I.

Interview Rating Sheet (BARS)

Applicant No: _____________________________ Date: ____________________

Calendar and Workplace Management - Demonstrate the ability to holistically manage tasks

particularly on office calendar management so that issues and conflicts can be anticipated or

forecasted. Moreover, this competency also pertains to effectively managing the workspace (i.e.

keeps a clean and organized office, appropriately handles all paperwork, maintains control over

the physical environment, etc.)

Question: As an Administrative Assistant, most of the time you are worried if you are giving

enough time for our managers for their schedule meetings and conferences. You are concerned if

you may be pressing your managers’ available time where he/she may need to be focusing on

other important managerial tasks. Tell me about a time where you experienced such situation,

and someone went or called to your office to schedule an important appointment with your

manager, or a conference call. Tell me what you did.

Probes:

What was the appointment transaction all about? What specific actions did you take? Where were

able to schedule the appointment? What was the outcome?

Candidate’s Answer

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale Score

1 3 5
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Called my manager Reviewed my manager’s Checked manager’s calendar

about his availability and calendar to identify on a holistic way by

make an appointment. those days he is reviewing and analyzing

available and make an his/her activities for several

appointment days to check if I was giving

him/her enough time to

prepare for his/her schedules

before making another

appointment

Initiative - Exhibits the ability to foresee problems and take prompt action beyond what is

required to prevent such problem to occur. Utilizes analytical skills and a broad understanding of

the business to effectively interpret and anticipate needs

Question: Tell me about a situation before that your manager had a scheduled meeting with the

different unit heads in the following week and you noticed that your manager was busy for other

stuff and forgot to make agenda for the said meeting. Some of the unit heads already clamoring

about the agenda. Tell me what you did.

Probes

What was the situation about? What actions did you take? What was the outcome?

Candidate’s Answer

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale Score

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1 3 5

Waited for my Reminded my manager Approached my manager

manager’s availability to immediately about the about the meeting and

remind him about the meeting, and he had to offered to sketch out the

meeting. give me the agenda agenda. Review the action

before the meeting for items for the meeting.

me to distribute it earlier.

Communication - Demonstrates the ability to effectively transfer and exchange information that

leads to understanding between the administrative assistant and others through effective and

appropriate interaction. These actions include, but are not limited to the following: (1) writes clear,

concise correspondence, (2) proofreads all material for errors, omissions, and consistency, (3)

provides necessary details to receiver of information, and (3) adept at delivering difficult

messages in a tactful manner

Question: Sometimes we encounter misunderstanding with our colleagues due to the usage of

electronic communication wherein we could hardly interpret other’s feeling and expression. Tell

me about a time when you received an email from a colleague in response to your memo, but you

hardly grasp the tone of the message because the words can be read in a variety of ways. You

could not understand if he/she is angry, upset, or confused.

Probes:

What was the message about? What action did you take? How did you handle the situation?
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What was the outcome?

Candidate’s Answer

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale Score

1 3 5

Craft a carefully worded I decided to write back I spoke to the person

reply that remains and ask for clarification personally and discussed

positive and avoids any with him/her about the

possible negative concerns.

interpretation

Interpersonal Skills - Refers to a behaviour indicates a consideration for the feelings and

needs of others. With this competency, the person is able to adjust ones’ behavior when

interacting with people from various national, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Moreover, the

person enables one to adopt to a flexible (but not compliant) style when interacting with others.

Takes their views into account and changes position when appropriate.

Question: Sometimes we experienced conflict in the workplace in performing our role. Describe a

situation where you had a conflict with another individual.

Probes:

What was the conflict about? How did you deal with it? What action did you take to resolve the

issue? What was the outcome?

Candidate’s Answer
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Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale Score

1 3 5

Tried to avoid the I decided to talk to the I decided to confront the

person as much as person and decided to person in an appropriate

possible and tolerated meet halfway manner by considering the

his/her actions to avoid individual’s personality and

more conflict cultural background and

discussed the issue with him

and talked about on how to

resolve the conflict through

negotiation and collaboration

to achieve Win-Win solution.

