Robyn D. Clarke Ngwabi is an award-winning journalist with over 15 years of professional writing and editing experience. She was named to TJFR Group/NewsBios' 30 Under 30 list at age 25 while serving as careers editor for a nationally published niche business magazine. She is currently at the dissertation stage of completing a Ph.D. in educational policy and leadership at Marquette University.

Key to answering "weaknesses" question is not to respond literally. Identify areas where you can improve.

There's no worse feeling than when you're in an interview and the interviewer asks you a question to which you don't know the answer.

The best way to handle this dreaded debacle is to go into the interview prepared. Familiarize yourself with a few common difficult questions and arm yourself with answers prepared ahead of time.

Check out these tough interview questions and some suggested responses in order to avoid an interview disaster:

Tough question No. 1: "Tell me about yourself."

This is usually the opening question in an interview and it's the perfect moment for you to toot your own horn -- not to tell your life history. Your answers should be a quick rundown of your qualifications and experience. Talk about your education, work history, latest career experience and future goals.

Suggested answer: "I graduated from University X and since then, I have been working in public relations with an agency where I have generated millions of PR hits for my clients. While I've enjoyed working on the agency side, I'm looking to expand my horizons and start doing PR for corporate companies such as this one."

Tough question No. 2: "Why did you leave your last job?"

This is your chance to talk about your experience and your career goals, not to badmouth a former boss or provide a laundry list of reasons for your exit. Instead, focus on what you learned in your previous position and how you are ready to use those skills in a new position.

Suggested answer: "The company just wasn't a good fit for my creativity, but I learned that organizations have distinct personalities just like people do. Now I know where I'll be a better fit."

Tough question No. 3: "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

Let the employer know that you're stable and you want to be with this company for the long haul. Keep your aspirations to take over the firm with which you are interviewing, own your own company, retire at 40 or be married with five children to yourself.

Suggested answer: "I want to secure a civil engineering position with a national firm that concentrates on retail development. Ideally, I would like to work for a young company, such as this one, so I can get in on the ground floor and take advantage of all the opportunities a growing firm has to offer."

Tough question No. 4: "What are your weaknesses?"

The key to answering this age-old question is not to respond literally. Your future employer most likely won't care if your weak spot is that you can't cook, nor do they want to hear the generic responses, like you're "too detail oriented" or "work too hard."

Respond to this query by identifying areas in your work where you can Improve and figure out how they can be assets to a future employer. If you didn't have the opportunity to develop certain skills at your previous job, explain how eager you are to gain that skill in a new position.

Suggested answer: "In my last position, I wasn't able to develop my public-speaking skills. I'd really like to be able to work in a place that will help me get better at giving presentations and talking in front of others."

Tough question No. 5: "Why were you laid off?"

This question will become more common as the economy continues to slow down. It's a tough question, however, especially because many workers aren't told exactly why they were laid off. The best way to tackle this question is to answer as honestly as possible.

Suggested answer: "As I'm sure you're aware, the economy is tough right now and my company felt the effects of it. I was part of a large staff reduction and that's really all I know. I am confident, however, that it had nothing to do with my job performance, as exemplified by my accomplishments. For example..."

Tough question No. 6: "Tell me about the worst boss you ever had."

Never, ever talk badly about your past bosses. A potential boss will anticipate that you'll talk about him or her in the same manner somewhere down the line.

Suggested answer: "While none of my past bosses were awful, there are some who taught me more than others did. I've definitely learned what types of management styles I work with the best."

Tough question No. 7: "How would others describe you?"

You should always be asking for feedback from your colleagues and supervisors in order to gauge your performance; this way, you can honestly answer the question based on their comments. Keep track of the feedback to be able to provide to an employer, if asked. Doing so will also help you identify strengths and weaknesses.

Suggested answer: "My former colleagues have said that I'm easy to do business with and that I always hit the ground running with new projects. I have more specific feedback with me, if you'd like to take a look at it."

Tough question No. 8: "What can you offer me that another person can't?"

This is when you talk about your record of getting things done. Go into specifics from your résumé and portfolio; show an employer your value and how you'd be an asset.

Suggested answer: "I'm the best person for the job. I know there are other candidates who could fill this position, but my passion for excellence sets me apart from the pack. I am committed to always producing the best results. For example..."

Tough question No. 9: "If you could choose any company to work for, where would you go?"

Never say that you would choose any company other than the one where you are interviewing. Talk about the job and the company for which you are being interviewed.

