How to answer tell me a time when you innovate?

Hi there,

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

• First of all, since the quesion is asked in quite an open way, I would advise you to think of areas outside of work as well, e.g. your personal life, extracurricular activities, university settings. While in general, work-related examples might be more obvious and slightly more relevant, there is nothing wrong with examples stemming from other dimensions of your life.
• Second, innovation does not mean that you were creative in the artistic way but solely that you approached an issue from a new/ different perspective that others might not.
• Lastly, I would advise you to properly prepare your answer and answer to this question (as to all other questions) in a structured way. You may use frameworks like PARADE or STAR if this helps you.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare the personal fit part of consulting interviews, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Dig a bit deeper and am sure you can think of an example where you did something new, changed something which resulted in positive impact, suggested & implemented a new idea or you piloted something small & new and then scaled it etc. I hope you get the point. 

Innovation is the new age abused word and it doesn't have to be “formal always”. A lot of frugal stuff can be innovative in a situation.

So, find such an example & tell a story around it. It will be impactful.

Hi there,

I'm assuming you already know PARADE/STAR structure and have other stories already prepared - as such I'll answer more directly about ambiguity.

Did you ever have to come up with a solution to something that others hadn't considered? As in, everyone was approaching x thing in x way, and you realized you could do it in y way? 

This could be bringing in data analytics to solve a problem, creating a presentation on your own, proposing a new workstream or project or initiative within the firm.

If you truly can't think of anything at work, go personal! Anything from your prior job or education? Anything from personal life? (You can have 1-2 stories that aren't regarding your immediate/current role)

Hi!

The story shouldn't necessarily be about breakthrough innovation. It might indeed be about how you improved a process, tool, etc.

Let me know if I can further support you with your fit preparation.

Best,

Anto