Time Management - Performs tasks precisely and accurately with highly detailed factual

information. Evaluates work habits for greater efficiency; purposely seeks and creates methods to

streamline processes. Monitors and checks work or information and plan and organize time and

resources efficiently.

Question: Tell me a situation before that your manager required you to do many things at the

same time.

Probes:

What actions did you take to solve the problem? How did you handle it? What was the result?

Candidate’s Answer
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Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale Score

1 3 5

Asked a colleague to I decided to sort my Early in the day, I confirmed

help me in finishing my tasks based on my own the day’s priorities with my

tasks priorities and deadlines. manager with a specific

Tried to work faster to deadline and created a to-do

finish my task list based on priorities, and

regularly provided updates

with my manager regarding

the status of my tasks.

Client Service Orientation - Demonstrates the ability to make internal customers and their

needs a primary focus of one’s actions; developing and sustaining productive customer

relationships by assisting and supporting manager and another unit on any projects to free them

to accomplish other tasks.

Question: Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where you had to sort out a complex

problem for a dissatisfied internal customer. Tell me about a time where you experienced such

situation, and tell me what you did.

Probes:
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What events led up to the situation? What specific action did you take? What was the outcome or

result?

Candidate’s Answer

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale Score

1 3 5

Consulted with my I apologized with Initiated daily touch-base

manager about the him/her about my work meeting (whether in person

situation and asked for out during that time. I or on the telephone) to

his/her advice. promised him/her to confirm daily priorities, clarify

focus on the task and do assignments, get answers to

it better. questions, or resolve open

issues to develop a better

relationship with the person.

Interviewer:____________________________ Signature:________________________

II. Hiring Decision

Hiring decision for the administrative assistant position is based on the interview scored
composed of 6 competencies criteria in which the candidate has to demonstrate these
competencies specifically during interview stage to ensure the candidate is suitable for
the said position. The six competencies namely: calendar and workplace management,
Initiative, communication, interpersonal, time management, and client service
orientation. With, the candidate has to pass all of these competencies to show that she
is suitable for the job.
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Based on the interview conducted, the applicant got a total score of 18 out of 30 which
is 60% of the total score. Particularly, in the calendar and workplace management, the
candidate got a rating score of 1 which indicates that she is below average on this
competency. Based on her answer to question number 1, the applicant does not have a
complete grasp of calendar management specifically on appointment coordination.

To the same extent, the applicant is also below average on initiative competency as
revealed by the score of 1 which demonstrates that the candidate has the tendency that
she did not possess the ability to foresee problems and take prompt action beyond what
is required to prevent such problem to occur.

However, as for the communication and interpersonal competencies, the applicant

garnered a score of 5 each which shows that she is excellent in this area. Thus, the
candidate perceived to be great in interacting with people regardless of background and
personalities.

On the other hand, the applicant got an average score of 3 for the time management
and client service orientation which connotes that she performs the said competencies
in an acceptable manner.

Based on the reported ratings, the applicant is not suitable for the position, for the fact
that she got a failed rating on calendar management and initiative competencies. These
skills are perceived to be essential since this post is the one overseeing the schedule of
the company particularly on appointment coordination and meeting planning.

Lastly, since these competencies are significant to the position to achieve job success,
then the candidate has to demonstrate all these competencies in order him/her to be
accepted for the job.
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Appendix - Job Interview Transcript

HR Director: Hi Lourd, thanks for coming in today. I am

________________________________, the HR Director of Wilson Brothers.

What was your way here like? Did you have any difficulties in finding our

company?

Applicant: There were no problems at all. I just used the google map to know how to get here.

