1. Tell me why do you want to work at ABC Company?
This should be directly related to the last question. Any research you've done on the company should have led you to the conclusion that you'd want to work there. After all, you're at the interview, right? Put some thought into this answer before you have your interview, mention your career goals and highlight forward-thinking goals and career plans.
2. Explain us about any issues you've had with a previous boss?
If you fall for this one you shouldn't be hired anyway. The interviewer is testing you to see if you'll speak badly about your previous supervisor. Simply answer this question with extreme tact, diplomacy and if necessary, a big fat loss of memory. In short, you've never had any issues.
3. Tell me what do you expect me to accomplish in the first 60 to 90 days?
Great candidates want to hit the ground running. They don't want to spend weeks or months "getting to know the organization."
They want to make a difference--right away.
4. Tell me would you say that you can easily deal with high-pressure situations?
Yes. My past experience as an Administrative Coordinator required me to deal with many serious situations since I held emergency on-call duties as a supervisor. One example was when I was called by a Resident Assistant to deal with an attempted suicide on her residence-hall floor. The situation required that I think clearly and quickly in this life-and-death situation. I had to weigh the many tasks that needed to be completed. I had to assign RAs to call 911, make sure that EMS could get into the locked building, while at the same time applying first aid, and ensuring that the rest of the residents on the floor were OK. I also had to make sure the privacy of the resident in need was respected. I basically prioritized and dealt with each task by its importance. I delegated responsibility to RAs for things that they were capable of handling because I could not physically be in many places at once. Once the resident was taken to the hospital, I was responsible for paperwork and follow up to make sure the staff members, residents, and the resident-in-need adjusted back to “normal” life. I know this is an extreme example not found in the financial consulting field; however, it shows just how well I can deal with extreme pressure.
5. Explain me who is the beneficiary?
Beneficiary is the one whom you have nominated for the insured amount in case of your death.
6. Explain me what do you mean by ‘Deductible'?
Deductible is one of the several types of clause that are used by the insurance company as a threshold for policy payment for health insurance or travel insurance. Deductible is a decided amount that you have to pay from your pocket while claiming the insurance. For example, you have a deductible of $500, and you have insurance coverage for $2000, then you are responsible for paying for $500 and the remaining amount $1500 will be paid by insurance company.
7. Explain me what happens if you fail to make required premium payments?
Usually, Insurance Company gives a grace period of 10-15 days to the insured if they fail to pay the premium before the due date. Further, if you fail to pay a premium, then your policy will lapse. You can revive your policy by paying the outstanding premium along with the interest, counted from the date the policy got lapsed. Different Insurance Company has a different norm for reviving the policy.
8. Explain me what do you mean by ‘Additional Insured'?
‘Additional Insured' is the status associated mainly with property insurance and liability insurance. The additional insured will be protected under the main policy holder. For example a vehicle insurance policy which covers all the members of family and not only the owner.
9. Tell us is it advisable to replace the policy with another policy?
If it is not a long duration that you have bought the policy, then you can replace the policy. But in other case it is not advisable as you will lose all the benefits of the previous policy also the premium will go high as you go older. Also, the two-year period of contestability will also begin again.
10. Tell me what is ‘declaration page' in insurance policy?
‘Declaration page' in insurance policy, bears all the information of the policy holder like name, address, vehicle information, type of coverage and loss payee information.
11. Do you know what are the different types of Insurance Coverage?
Insurance policy is categorised into two
a) General or Non-life Insurance
b) Life Insurance
12. Do you know what do employees do in their spare time?
Happy employees 1) like what they do and 2) like the people they work with.
Granted, this is a tough question to answer. Unless the company is really small, all any interviewer can do is speak in generalities.
What's important is that the candidate wants to be sure of having a reasonable chance of fitting in--because great job candidates usually have options.
13. Please tell me are you willing to put the interests of X Company ahead of your own?
Again, another nasty question. If you say yes, you're a corporate whore who doesn't care about family. If you say no, you're disloyal to the company. I'm afraid that you'll probably have to say yes to this one though, because you're trying to be the perfect employee at this point, and perfect employees don't cut out early for Jimmy's baseball game.
