Interview prep

Introduce yourself and why you want to work for this company

S	I’m currently a third-year student studying food and nutritional sciences at UBC. With great interest in food production and formulations and I’m aspiring to be R&D scientist in the food industry.
T	Throughout my studies, I’ve been focusing on gaining the necessary knowledge regarding food product development and processing.
A	Currently I am conducting a case-study for a food product involving a probiotic sparkling juice for my food product development course. Which has allowed me to explore the government regulations regarding food products involving probiotics.
R	Right now I am at a point of my degree where I am very inclined in learning more about the food industry as much as I can, including food production, process, and regulations, Therefore, it will be great honour for me to be a part of Vitalus Nutrition as regulatory student. Where I can contribute my acquired knowledge regarding assessing food quality and regulations from my previous courses.

What do you know about our company and why should we hire you?

S	I know your company focuses on supplying milk protein concentrates ever since 2006. Where you provide milk product with higher protein concentration and decreased sugar content. I also noticed that the company recently came up with a new product which VITAGOS, a galacto-olisaccharide syrup. Which is a product that really perked my interest, because I am currently conducting a case study on a probiotic sparkling juice, and one of the aspects we considered while we were designing the product is that including a prebiotic for its formulation. I just think it’s really great for Vitalus a milk/dairy company to have a prebiotic product that enhances the benefits of Bifidobacterium, which is usually the probiotic for yoghurt.
T	For this role, you’re looking for someone who can support in updating and creating regulatory documents. In addition, you would also want someone is who capable in researching and renewing regulatory updates.
A	As I mentioned, I’m currently conducting a case study regarding a probiotic sparkling juice. One of the defining characteristic of our product is that it actually is a shelf stable. That is possible because, we wanted to include Bacillus Subtilis DE11, which is a spore-forming probiotic strain, and has actually only been recently approved for non-strain-specific probiotic claims in Canada, which is something we researched. But also given our programs, we’re just more inclined in learning about updates in food regulations.
R	Therefore, I am confident in the role of regulatory student at Vitalus Nutrition.

Could you please tell me about a time when you performed well under enormous pressure?

S	I used to work as rides operator at PNE, and  there would be days where we will have over ten thousand guests in the park, thus we expect a huge lines in every ride.
T	Our supervisors have instructed us to keep loading, which often includes checking for necessary wristbands or tickets and ensuring the ride is balanced in terms of weigh to be around two minutes.
A	The only way that was possible if my partner and I for that ride were able to work synchronously. This involved delegating tasks appropriately making sure, that we each are focusing on a single task, as attempting to multi-task may just cause more delays. So, this meant one person was checking for wristbands and tickets while the other person was balancing the ride and ensuring we do not overload.
R	By maximizing our teamwork, we were able to on average load and start the ride around 1.5 to 2 minutes per ride cycle.

Could you please describe a time when you went above and beyond?

S	I used to work at playland as a rides operator and there was a day where the ride, I was stationed on closed because of the weather.
T	I was actually given choice, whether I would want to either go at the ride I already know and just assist on the operator already present at that ride or learn another ride and takeover that said ride because the person in charge of it was leaving early.
A	Actually the reason why I was moved, because it was raining that day and my original ride cannot function safely when it’s raining. So my choices were either stay at the ride where I was moved and have more chill shift and stay dry for the rest of the day, or train at a ride where the was almost no shade and I will take over.
R	I ended up choosing getting for another ride just to help out. That decision also actually spiralled to me being the trusted designated operator for that new ride, because 90% of my shifts were on that ride.

Could you please tell me the time you made a mistake when handling a huge amount of data and how you handled it?

S	On one of my early food science labs, we were learning on how to use the BCA reagent assay to quantify the protein content in this particular milk sample. It was my first time handling really small volume (like 10 mL) and it was also my first time working with a 96 well plate.
T	Since the solution I was working with was clear and the volume of it was also very small, it was practically impossible to see. So, at that time I wasn’t even sure if I actually even added any sample for some of the wells. When I got my results, I had some weird data where I somehow got negative value for concentration.
A	Thankfully, I noted down the wells that I was unsure off and found out that it was one of the wells I was worried I didn’t have add any sample too.
R	Since, it was just one replicates I was able to exclude it from my data. But there were some that still outside the expected range, but I also noted those down, so I was able to explain the discrepancies on my reflection. So, I think what’s really important with dealing with a lot of data or information is always just noting down what you do to prevent yourself from going onto autopilot and result to you not being able to remember what you did. Because you can only troubleshoot if you know where you possibly went wrong.