Suggested answer: "I wouldn't have applied for this position if I didn't sincerely want to work with your organization." Continue with specific examples of why you respect the company with which you are interviewing and why you'll be a good fit.

Tough question No. 10: "Would you be willing to take a salary cut?"

Salary is a delicate topic. In today's tough economy though, how much a company can afford to pay you might be the deal breaker in whether or not you are offered a position.

Suggested answer: "I'm making $X now. I understand that the salary range for this position is $XX - $XX. Like most people, I would like to Improve on my salary, but I'm more interested in the job itself than the money. I would be open to negotiating a lower starting salary but would hope that we can revisit the subject in a few months after I've proved myself to you."

Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2009. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority

All About Jobs and Labor

When seeking out the right property management company, it’s typical of an owner to ask a standard set of questions. These often cover bottom-line financial results, standard practices and procedures and overall expectations. While those are all great questions, there are other queries that can be much more strategic, informative and conducive to generating results for your business.

Over 38 years of working my way up from part-time leasing agent to real estate CEO, I’ve asked and answered many more questions than I can count. The answers have led me to experiences both positive and negative. In that process, I’ve learned that there are telling indicators that don’t always match top-line discussion points but will significantly impact your bottom line. Below are my top five questions to add to your list when interviewing a potential management company you are considering enlisting to support your business.

1. What is your employee turnover rate? If you lead a successful real estate business, it’s likely because you understand the impact and importance of employee engagement and creating a positive culture. According to Deloitte's 2015 Human Capital report, "87 percent of organizations cite culture and engagement as one of their top challenges, and 50 percent call the problem 'very important.'"

Years ago, I had an experience that taught me a valuable lesson about how culture impacts performance. At the time, our company was managing several properties in a similar market, which gave me the opportunity to draw a direct comparison on the effectiveness of the property level teams. The fact that one property, located less than two miles from the other, was achieving top economic performance while the other was experiencing lackluster results, led us to research what the differences might be. When we dug in, we found that the people at the top-performing property had staff who worked extremely well as a team; all were engaged and aware of their respective roles, making their contributions in an open and transparent environment. The other property team was led by a leader who was not empathetic, kept everything close to the vest, didn’t empower the team or make them feel valued. The results spoke for themselves.

2. How much has the company invested in training and mentorship? I’ve found that questions around the quality of current employees are important to ask but often go overlooked. While it may not seem immediately applicable, it’s much better to work with a company that invests in training and mentorship. This goes a long way toward improving employee aptitude, engagement, empowerment and, ultimately, productivity. It also makes employees better problem-solvers who are able to take immediate action should a problem arise.

Without strong training and mentorship programs in place, issues with engagement become more likely. Low engagement often equals high turnover, which is not an issue you want to encounter with your property management company. Each time a company loses an employee, they lose time and money — costs that may then be projected onto you. Millennials, the largest generation in the workforce, are particularly risky to lose, according to research indicating the average cost to replace a millennial is between $15K and $25K.

3. How are you using big data? There’s an incredible amount of data you can mine from your property management company. Business intelligence (BI) can be used to transform your business into a more competitive and more profitable entity. For example, let’s look at a company with a high number of vacant units in its portfolio. The right property management company will use data to go deeper than just the number of vacant units — they’ll break down the types of units, location of those units, down days and other relevant metrics and identify trends.

Once you’ve identified the gaps, you’re able to see the opportunities. This results in higher dollars but isn’t always being looked at and utilized by many companies. Without access to this data, you risk missing key opportunities for growth.

4. How long have your partnerships with suppliers and vendors lasted in place? Certainly, churn and burn is bad for owners. The cost of starting fresh with vendors and suppliers is far greater than any short-term savings that may be the basis for a change in the first place. National relationships with key suppliers result in savings of money and time. A property manager with strong relationships can likely leverage those to benefit real estate owners in many ways. For example, national supplier relationships can result in cost savings as well as more timely responses by being prioritized in the queue of customers.

5. How are you integrating resources? Everyone has a role to play in the property management ecosystem. It’s important that, while titles and departments are understood and aligned for success, the site team must be empowered to get out from behind his or her desk and provide great customer service. After all, it’s this service that deepens relationships with residents and increases retention rates.