HR Director: I will be asking you questions related to the skills necessary for the position. I will

be taking notes to help me remember what we discussed. After my all my

questions, I will give you the opportunity to ask any questions you have about the

position so that you can find out if this is a good fit for you as well. However,

before we get started, I would like to make sure you have a good grasp of the

position we are hiring for…” (Explain the primary responsibilities of the job,

organizational structure, and other general information.)

Applicant: Sounds good to me.

HR Director: Ok, Lourd, here’s the first question….

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# Interview Question Score

1 As an Administrative Assistant, most of the time you are worried if you are giving enough time to

your manager for their schedule meetings and conferences. You are concerned if you may be

pressing your manager’s available time where he/she may need to be focusing on other

important managerial tasks. Tell me about a time where you experienced such situation, and

someone went or called to your office to schedule an important appointment with your manager,

or a conference call. Tell me what you did. What was the appointment transaction all about?

What specific actions did you take? Where were able to schedule the appointment? What was

the outcome?

Answer:

I always referred to our outlook calendar if my manager was available. If he is available

on a certain day I would ask for his approval first then indicate it in the calendar and 1

informed the person who asked for an appointment.

2 Tell me about a situation before that your manager had a scheduled meeting with the different

unit heads in the following week and you noticed that your manager was busy for other stuff and

forgot to make agenda for the said meeting. Some of the unit heads already clamoring about the

agenda. Tell me what you did. What was the situation about? What actions did you take? What

was the outcome?

Answer:

● My manager scheduled a meeting with our department heads to discuss about

new accounting procedures. However, 2 days before the scheduled meeting,

my manager was attending conference.

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● I emailed her about the meeting and asked her if the meeting would still push

through for me to advise the unit heads. I told her that I prepared the venue for 1

our meeting and I asked her if there’s still anything she wanted me to do.

3 Sometimes we encounter misunderstanding with our colleagues due to the usage of

electronic communication wherein we could hardly interpret other’s feeling and

expression. Tell me about a time when you received an email from a colleague in

response to your memo, but you hardly grasp the tone of the message because the

words can be read in a variety of ways. You could not understand if he/she is angry,

upset, or confused. What was the message about? What action did you take? How did

you handle the situation? What was the outcome?

Answer:

In my previous job, I received an email from staff regarding the verbal warning I sent

due to tardiness. She questioned the policy of the company regarding tardiness and

argued why she’s been singled out. With this, I decided to talk to her personally than

replying to her email because it might worsen the situation. I discussed with her about 5

the impact of her frequent which prompted me to warn her about it.

4 Sometimes we experienced conflict in the workplace in performing our role. Describe a

situation where you had a conflict with another individual. What was the conflict about?

How did you deal with it? What action did you take to resolve the issue? What was the

outcome?

Answer:

In my previous job, I encountered conflict with my colleagues due to the implemented

systems and procedures changes that I proposed to the management. I decided to confront
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them and explained to them about the benefit of the policy. It was resolved through

communicating and explaining to them the impact and positive effect that it would bring
5
because of the change.

5 Tell me a situation before that your manager required you to do many things at the

same time. What actions did you take to solve the problem? How did you handle it?

What was the result?

Answer:

I worked with the important and urgent things first and then the rest depending on my

priorities. If there is an easy item to do that does not take much time, then I'd do that

one first, but sometimes it is nice to "eat the frog" and do the hard and long one first 3

just to clear it out of the way.

6 Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where you had to sort out a complex

problem for a dissatisfied internal customer. Tell me about a time where you

experienced such situation, and tell me what you did. What events led up to the

situation? What specific action did you take? What was the outcome or result?

Answer:

At my last job, one of the unit heads asked for an budget analysis report about the

company’s office supply consumption.

● The unit head were upset because the figures were not updated and she was

using the wrong formula.

● The report must be reported on the following day.

Action: 3

● She apologized to the unit head. She explained that she was familiar yet the
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report said because she’s still new with the company. With that, the unit head

offered for her help.