Harshit Srivastava

Mindset Based
Interview Questions & Answers
Question: Tell me about yourself?

Answer: I would describe myself as highly curious and

focused on learning in all parts of life, personal and
professional. In my professional life, I look for the
hardest problems to solve and where I can learn and
develop the most.

No matter what I’m working on, I’m very invested. I

identify anyone I can learn from, as well as problems
that I care about and try to optimize every step of the
process.

In my personal life, I spend a lot of time reading and

usually have a focused area of interest for a longer
period of time. I also love to travel, cook with friends,
and spend a lot of time running and being physically
active outdoors.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: What is your greatest strength?

Answer: My greatest strength is that I am equally at

ease when talking to executives, business users, and
engineers. I come from an engineering background, but
I have a very strong understanding of the business. This
well-rounded view allows me to connect with
colleagues from disparate departments and points of
view quickly and authentically.

Over the course of my career, I have found that many

leaders generally do one or the other, and my ability to
do both has proven to be advantageous to my projects
and teams. By understanding the challenges from
multiple angles, I’m able to connect dots and create
solutions.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Tell me about a time you showed leadership?

Answer: Recently there was a situation where my

manager needed to take medical leave and was unable
to come into work for a few weeks. This coincided with
a major deadline that he was leading. I knew that if this
project wasn't completed on time, we were at risk of
losing a major client.

I went through the files and developed a schedule

detailing what needed to be completed, and I worked
with my coworkers to ensure they were on board too.

In the end, we were able to complete the project by the

deadline. The client was pleased and stayed on as a
loyal customer to the company. When my boss came
back, he gave me an end-of-quarter bonus for my going
an extra mile leadership quality.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Tell me about a time you were successful on a

team?

Answer: I was asked to work on a high-profile project that

included collaborating with a new team and tons of
people across a larger organization. We were spread out
across the globe, which meant timezones were tricky and
we could never meet face-to-face.

Communication was starting to get confusing, and people

were losing important details. It became apparent that
this project was going to fail if we didn’t have a new
strategy, so I met with various team members and
engaged them in a process where we designed and
implemented a communication system that would work a
lot better.

We then did weekly check-ins; designed a protocol to

share relevant updates and in the end, the team made
massive progress. We completed the project on time, and
it was praised extensively by the client.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: What would your co-workers say about you?

Answer: I think my coworkers would tell you that I'm the

one you turn to when it's time to make sure everyone
stays motivated and on track to pull off big, high-profile
projects.

In one of my LinkedIn recommendations, my supervisor

refers to me as the “Human Glue”, which is something I'm
proud of. She gave me that nickname after we went
through a complex ERP implementation.

It was one of those stressful time-critical projects that

required the team to come together and make things
happen in a short amount of time. I kept the crew going,
sometimes through long evening and weekend hours, and
inspired them to bring their absolute best to the project
everyday.

I think that they also appreciated the pizza and donuts I

brought in too.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Why do you want to leave your current role?

Answer: I am eager to find a new opportunity and grow.

As you can see, I've been doing the same kind of work for
two and a half years, and I'm starting to stagnate. My
company doesn't have a role open for the next step up,
unfortunately.

So, I'm excited about the opportunity of becoming a sales

manager at your company. The new role will let me use
the skills I've developed in my current role like making
cold calls; hooking in new clients with pithy-but-inspiring
opening lines; following up with carefully crafted emails;
listening to their pain points; and then offering up
solutions that can solve their problems.

I'm eager to make a fresh start, and I want to use my cold

calling and listening skills to help craft an even better
solution with the product I'd be working on in this new
role.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Describe your most challenging project?

Answer: I was tasked with implementing a uniform data

platform for a large, multinational company with tens of
thousands of employees. It had to be done in such a way
that it could be used by teams spread out all over the
world.

There were several challenges associated with

implementing a platform of this size and importance. We
had to make sure the platform would be well-adopted,
add value, and be approved by the executive team.
Besides the technical complexities of building such a
platform, this project was also challenging because we
had to influence global teams.

I created a high-level strategy and asked Senior VPs to

nominate reports to form one global team that could
represent the entire organization. Ultimately, we
succeeded in building a platform that was adopted
globally.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Can you explain your employment gap?

Answer: Looking at my resume, you’ll notice I have an

employment gap of 5 months.

During this time, I couldn’t legally be employed due to

visa reasons. I took the opportunity to evaluate my career
journey and make sure I was working towards my long-
term goal of being a multinational general manager.

Without the day-to-day hustle, I was able to be

introspective and distill the lessons I’d taken away in
previous roles, and start planning my intentions for the
next.

I also used the time to read up on the latest

developments in design thinking and innovation, and
even took a couple online courses in these spaces. What
initially seemed like a frustrating forced break ended up
being a very positive period of time for me, and I was able
to start my next chapter feeling inspired and refreshed.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Tell me about something you’ve accomplished

that you are proud of?

Answer: When I first joined the company, I noticed that

the existing monthly budgeting process was quite time-
consuming and inefficient because it was highly manual.
There were errors and inaccuracies, and I took the
initiative to implement a new budgeting template to
automate the process and make it simpler.

