Interview Chatter

Season 6 - The Apprentice - Week 5

by Darlene McDaniel on February 11th, 2007

Week 5: "My Honey"

Recap: The teams had the opportunity to work with Sue Bee Honey Company. Their task was to harvest honey, bottle honey and sell honey. The team with that sold the most honey would win the task. Both teams seemed to struggle with the task this week. The struggle seemed to be with marketing, sales, leadership and over all project management. Aaron and Aimee both struggled with putting together a solid plan. As a result execution was poor for both teams. The difference between winning and losing this week came down to creativity. Kinetic, Aimee’s team had Derrick, who donned the beekeeper suit and walked the store to drum up sales and Angela the Olympic Gold Medallist. The final results Aaron’s team sold 217 bottles of honey, $775.48 and Aimee’s team sold 345 bottles of honey, $836.58. Despite Aimee’s poor leadership Kinetic won. The board room was relatively uneventful. Aaron was fired and I believe it was the right decision. He didn’t seem to have any fire in his belly for the interview this week. He is very laid back and this week that really got in his way. Also, I do not believe he demonstrated strong leadership this week. His project management skills that supported his wins in previous weeks seemed to evade him this week. Ultimately, Mr. Trump made the right decision in terminating Aaron’s interview.

Lessons You Can Use:

1. Give me an example of a time when you used creativity to help your team achieve success? Can you answer this question? This is a great question that could come up in a behavioral interview. This week on the Apprentice, creativity was the "Trump" card. It made the difference between winning and losing. Leadership didn’t make the difference. Both team had poor leadership. Teamwork didn’t help, both teams had dissension in the ranks. So how would you answer this question? When you are up against a tough situation, and quitting is not an option, can you think outside of the box and come up with a creative solution that will get you closer to success.

 2. Don’t Squander One Opportunity - Every opportunity you have to score points in the interview will either move you closer to your ultimate goal to get the job or not. Aaron’s behavior in the boardroom, both two weeks ago and this week is worth commenting on as a lesson for our learning. Mr. Trump was not impressed with Aaron during the board room. He prompted him for input that would help him make the decision to terminate a candidate. Aaron had nothing to say. He squandered an opportunity to make an impression, to score points. To highlight his strength in assessing people, problem-solving and overall demeanor. Every time you walk into an interview, you MUST demonstrate, discuss, and market yourself. Who are you and what do you bring to the table? If you can’t articulate and/or demonstrate who you are and what you will bring, I assure you, you will not get and offer. Aaron had the best opportunity to become the next Apprentice in my opinion. He was impressive in his wins, but he somehow missed that the interview process is ongoing. Every situation these candidates find themselves in, is an opportunity to differentiate them self from the other candidates. In the end, Aaron’s loss, is a gain for someone else. Who? I have no idea. But there is more to come in this 14 week job interview!

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POSTED IN: Coach's Cornor, Preparation & Planning, The Apprentice 6, Tough Questions