Interviewing to Take Home the Gold

Challenge: Your sales division's productivity decreased, and it seemed your division would not meet/exceed annual goals.
Response: Observed the staff to see where bottlenecks were occurring. Determined a need for additional employee development and training. Focused on employee development through intense training.
Results: Hit corporate budget at year-end and was noted by management for exceptional problem solving and turnaround capabilities.

Now when asked "What is one of your biggest strengths?" your response might be: "My biggest strength is my ability to identify potential problem areas, solve the problem, and produce results. An example of this would be when my division's productivity decreased and it seemed as though we would not meet/exceed our annual goals..." and continue with the story above.

This same scenario would also work if the interviewer had asked, "Describe a difficult situation and how you handled it" or "What would management say about you?" Thinking through specific situations will allow you to choose scenarios most appropriate to the question.