14. Please explain are you good at working in a team?
Unless you have the I.Q. of a houseplant, you'll always answer YES to this one. It's the only answer. How can anyone function inside an organization if they are a loner? You may want to mention what part you like to play in a team though; it's a great chance to explain that you're a natural leader.
15. Please explain us what motivates you to do a good job?
The answer to this one is not money, even if it is. You should be motivated by life's noble pursuits. You want recognition for a job well done. You want to become better at your job. You want to help others or be a leader in your field.
16. Tell us what relevant experience do you have as Death Benefits Clerk?
Hopefully if you're applying for this position you have bags of related experience, and if that's the case you should mention it all. But if you're switching careers or trying something a little different, your experience may initially not look like it's matching up. That's when you need a little honest creativity to match the experiences required with the ones you have. People skills are people skills after all, you just need to show how customer service skills can apply to internal management positions, and so on.
17. So, tell us now a little about yourself?
I'd be very surprised if you haven't been asked this one at every interview. It's probably the most asked question because it sets the stage for the interview and it gets you talking. Be careful not to give the interviewer your life story here. You don't need to explain everything from birth to present day. Relevant facts about education, your career and your current life situation are fine.
18. Tell us how are you when you're working under pressure as Death Benefits Clerk?
Once again, there are a few ways to answer this but they should all be positive. You may work well under pressure, you may thrive under pressure, and you may actually prefer working under pressure. If you say you crumble like aged blue cheese, this is not going to help you get your foot in the door.
19. Please explain us is there anyone you just could not work with?
No. Well, unless you're talking about murderers, racists, rapists, thieves or other dastardly characters, you can work with anyone. Otherwise you could be flagged as someone who's picky and difficult if you say, "I can't work with anyone who's a Bronco's fan. Sorry."
Yes, I had an incident with my Spanish professor. I turned in an essay that she said was too good to be mine. I was honest with her; I told her that I had a native speaker review the essay, but he made very few corrections. However, I had broken the Golden Rule of Spanish Composition - the essay must not even touch the hands of a native speaker. To prove to her that I was capable of producing an essay that exceeded her expectations of a non-native speaker, I offered to re-write another essay in her office. I earned an A-minus.
21. Do you know how will the academic program and coursework you've taken benefit your career?
As you will note on my resume, I've taken not only the required core classes for the finance field, I've also gone above and beyond by double majoring in accounting. I doubled majored since I knew that the financial-consulting field requires much knowledge of portfolio analysis and understanding of the tax laws. I believe that my success in both areas of study have specifically prepared me for this career. But it's not just taking the classes in these two areas that allows me to offer Merrill Lynch clients more. I minored in Spanish to understand the growing hispanic clientele in the Central Florida area, which as you are well aware is a growing source of revenue for the industry. If you like, I can elaborate on other aspects of my education further.
22. Please explain what is Co-insurance?
Co-insurance term is usually referred to health insurance companies. In this type of policy, you share the coverage with, the insurance company in percentage of the policy value, after paying deductible or co-payment. It is the split of insurance coverage between you and insurance company; usually the split would be 80/20 % where you are liable to pay 20% and the remaining amount by the insurance company. For example, for health policy you have claimed for $200, according to policy clause you have to pay deductible, let say $100, now after paying deductible the remaining amount is $100, now you have a co-insurance which is split into 80/20%. So you will pay $20 out of $100 from your pocket while the $80 will be paid by co-insurance(meaning the insurance company).
Certain Insurance company have a provision of Limited Premium Payment, through which you can pay the premium in 3, 5, 7 or 10 years depend upon your income,and you still can have the coverage for the entire tenure of the policy.
24. Explain me what is General Insurance policy? What does it cover?
General Insurance is basically an insurance policy that protects you from losses and damages other than covered by life insurance. For example it covers
a) Personal property such as car or house
b) Accident and health Insurance
c) Liability Insurance – legal Liabilities
d) Property against natural calamities like flood, fire, earthquake etc.
e) Burglary and theft
f) Coverage on transport vehicles carrying goods like Cargo Ship
g) Coverage against machinery breakdown
h) Travel
25. Explain me how to claim the policy?
In order to claim the policy, you have to fill up the claim form and contact your financial advisor from whom you have bought the policy. You have to supplement all the required documents like original payment receipt to your insurance company. If everything is ok, you will be paid within seven days of the policy claimed.
