Work Life Balance Question Interview

What Wellbeing Support Do You Offer

The importance of mental health has really come to the forefront in the past couple of years and is only rising in importance. This makes it an important factor to consider when finding a new role. Lots of companies will offer some kind of well-being activity on a regular basis or a subscription to an app such as Headspace.

Some companies have started offering mental health days alongside sickness days. If youre someone who struggles with mental health issues, this is a great thing to make sure a company has in place already to support you.

Companies that offer flexible working schedules and four-day work weeks are particularly attractive in terms of providing a great work-life balance. Employers that demonstrate concern over their employees physical and mental health are in great demand among younger generations in particular.

How Do You Set Employees Up For Success

This question points out micromanagers. Work-life balance can be achieved when an employer gives employees the tools they need to succeed on their own terms, rather than dictating every part of their workday. However, if youre only allowed to follow preset habits and practices, you may end up stuck in the physical office working at a less efficient pace because youre unable to work in a way most productive to you.

Pay Attention To Your Emotions

Once youve increased your awareness of your current situation, examine how that situation makes you feel. Ask yourself, do I feel energized, fulfilled, satisfied? Or do I feel angry, resentful, sad? For example, one respondent described his realization that his current work-life balance was engendering some pretty negative emotions:

You feel resentful and bitter that something that fundamentally isnt that important to the essence of life is stripping valuable time and minutes away from you its accentuated even more when you see someone who has lost their life or someone who has been told heres how much time remains on your clock.

A rational understanding of the decisions and priorities driving your life is important, but equally important is emotional reflexivity that is, the capacity to recognize how a situation is making you feel. Awareness of your emotional state is essential in order to determine the changes you want to make in your work and in your life.

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What Is Your Work Environment And Social Culture Like

Finding out how employees engage with one another and whether the team you will be joining spends time together socially, particularly if there are company-arranged activities, will show you what kind of work environment you will be joining. Some organisations arrange lunchtime clubs and activities, offer team nights out and prizes as perks, and even take their employees away on trips, all of which show that an employer recognises the value of a good work-life balance for their employees.

Understanding a companys policies and views on work-life balance is incredibly important when it comes to choosing a new role, and whether a company is right for you. Research has shown that almost one-third of UK employees feel that they dont have a good work-life balance. But, by asking any of these key questions at the interview stage, not only are you demonstrating that you are taking the opportunity seriously, but you also get the chance to discover what the flexibility, culture, work environment and work-life balance is like before you consider accepting an offer!

How To Answer The Question

Before you answer, think about the company culture.

If you know the employer values work-life balance or time management skills, you will want to emphasize your ability to complete your work during work hours so that you can focus on family or other activities after work.

If the company requires employees to put in lots of extra hours and emphasizes the need for dedication and passion in the workplace, you may want to stress your willingness to bring projects home in order to ensure high-quality work.

If you arent sure of what the employer is looking for, the safest way to answer is to emphasize your organizational skills while also saying that, when necessary, you will take work home with you. Try not to be negative about bringing work home, since that may be something that is common at the company. However you respond, do be honest.

If you work remotely, the line between “work” and “home” can become frayed. If you’re interviewing for a remote job, keep in mind that interviewers may be concerned about burnout. Answers that show that you understand when to work lateand when to leave a task for the next daymay be helpful for these types of roles.

This question also provides you an opportunity to think about whether or not the job is the right fit for you.

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How Much Time Do You Spend Working And How Much Do You Spend With Your Family Or On Personal Life

Employers may ask this question to get an idea of how you balance your work and personal life. In your answer, describe briefly your schedule on a regular work day. This can include the types of meetings that you attend, the types of projects that you’re involved in and the activities you like to do when you’re not at work. Answering this question honestly can help them to assess how they might provide opportunities for work-life balance.

Example:’I typically work 40-hour work weeks and prefer not to work overtime so I can spend time with my family. I especially value weekends when I can focus on my hobbies, which includes playing the guitar.’