In real estate, reputation matters. Investors are going to continue to invest with owners who are driving results. Asking your property management company early on about what corporate resources and support are available to the properties and how they’re streamlining and integrating those resources can provide you a better idea of how burdened the site team may or may not be. It is critical that resident satisfaction be the key focus and goal. The support and resources a management company provide to enable that can work to maximize your brand perception.

Choosing a property management company is one of the most important decisions you can make. By simply asking the right questions and listening for responses that demonstrate an emphasis on integration, empowerment, collaboration and support, you can develop a symbiotic relationship with a partner that is just as invested in your business's success as you are.

More than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced daily. In 2017, some predicted that more data would be created than in the previous 5,000 years. This data offers possibilities, but also has the potential to overwhelm executives. Seventy-five percent of business executives identify talent analytics as an important issue, but only 8% believe their organizations are strong in this area.

This data influx is reflected in the contingent workforce management arena, where managers, gig workers, suppliers and managed service providers (MSPs) combine to create millions of data points. It begs the question: If workforce data contains the answers to critical questions, how can businesses unlock them? One answer could be a vendor management system (VMS) to manage all aspects of the contingent labor program. A VMS enables a transition from program-wide data to line item-level information. When combined with an MSP, it empowers stakeholders to understand what’s happening, identify key trends/drivers and take action.

Here are the questions you can ask of a VMS to better understand your company's contingent workforce ecosystem and fuel actionable decisions moving forward.

Where Are My Workers Located?

Companies can now search for talent globally with the growth of digital platforms and MSPs. As businesses tap into these resources, the complexity of managing expanding workforces also increases. Companies often don’t know where workers are located, what facilities/systems they have access to and if they’re complying with laws/policies.

Gaining better visibility into your workforce can fuel smarter decisions, including labor allocation and job expansion, risk management, worker tenure and access to talent.

A VMS should provide a snapshot of a company’s workforce with the ability to drill into granular details so users can understand worker location and the implications from a management perspective.

Are We Paying Competitive, Market Rates?

Overpaying for contingent labor can adversely affect margins and profits while underpaying can result in increased turnover. Employers often lack the reporting/analytics tools to identify this — and what to do about it.

A VMS can enable users to see how often the company is paying more or less than the market rate and discover patterns among job titles and managers that might be driving different hiring behaviors.

To ensure accuracy, rates should be pulled from various sources and based on market data points instead of rate card data. They should also be reviewed by subject matter experts to ensure they make business sense and aren’t matched to job titles.

Are There Opportunities To Reduce Overtime?

Excessive usage of overtime is common, especially for project and contingent work. Gaining visibility into variables can help businesses understand whether they’re unnecessarily incurring premium overtime charges. Say you notice a spike in overtime hours billed in a certain month. You’d want to understand whether the added overtime is an aberration or part of a larger trend, in which case further discussion about different resourcing strategies might be warranted -- an example of how analytics should be proactive, not reactive.

What Parts Of The Requisition Process Can We Tweak To Speed Time-To-Fill? 

While time-to-fill is critical for measuring program efficiency and ensuring optimal sourcing channels, it’s a difficult metric to improve. You must dig into the process to understand where bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement exist.

Capturing specific processes within a company’s requisition fulfillment process is beyond the scope of most VMS technologies. However, a VMS should provide new levels of visibility and drive actionable business intelligence for reducing time-to-fill.

You might discover some managers take longer to find candidates than others that hire for similar skillsets. A VMS facilitates discussions about what skills they need, what suppliers they’re using and what questions they’re asking during the interview process. These discussions could produce best practices shared throughout the organization.

Why Do We Have Turnover?

Understanding why workers leave and stay can help businesses educate managers, communicate with departments and tweak company policy to reduce turnover.

A robust VMS can pull in external and internal data to understand worker satisfaction and retention from contingent and full-time perspectives. For example, personnel leaving for “better benefits” might indicate a need to review business policy. You might even use worker cost data and worker quality scores to draw correlations between performance, salary, attrition and reasons for leaving that Improve retention.

Do I Need To Pay Top Dollar For A Statement Of Work (SOW) Worker To Get Top-Level Quality? 

Hiring managers often feel they can only source the type of “quality” talent they need by paying a consultant substantial fees. While managing SOW projects through VMS technology offers a myriad of benefits during the requisition process, it also generates data that a software and services solution can use to drive the smartest engagement decisions.

As it relates to SOW projects, top-tier reporting and analytics can help users better assess whether engaging self-sourced, staffing-sourced or full-time employees for roles will drive cost savings without a decrease in talent quality.

