PROCTOR & GAMBLE ( P&G ) SCREENING QUESTIONS

Posted by chinafeed on July 15, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Here is a collection of the questions P&G use to screen applicants. Best of luck with your application
Which of these have bothered you the most when working on a task?

Please respond to all questions.

Having to finish someone else’s work

Getting work assigned at the last minute

Having to find and fix someone else’s mistakes

Being taken off a task before it is finished

Receiving incomplete or inaccurate instructions

None of these have bothered you

* What has been the first question you have asked when faced with a difficult decision?
What are your options?

What other information do you need?

What are the risks?

What is your primary objective?

What are your resources?

Compared to others at a similar level of development, how would you rate your ability to perform
in your specialty area?
In the top 5%

In the top 10%

In the top 25%

In the top 50%

Not in the top 50%

 Do not know

I have no specialty area

Compared to others, how often have you found/located new information or ideas and applied
them to your work?
Much more often than others

More often than others

About as often as others

Less often than others

I am not sure

How would others describe the quality of your work?

Always submitted on time but overlooked some small details

Sometimes submitted late but all of the small details were correct

Sometimes submitted late and overlooked some small details

Always submitted on time and all of the small details were correct

What kinds of problems do you most enjoy solving?

Problems where it is difficult to define the issues

Problems when the issues have been well defined, but finding the solution is difficult

Problems where the probability of failure is very low

Problems that can be delegated to others

None, I prefer not to solve problems

Compared to others, how often were you given the authority to make important decisions?
 More often than others

About as often as others

Less often than others

I am not sure

To what extent have you accepted changes in work processes or activities?

Great extent

Large extent

Moderate extent

Slight extent

Not at all

What is most important for getting things done in a company?

The company’s rules and procedures

How decisions are made

The company’s purpose/mission

How the informal organization works

In the past, when needing to make a difficult decision, what have you typically done?
Made the decision yourself

Asked the advice of co-workers, then made the decision

Asked the advice of co-workers, then went with majority vote

Asked the advice of an expert, then made the decision

 Asked your supervisor to decide

To what extent have you kept your skills up-to-date with current developments?
Great extent

Large extent

Moderate extent

Slight extent

Not at all

In the past, which have you preferred?

A chance for a lot of variety by doing many different kinds of work

A chance to become extremely good at a few types of work

Neither of these

Compared to others, how often have you been recognized for developing good ideas in your
work?
Much more often than others

More often than others

About as often as others

Less often than others

Much less often than others

Which of the following best describes how you make decisions?

Take as much time as needed to consider all information carefully

Use the best information available at the time

 Consider what is most cost effective

Consider what is likely to be accepted by others

How have you been able to take ideas in your work and turn them into reality?
By using my unique strengths

By removing barriers

By being patient

By being assertive

By ensuring everyone is engaged in the vision

Which of the following statements best describes how you keep informed in your area of
expertise?
Read relevant books/magazines/journals/websites

Occasionally participate in training sessions/seminars/conferences

Actively participate in a professional group

School courses

Teach/coach others in my area of expertise

I do not need to keep informed in my area of expertise

What has been most important to you in your work?

Forming a clear vision of the future

Doing what you are told

Recognizing previously unforeseen opportunities

Staying practical
 Getting people interested in your work

How effective are you in persuading others to accept your point of view in a group discussion?
Extremely effective

Very effective

Somewhat effective

Not very effective

Never had the opportunity

When given a project deadline, what have you been most likely to do?
Begin working on the project immediately

Spend some time thinking about how long the project will take and plan accordingly

Start work on the project a week before the deadline because you are busy with other projects

Ask for an extension on the deadline if you are pressed for time

How often have your suggestions to improve processes, services, or products been implemented?
Very often

Often

About as often as not

Sometimes

Almost never

In the last year, to what extent have team members discussed their problems with you?
Not at all

Slight extent
 Moderate extent

Large extent

Great extent

How effective have you been at changing the thinking of a group you were working with?
Not very effective

Somewhat effective

Very effective

Extremely effective

Never had the opportunity

When organizing a work team, you have selected those who:

Follow instructions

Have the most technical expertise

Cooperate with each other

Have different strengths

Think like you

Which of the following statements best describes how you have generated ideas?
Offered any idea that comes to mind

Discussed initial ideas with others for feedback

Independently evaluated ideas against practical constraints

Did not share the idea until certain that it would work
 Seldom had innovative ideas to offer others

How often have you been the leader of a group on a change initiative?
Very often

Often

About as often as not

Sometimes

Almost never

In the past, how have you gotten important work done?

Fast, but didn’t mind rework

Slow, but thorough

Fast and thorough

Do not know

Which has been more important to you?