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How Do You Balance Your Work And Personal Life Effectively

An interviewer may ask you how you balance your work and personal life to gain insight into your habits. They often seek an answer that features a positive attitude toward work but want to ensure that a candidate follows proper steps to take care of themselves personally. Candidates who have developed a healthy work-life balance in previous roles may have a higher likelihood of remaining productive and satisfied while working. When answering this question, consider sharing any challenges you’ve encountered regarding your work-life balance and how you solved them in the past.

Example:”I believe I manage my professional and personal lives well. I start my workdays by looking at my schedule and creating a list of prioritized tasks to complete during the day. The list usually begins with tasks that are my highest priority, which means I try to complete the assignments with the nearest deadline first.

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How Do You Prioritize Tasks

Your answer to this question demonstrates how well you discern which activities require more attention than others to your interviewer. When responding, describe a circumstance where you prioritized one task above another effectively. Use the STAR approach to answer this question.

Example answer:I make a checklist every morning that contains the tasks I need to complete that day. I prioritize my projects by significance and deadline. This way, I can focus on the most urgent tasks first, working my way down the list until I completed all tasks. At my previous job, I was in charge of delegating duties to team members on a particular job we were working on. Using a checklist, I could organize the tasks in the right order while still delegating duties fairly so that we completed the work on time.

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Interview Questions About Background And Experience

Here are six questions concerning your background and experience:

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Q What Are Some Smart Questions To Ask An Interviewer About Work

A. Its always a good idea to ask questions about a companys work-life balance and overall culture. The same way companies ask behavioral-based interview questions during your job interview , you can do the same.

Search the companys social media feed as a springboard to help you formulate questions. You can ask something like, I noticed theres an annual food drive posted on your Instagram feed. How does that lend itself to the culture of the company?

Ask about the companys policy on work-life arrangements, and then get specific: Id love to know more about work-life balance here. Whats a typical day like? If something happens in your personal life, how are you able to balance it with work? For example, if there was an emergency or a snow day or your childs nanny didnt show up, is there flexibility?

While asking smart questions is helpful, its also wise to pay attention to body language. Does the interviewer seem genuinely happy when he or she is talking? Are they looking you in the eye, or squirming in their seat?

Specifically ask about the number of personal days youd receive and how they would describe the company culture in three words. Its good to ask every interviewer these sets of questions to see if a recurring positive pattern arises.

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I Have A Hard Time Letting Go Of A Project

When youve spent a great deal of time and effort on something, its easy to feel apprehensive about marking it complete or passing it on to another team. Theres always room for improvement and some people tend to over-criticize their work or attempt last-minute changes, which can threaten the timeline.

At the same time, though, last-minute reviews can help eliminate errors and make for a more refined finished product.

If this is your weakness, share how youre striving to improve by giving yourself a deadline for all revisions and being proactive about changes, so youre not waiting until the last minute.

Example:My greatest weakness is that I sometimes have a hard time letting go of a project. Im the biggest critic of my work. I can always find something that needs to be improved or changed. To help myself improve in this area, I give myself deadlines for revisions. This helps ensure that Im not making changes at the last minute.

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Describe A Situation Where You Were Able To Meet A Deadline

Employers value employees that produce results on time and fulfill deadlines. Keeping track of deadlines and working on attending to them is the best method to handle them. With this question, the interviewer wants you to describe a situation where you couldn’t meet a deadline at a previous job. Your answer should explain the scenario and why you missed the deadline, focusing on how you resolved it. Finally, explain what efforts you’ve made to prevent it from happening again.

Example:I offered to cover one of my colleague’s tasks once, and I was so occupied with other tasks that I missed the deadline for theirs. Once I realized I had missed the deadline, I apologized to the team lead and asked for an extension. I made sure it never happened again because I learned to assess my workload and be realistic about my capacity to take on work to help colleagues.”

Why Is It Critical To Manage Your Time Effectively

Demonstrating your skills to manage your time efficiently makes you a more desirable candidate. When answering this question, include some ways you’ve improved your ability to handle responsibilities and avoid distractions. Illustrate the value of time management skills. Show your potential employer how important time management is to you and how you feel you use it in your career.