I developed automated calculations using Excel and fill-

in-the-blank lines for departments to submit their
numbers. Then I designed and led a training for all
relevant staff. The new system made it easier for the
departments to provide their budgets in an error-free
way.

Overall, we had 25% fewer errors in the next cycle of

budgets and my team became 30% more efficient. My
manager gave me a very strong review for the quarter and
noted that she appreciated my initiative to automate and
make the process a lot less cumbersome.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: What do you like to do outside of work?

Answer: A lot of my spare time lately has been dedicated

to teaching myself how to shoot and edit instructional
videos.

I really love backpacking in different countries, especially

with different cultures than the one I grew up in. I find
that it allows me to disconnect and recharge from
everyday life, while growing and learning something new.
To date, I’ve backpacked either alone or with friends in
over 8 countries, across Asia, South and Central America.

Outside of work, I enjoy fitness training, perfecting my

soccer skills, writing and recording music, and taking care
of my dogs.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Tell me about a time you had to manage

conflicting priorities?

Answer: I was asked at the last minute to help with a major

project. The deadline was just a few days away and the
project had gotten derailed. As I was working on this first
urgent project, I was approached by two different clients
with pressing requests as well. These conflicting priorities
overwhelmed me at first.

Then I came up with a plan to prioritize the tasks I was given

based on their level of importance. I determined which
clients were the most critical to our business and who
needed deliverables with the quickest turnaround. I ranked
the assignments and figured out how long it would take me
to finish them.

Then I checked in with my coworkers, clients, and manager

to see if the timeline made sense to them. We added an
additional team member, stayed in the office late for a few
nights, and aligned with the clients on the new timeline. In
the end, I was able to complete everything on time.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Tell me about a time you failed or made a

mistake?

Answer: In my first job, my manager asked me to develop

several forms of tracking projects. I said “yes” because I
wanted to do everything my manager asked me to do. But
as I started working on the project, I realized I didn't
understand the overall goal. And the project ended up
creating templates that didn't meet my manager's
expectations.

My manager was disappointed in me. She told me that if I

had asked some clarifying questions, I would've gotten to
a better work product. I admitted to my manager that I
had made a mistake and learned that it doesn't make you
look stupid if you ask clarifying questions.

I learned that it's better to speak up quickly. That's how

I've handled those situations ever since.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Tell me about a time you worked with a difficult

person?

Answer: As a Business Analyst, my job was to create

requirements documents or pitches for new projects to
present to a board of directors for approval.

One of the board members was notorious for poking holes

and asked us to gather more information, causing
significant delays. This made stakeholders very unhappy. I
reached out to this board member to better understand his
concerns and identify ways to streamline the process.

I looked back at the proposals and identified three themes

of concern that kept coming up. We ran proposed changes
by the board, and then modified the template accordingly.
We also implemented a new practice to share the proposals
with the board before meetings to stay ahead of questions.
Our approval rates tripled!

In the end, uncovering the root of a difficult relationship

was beneficial to our process and all parties involved.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Tell me about a time you disagreed with

someone?

Answer: My team was given a new goal: to sell our

product to a new customer segment that we hadn’t
served in the past. The group had strong opinions about
the approach we should take. In spite of their voices, I had
concerns about their strategy; I thought it may fail as it
didn't align with the client’s core needs. But I was in the
minority and when I spoke up I wasn't heard. I needed to
find another way to make the case to my teammates.

I set up a focus group with a potential client so my team

could understand the challenges and priorities of the
people we aimed to serve. The great news was they saw
that our planned product wouldn't meet these needs, but
if we made some slight adjustments to the service, we
could deliver something of real value.

The team rallied behind this and got on board. We were

ultimately successful in bringing this client onboard—and
ten more!
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Answer: In the first two or three years, I plan to immerse

myself in the position by leveraging my strong Excel
knowledge to develop automated reports and processes.

The goal would be to improve efficiencies and reduce time

spent on manual tasks. Within two to three years after that I
see myself using that experience to help other departments
develop similar efficiencies.

Question: Tell me about a time you created a goal and

achieved it?

Answer: In my line of work, most top performers have

MBAs. I promised myself to do everything possible to earn
an MBA within three years while working full-time.

I set goals of two hours of study time in the morning and

evening, and made detailed to-do lists to manage both my
study schedule and my other work responsibilities.

It was incredibly hard, but I persisted and managed every

minute of my day—and achieved my goal.
 Harshit Srivastava

Question: Tell me about a time you had to handle

pressure?

Answer: I was working on my company's big quarterly

project update when two team members left
unexpectedly and we were short-handed with three
weeks to go.

I convened an urgent strategy session where we

identified all the projects they were involved in and
mapped out our action plan. We shared the most
important tasks within the team and got them all done in
time.

We canceled two optional features that could wait a

quarter, and we reached out to a former intern who was
able to deliver 15 hours of remote work in the last
weekend sprint before the deadline.

We were able to complete the project without a delay and

delivered on all the essential deliverables by being
creative, strategic, and very focused.