Could you please tell me about your strengths

S	I would say my greatest strength is my ability to adapt in situations. When I first started, university I was the type of student make an incredibly detailed schedule for the day and week.
T	However, I soon realized that it’s actually not feasible (at least in my case), to follow a very comprehensive schedule where I schedule a task down to the minute. Because there would be situations where a project or an assignment will take longer than anticipated. This would then result to a delays in supposed schedule and that use to stress me out.
A	When I recognized that my strategies back in high school no longer stands in university I pivoted, as I’m not the type of person persist on something that is no longer for me. Because if I continued to go through that kind of scheduling method, I would have had mental breakdown as the difficulties of my assignment in each of my courses and it can be difficult to estimate a specific amount of time I should allocate for that task.
R	Now, being in my third year, I’ve changed my strategy to just having an idea on the things I would like to finish on that day. If I start to fall behind, I adjust my schedule to make sure I stay on top.

Could you please tell me about your weakness?

S	To start off, I am the type of person who despise doing things last minute. So, for my individual projects, I like to finish them few days or at least the day before it’s due. However, I’ve actually had more group projects than individual projects.
T	Since I often also am the one who’s a bit more forthcoming in reaching out with my group mates and attempting to discuss a project timeline, I often suggest internal deadlines that will allow us to finish a few days earlier than the deadline. However, sometimes my suggestion will not go through as my group mates would state that is far too early and is a bit overwhelming.
A	That is when I realized that I sometimes have the tendency to just expect people to function the same way as I do. Some people work on things at a slower pace than I do. That was something I really had to learn, because if I continued with the same mindset I would constantly stress over my projects.
R	So now, I’ve learned to tone down my desire to finish things early and be able to work around other people’s schedule.

Why is safety important in the workplace

S	I previously worked as a ride operator at PNE. Although, our rides are checked every single day to make sure it is safe for operation, there will be rare occasions where it will malfunction. During one of my shifts in a train ride, the train derailed with guests still on it.
T	However, since we are instructed to always watch and follow the ride I was able to stop and turn off the ride as safely possible. It is also expected of us to be always aware and scan our environment. This proved helpful, as I did not have a phone in my ride and if I had to go run to nearest phone it will take me two minutes minimum. However, since I was aware that one of my supervisor was on the ride next to mine (she was doing breaks), I was able to cut the time I need to call for help in less than a minute.
A	We were then able to evacuate the guests in around ten minutes after the accident occurred.
R	From that day on, I realized the importance of having emergency procedures memorized. Although we had a sign in each ride about what to do if an accident occurred, reading it will only stall me. After it was resolved, my manager actually told me that I reacted to the situation really well. That it was resolved quickly with no one getting hurt because of my immediate response and I even earned her trust.

Would you please tell me about a time you had a conflict at work?

S	I previously worked at playland as a rides operator. Usually there would be a lot of returning employees from previous seasons as it’s a seasonal job. So, many employees including myself who have worked multiple seasons already kind of have their own know how’s on how to operate the rides as efficiently as possible.
T	I was working with this one person for a ride that was designed for children, so a cart wouldn’t fit more than two adults. Since we also have a lot of teenager guests that will be a around the height of an adult, I often treat them as an adult and place them in ride accordingly so it’s balanced. This meant I would have to sometimes break up a group of three which be conversation with teenagers. But I usually try to accommodate them by having their carts side by side. On the other hand, my partner at the time didn’t really have the same pre-cautions as I did and would allow ambiguously tall teenagers in the same car. So, when I was checking the restraints and saw them, I was taken back, because I believed that we needed to separate them, but the problem was the ride was full. I genuinely felt like it wouldn’t have been safe to run the ride with that imbalance of having practically three adults in one cart. I had to unfortunately ask them if they can wait for the next cycle.
A	I ended up having to take the heat from them since it felt like I was the bad guy kicking them out of the ride. But I explained the safety issues and thankfully they complied.
R	I brought up that to my partner, and he ended up explaining it’s always been something he’s done and he’s never had a problem with it. I told him that I didn’t really feel comfortable with him just eye balling things. So to prevent further issues we kind of compromised on consulting each other when we have guests that are not adults but are too tall to be considered as kids.