Procedural Questions

Procedures are a part of life, especially in the working world. Each company has their
own set of policies and rules that they expect their employees to follow. An interviewer
is going to ask questions to determine if you would do things they way they want (for
instance making a sale or handling a customer complaint). Without training, you will not
know with any degree of certainty how the company would want you to handle different
situations but there are ways to answer that can increase your chances of getting the job.

What an interviewer is looking for in an answer is your philosophy towards
circumstances that occur in the company. Your natural instincts and personality is going
to come through at some point no matter what you have been trained to do. Questions
like, "How would you satisfy a customer if they wanted to return something after the
return policy has expired?" can be tricky to answer. The best way to answer them is to
begin with saying, "Of course, if hired I would abide by the company's guidelines - but
in this circumstance I would…"

By starting your answer with this phrase you are showing that you recognize a company
is going to have its own policies and ways of doing things and that you are flexible
enough to modify your way of doing things to align with those processes. Even role
playing scenarios for are a test to see if your way of thinking is in line with the
company's. This genre of question can backfire on you though if your answer is
completely opposite what the company is looking for. If you have done your research on
the company prior to the interview you should have a good idea of how they handle
customers and sales in general.