each item. 1. Supply this type of answer and you should have no problem impressing the interviewer.eval(ez_write_tag([[336,280],'everydayinterviewtips_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_2',134,'0','0'])); Your email address will not be published. Here are a few key elements to include in your answer when you’re asked how you prioritize work. The employer is looking for specifics about what you do to organize. They do not necessarily have experience interviewing or working with the companies, careers or schools they may write for on MockQuestions.com. If you have big projects, little projects, ongoing projects, and one-time projects, short-term and long-term projects, try prioritizing one of each.