Example:I believe it’s essential to manage time effectively because it improves work efficiency and productivity. It would be hard for me to meet deadlines and complete each project efficiently if I didn’t have strong time management skills. Over time, I’ve been able to employ different methods that have helped me become a more efficient employee. For example, I…

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Tips For Answering Time Management Interview Questions

Remember these helpful tips when responding to time management questions in a job interview:

• Talk about how you prioritize your duties. Your prospective employer is interested in learning about the various ways you prioritize activities to improve your productivity.

• Express your ability to meet deadlines. Employers and hiring managers look for reliable candidates who can adhere to schedules and meet project deadlines. Provide an example of how you’ve done this successfully in the past.

• Highlight your multitasking skills. The ability to multitask means you can be more productive with your time. This is a key time management skill to highlight in any interview.

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I Have Trouble Saying No

Helping colleagues on projects and properly managing your workload is an artful balance. From an employers perspective, someone who accepts all requests seems dedicated and eagerbut can also be someone who doesnt know their limits and ends up needing help or deadline extensions to finish their work.

If youre so eager to take on new projects that you cant bring yourself to say no to them, share how youre working to better self-manage by organizing your tasks and setting more realistic expectations with yourself as well as those around you.

Example:My greatest weakness is that I sometimes have trouble saying no to requests and end up taking on more than I can handle. In the past, this has led me to feel stressed or burnt out. To help myself improve in this area, I use a project management app so I can visualize how much work I have at any given moment and know whether or not I have the bandwidth to take on more.

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What Is Your Companys Mission Statement

A companys mission statement can reveal how the organisation values its employees. Often a companys mission statement can be found online but this question is important in differentiating what it actually means. If the mission statement is focused solely on business goals as opposed to placing value on employees and relationships, it may be that the company is less likely to take care of their employees.

To Answer The Sunday Text

• “My initial thought is . Ill have more time tomorrow morning to review and send on additional ideas.”
• Ill review this first thing tomorrow morning and send on my thoughts by .

Then, when you do share more on Monday, you can intro your work with a line that says, Im always happy to answer as quickly as I can during the workweek, however I reserve weekends for With that said…

The most important thing to keep in mind is that the interview process is an auditionfor you and the company. So while telling them what they want to hear might get you to the next round, its not worth it if you prize the ability to leave work at work.

Be honest about who you are and what youre hoping for in a future role. While it might take you a bit longer to land a job, you know you wont be kicking yourself every time your boss texts you.

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How Do You Manage Stress And Several Upcoming Deadlines

Controlling the pressure you may feel at work is critical to reducing stress. Managing your time properly is an essential part of dealing with stress, and the less stressed you are, the more productive you can be. To answer this question, describe an instance where you avoided unnecessary stress by finishing a job on time or when dealing with a backlog of work.

Example:When I was in my last year of university, I focused hard on preparing for my final exams. After my exams, I had a backlog of work that I had to do for the organization I worked for part-time. I had to prioritize my tasks, and set time limits and goals for each task. By delegating what I could and finishing up tasks that had deadlines, I maintained efficiency and produced excellent results.

Does Your Company Have A Csr Policy

Corporate social responsibility is a self-regulating business model that helps a company ensure they are socially accountable, and whether or not a company has a CSR policy can reveal how they place priorities outside of work responsibilities. Ask about whether they allow extra days annual leave for charity events or for volunteering, and find out if they have a corporate charity and what they do to support them – this can reveal a lot about a company!

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How Do You Measure Goals Timelines And Success

Leaders who base their employees’ success on their quality of work and give promotions and rewards based on performance, as opposed to time served and hours worked, are goal-oriented which is what you want from a leader! By asking this question, hopefully, your interviewer will be able to give you specific examples of somebody who has previously excelled in the role and how they have achieved their career goals.

It is also important to remember that once you have asked this question, it is most likely that your interviewer will turn the question back to you and will want to know how you have previously achieved your goals and how you have measured your success. When answering questions like this in an interview situation, remember to use the STAR method – the specific Situation you were in, a Task you were faced with, the behavioural Actions you took, and the Results you achieved.