Getting to a decision and moving on

Making the right decision regardless of timing

Balancing good decision-making with responsiveness

Getting group cohesiveness on all decisions

Getting an agreement you know you can achieve

Compared to others, how well have you managed interruptions while working under pressure?
Much better than others

Better than others

 About as well as others

Not quite as well as others

Much worse than others

Which of the following statements best describes the primary advantage you have realized by
networking with others?
It helped me learn from others who have faced similar issues

It gave me the inside scoop on organizational politics

It helped me learn faster

It provided me with a unique perspective

It provided me with no advantages

Which of the following has helped you the most in getting along with others?
Always being honest, including criticism

Treating others the way they would like to be treated

Standing my ground when I am right

Compromising when appropriate

In the past year, how many times have you been given a project because it needed to be completed
quickly?
Never

1-2 times

3-4 times

5-6 times

7 or more times
How often have supervisors or teachers complimented you for good ideas?
Almost never

Sometimes

About as often as not

Often

Very often

In your current or previous work, how frequently have others asked for your advice because of
your expertise?
Not at all

Not quite as often as they asked others

About as often as they asked others

More often than they asked others

All of the time

In your current or previous work, how frequently have others asked for your advice because of
your expertise?
Not at all

Not quite as often as they asked others

About as often as they asked others

More often than they asked others

All of the time

What was your academic standing for all of your school years combined?
In the top 5%
 In the top 10%

In the top 25%

In the top 50%

Not in the top 50%

Do not know and cannot estimate

Do you tend to focus more of your attention on the issues of the present or on the potential issues
of the future?
Much more focus on the present

More focus on the present

Just as likely to focus on the present as on the future

More focus on the future

Much more focus on the future

What are you best at?

Developing an original idea to its fullest

Improving on someone else’s ideas

Continually seeking to make small incremental changes to improve a process

Assuring good systems are maintained and work well

Reapplying other people’s ideas in new ways

Assuring you get consistently good results from whatever process you are running

A number of your family and friends who live far away have told you that the best way to reach
them is via the telephone. You do not have long distance telephone service at home, and you
believe that many of your colleagues use the company long distance service for extensive personal
communications. You are aware that long distance calling has an expense for the company. What
would you most likely do?
 Use your company long distance service for personal calls, but only after work hours.

Ask your manager whether it is okay to use the telephone in this way.

You believe that others in the office use the company long distance service for extensive personal use, and
so you would too.

Purchase a long distance calling card to accommodate the wishes of your friends and family.

One of your co-workers is copying company software at work and taking it home. This is against
company policy in your region. You need the same software for your personal use and are having
problems saving the money to buy it. What would you most likely do?
Ask other co-workers to see if it is a norm to copy the software in this group.

Discuss the matter with your manager, and ask whether you can copy the software for personal use.

Copy the software yourself.

Contact your IT representative for guidance.

Your work team is discussing when to sell a new product. Everyone including your boss seems to
agree that the product should be offered to customers within the month. You know your boss
does not like public disagreements. However, you have concerns because a recent report from the
research department points to potential safety problems with the product. What would you most
likely do?
Try to understand why everyone else wants to offer the product to customers this month. Maybe your
concerns are misplaced.

Voice your concerns with the product and explain why you believe the safety issues need to be addressed.

Support what others want to do so that everyone feels good about the team.

Keep your concerns to yourself.

You are the only person who orders office supplies and are responsible for the supply budget for
your group. You need some supplies for your personal use at home and can get them cheaper
through your work’s vendor account. The cost of these supplies will go unnoticed on the budget.
What would you most likely do?
Order the supplies on your organization’s budget and take them home.
Ask your manager if you can order the supplies and pay for them with your own money.
Do not order the supplies, since the account is for business-related supplies only.
At lunch, casually ask other coworkers what they would do.
Euro crisis, a double dip, the worst economic conditions since the great depression. Why then
are your Gen Y staff turning over faster than pre-GFC? Surely they should be clamouring for
any opportunity.

Here’s a hint, it’s not them, it’s you.

Employers who take their people for granted will continue to haemorrhage staff. If you
consider your staff “lucky to even have a job in this climate” you’re essentially telling them
they barely deserve to be among the 90% of people still employed.

Maybe you do hire people who border the bottom 10% of society. If so, do you think it is
much of a motivational tool to remind them of this?

Then consider the life circumstance of Gen Y. Old enough to have some experience under
their belt and young enough to not yet have fallen into the debt trap of mortgage and car
repayments. Not yet burdened with the financial obligations of elderly dependent parents or
young families that have turned Gen X and later boomers into wage slaves. Gen Y have
nothing to lose and everything to gain.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself

Fear of losing ones job will motivate one to work only so hard as to avoid termination.So if
you’re hoping to hold down your Gen Y staff with the looming fear of unemployment you
should tread carefully.

You’re likely already paying them so little that unemployment benefits aren’t a huge step
down. They don’t have the financial obligations of their older colleagues. And with young
people making up a large swathe of the unemployment figure they don’t have to fear the
stigma, they probably already have friends on benefits.

Hope

It was the catch cry of a campaign that drew the highest youth vote in decades. Gen Y have
oft been criticised as impertinent, cynical and short sighted. In truth Gen Y are fundamentally
hopeful.

They have a long view of history. They know that times have been bad before. They know
that times will be good again. They have hope, and hope is why they are willing to face
unemployment. Hope is why they leave you with no job offer.

If you’re interested in keeping your Gen Y staff then hope and optimism is where you need to
appeal. Providing opportunities for development and a clear path are key. As is showing that
you care about empowering them and their future. Gen Y will support your vision, but you
need to support their’s too.

“an opportunity to be taken advantage of”

Don’t simply position the role as “a chance to prove yourself”. This is a tired cliche and what
your employee will hear is “this is a chance for us to pay you less than you deserve and take
advantage of you”.
Explain why the menial task you want them to perform for you will lead to a better position,
make a clear, binding commitment that if they achieve a goal they will be advanced and if
necessary get in the trenches with them. If you can’t or are unwilling to do these things then
really your claim is pure exploitation.

Managing Gen Y is challenging. Not managing Gen Y is a death sentence for your
organisation.