Communications
Joe Guthrie
September 14, 2014
0Trevor Jones
Communications
Joe Guthrie
September 14, 2014
Tell me about yourself. Briefly tell me about your background and then discuss your experience, education, and interests that led you to apply for this position. Tell me, based on this information why you feel you are qualified for this position and why I should hire you instead of the other 12 people I have interviewed.
I was born in Glen Allen, Virginia where I moved a few years later. Where I ended up growing up in Mechanicsville, Virginia, graduated from Lee-Davis High School in 2014. Since then I’ve been at Virginia Tech, studying in Crop Production, on the AAM side of the Agricultural Technology Program. Your job opening caught my attention because the position, as described, is such a perfect match with my skills. The depth of experience I can offer will contribute to your leading industry position. I'd love the opportunity to help take your company to the top of the field. I haven’t had much “job experience” with crop production, but I have helped out many of friends and know a lot about the topic. I have had hands on experience harvesting corn, soybeans, wheat, and rye. I know I may lack the experience you are looking for. But, I have gained a lot of education and hands on experience through my education and laboratory courses. I have an excellent work ethic. My work is accurate and efficient, I’m a very dependable and honest. I’m on time for work, and I tend to do my duties.
Are you a leader? Tell me why or why not. Also, describe a time that you showed leadership. This could be at work or in another activity. Tell me about what the situation was, what you did and what the results were. Alternatively, tell me about a time that you used teamwork to achieve a goal, giving the same information (situation, what you did, results)
Growing up I would not have described myself as a leader. It wasn't that I didn't share my opinions or thoughts, but I tended to be more of a listener and went along with others. During my junior and senior year in high school and during my parents divorced, I found myself wanting to be more confident and wanting to be a positive influence on my younger sister. As the "man of the house" I wanted my mom and sister to trust me that I would help support them by being strong and dependable. I am not sure that I purposely decided to be more of a leader, but others thought that I changed and came out of my shell more. I met several new friends and found myself being the one to make plans or coordinate things that we did. I started working and liked being the 'go to' person at work. I am not always the leader everyday and in every situation, but I do believe that I have strong leadership skills when it matters most. I prefer to work with others and like the chance to work on a "team". During my junior year of school, I really enjoyed the teamwork that we were required to do in my Horticulture class. At times I was the leader, but mostly I liked having to work together with my classmates in the garden to achieve a goal.
Tell me about your people skills by describing an incident when you needed to deal with a difficult situation with another person, perhaps a customer or co-worker. Describe the situation, why the difficulty or confrontation arose, what actions you took, and what the results were. Looking back, would you take the same course of action? Tell why or why not. If you would do something different what would it be?
I had a boss who would control every single project, often causing missed deadlines and frustration throughout the shop. We all worried about our department's reputation within the company, but since he was our boss, we felt helpless to try and change anything. It was indeed frustrating knowing you could complete a project on time, only to have your boss need to stop you and question what you were doing and suggest