What Sourcing Method Results In The Best Talent Quality At The Best Cost?

Managers have been trying to answer this using empirical data. Unfortunately, data silos and outdated practices have made it difficult to unlock opportunities. Leading-edge solutions enable businesses to leverage one platform to monitor and evaluate their workforce.

By combining workforce data points, businesses can see what types of engagements are yielding the highest-quality work -- at the lowest rates. Enterprise-wide data can help identify where talent deficits exist and whether relocating full-time workers, self- sourcing local talent or supplier-sourcing contingent workers make sense.

Conclusion

The areas above provide jumping-off points for tapping into the power of reporting and analytics to make even smarter decisions about your contingent workforce. These queries encompass common challenges, but each business will have data points, filters and questions unique to them.

As you dive into your workforce data, you’ll find numerous questions you can ask. Many businesses are challenged by their data’s complexity and breadth, trying to decipher all that’s possible. However, with the right strategies, partners and technologies in place, you can use workforce analytics to discover business opportunities, plan desired results and drive company success.

In previous articles, including “Life Insurance Policy Themes for 2023,” I suggested that if the life insurance discourse, which I broadly defined in that article, were to move on from the “why to buy” to the “how to buy,” there’d be more buying. Similarly, the life settlement discourse, also broadly defined, might want to consider the same suggestion. That means less talk about why to sell a policy and more about how to sell it. Emphasis on the latter, especially emphasis on the role that both the agents and the clients’ advisors play in these transactions, could prove to be, well, transformative.

As part of my contribution to this expansion of the discourse, I wrote “A Program on Life Settlements for Agents in the Advanced Markets.” I’ll now follow that article with a set of questions that advisors should ask life insurance agents who propose a life settlement and, conversely, agents should be prepared to answer or, in a different setting, use in a presentation on life settlements. Either way, these are points that I believe are noticeably absent from today’s discourse, which, in turn, keeps the discourse in marketing mode versus a much needed advisory mode.

A Common Setting

You’re an estate planner with a wealthy clientele. You get a call from a client’s long-time investment advisor, who wants to conference you in with the client’s tax advisor. The course is life settlements. Apparently, the client had a conversation with a life insurance agent about selling a large policy. This isn’t the agent who sold the policy. He’s a successor, whom the client really doesn’t know all that well. Anyway, the client has asked the investment advisor to collaborate with you and the tax advisor to talk with the agent. “Check this thing out,” instructed the client, “Do some high level reconnaissance and get back to me.”

The Advisors Confer

The client told the investment advisor that, while intrigued with the possibility of unloading his “inexplicable universal life” policy, he has a lot of questions about life settlements in general, how this agent would handle the transaction and, of course, whether in the cold light of day he should sell the policy or figure out how to retain it. While he’d like his advisors to work as a team, he’d prefer that one of the three be the primary contact with the agent and, if things get that far, help him make an informed decision. That “point person” would also keep the trustee of the client’s irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) in the loop, as the trustee would actually be the seller. Anyway, with a wry smile that can’t be detected on the conference call, the investment advisor tells you that she and the tax advisor have nominated you to be that point person. No wonder they didn’t do a video call!

You know the other advisors well, mainly because you’ve worked with them on this client and others for years. So, the conversation flows nicely, with each offering plenty of suggestions for what should be on a list of questions that you’ll ask the agent on a call or at a meeting. As you’ve apparently also been nominated as the group’s scrivener, you’re tasked with putting together a draft of the list and circulating it for comment by these advisors and the trustee of the ILIT.

The First Draft

It takes only a couple of days to do the draft, circulate it and get comments back. Here’s the current version of what you’ll ask the agent, “conversationally annotated” for now until you finalize the questions:

• Bear in mind that the three of us aren’t in your business and have limited familiarity with life settlements and the associated practices, procedures and terminology. So, you’ll have to adjust the tempo and tenor of your responses accordingly. In other words, be patient with us.
• We obviously assume that you’re fully licensed and credentialed in the life insurance business. Are you licensed to do life settlements? If not, why not? Just curious.
• What life settlement companies do you work with for a policy like the one our client’s ILIT owns? Why do you work with them? What is it about their platform, process, personnel, resources, communication, technology, support and results that distinguishes them from their competition?
• We’d also like to know which firms provide the life expectancy reports to your life settlement companies.
• If you work with more than one life settlement company, how do you choose which company to engage for a particular policyholder or policy?
• How many life settlement cases have you handled all the way through? What are the largest policies you've put through the process? How many of those policies were owned by ILITs? How many of those ILITs had independent corporate trustees?
• At this juncture, the client is just interesting in learning if the policy is marketable, what kind of offer he might expect, etc. Will he incur any cost or obligation associated with this exploratory process?
• Walk us through the steps and time frame of a typical life settlement transaction from start to finish.
  • Generally speaking, what are the criteria and parameters that buyers consider these days when making (or not making) offers?
• We assume that not all situations go full course to a sale. What are some of the reasons that the process doesn’t get to fruition?
• We’ll talk further about this, but for now, how would you describe the role of the clients’ various advisors in these transactions? What about trustees?
• Let’s talk about your role in the life settlement process. Assume that a policyholder has indicated at least some reluctance to maintain a policy. Assume further that, for sake of conversation, it appears that both the insured and the policy suggest that there’s at least a basis for discussion about life settlement.
  • How do you “tee up” the life settlement conversation? Assume first that the policyholder says they don’t think they need the policy anymore. Then assume the issue isn’t need, it’s cost or affordability. In each case, what questions do you ask the policyholder? What steps do you take and what resources do you employ to help the policyholder come to an informed conclusion on “need”? On affordability?
  • Once the process is underway, how do you act as the policyholder’s advocate in the transaction? What value do you add in the process? Do you monitor the process and challenge something that doesn’t seem fair or correct? provide us some examples of where and how you interceded on behalf of the policyholder and/or got a policyholder a “better deal” than what was originally offered.
  • How would you prove that the offer presented by the life settlement company was as good (or better) as any that might be in the offing?
  • How do you communicate with and support a policyholder’s advisors? Please provide examples, including any resources you provide that help the policyholder’s tax and investment advisors work with you on a “keep vs. sell” analysis on an after-tax, after-fees basis.
  • What special information or services, if any, have you found to be helpful to corporate trustee policyholders who are considering a settlement or evaluating an offer?
  • How can we be helpful to you in the course of the transaction? For starters, would it be productive for us to set up a conversation among the client, you and the three of us where you could cover a lot of these points?

Practical Guidance Needed

As I’ve tried to make clear in previous articles, life settlements can be an integral component of many clients’ planning, as well as many agents’ business models. But the discourse has to move on from marketing platitudes to practical guidance for policyholders and their advisors. Hopefully, this modest contribution is an impetus for movement in the right direction.

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Application process

The most important thing you can do during this process is to be your authentic self. We can’t stress enough that there are no “right” or “wrong” answers. Rather, we encourage you to tell your story as authentically and honestly as possible, because we truly want to get to know you and the experiences that helped shaped you as a person, student, and employee.

Criteria for admission

Eligibility

A bachelor’s or equivalent degree from an accredited college or university by the time of matriculation is required to apply. Previous study in business or economics is not required, with the exception of the One-Year Program. Since much of the MBA curriculum utilizes quantitative skills, we encourage students to complete introductory courses in calculus and statistics prior to enrolling.

Evaluation and Assessment

When we evaluate our applicants, a few qualities really stand out to us, including the ability to push past comfort zones and question the norm. These qualities help us understand if an applicant is ready to seize all of the opportunities that come with joining Kellogg.

The committee assesses your:

• Application responses
• Essays
• Transcripts
• Test scores
• Letters of recommendation
• Resume
• Interview report
• Video essays

For international candidates, the committee also assesses:

Professional experience

The committee also values professional experience, including military service, that has provided a breadth and depth of skills and experiences to serve as a foundation for the MBA classroom. We look for people who are not afraid to question the status quo, can motivate a team to drive impact, and are eager to dive in and collaborate with an engaged, ambitious community of peers.

Program of interest

There is no "one-size-fits-all" when it comes to business, so why should your MBA be any different? At Kellogg, we are proud to offer five distinct Full-Time MBA Programs — One-Year, Two-Year, MBAi, MMM, and JD-MBA — all uniquely designed to fit your personal and professional goals. If you haven’t already, we highly encourage you to research all program options to make sure you’ve found the right fit for your needs.

Each applicant is allowed to apply to one full-time Kellogg program per year. Once you submit your application, you will be given the option to select one alternate Full-Time MBA program of interest and/or the Kellogg Evening and Weekend MBA program. Individuals who select an alternate program will be asked to provide a short paragraph explaining why they are also interested in the alternate program.