You’ll probably hear the interview question “What does quality mean to you?” When interviewing for a variety of roles.
As a former recruiter, I’m going to show you How to define quality and give an excellent answer to an interview that will help you win the job.
I will also share multiple Example answers verbatim For everything from customer service roles to software development roles, so you can make sure your response sounds right.
lets start…
Why companies ask what quality means to you
To get started, let’s define quality.
In business, quality means the standard of a product or service compared to other similar products or services.
You can think of quality as a measure of the excellence of something.
Employers ask questions in an interview about what quality means to you to ensure you maintain the good of the company and their customer if you are hired.
The interviewer wants to make sure that you believe in providing quality work and that you also know what quality work entails.
They also want to ensure that you define quality in the same way they do, more or less, to ensure that you fit into their company culture.
For example, imagine you are being interviewed for a customer service position and the potential employer believes that excellent customer service always means making customers feel like they are a priority.
Now, if you say in an interview that the client’s goal is only to support the company, and they are not a priority, then it could be a red flag for the recruiting manager.
Examples of the meaning of quality in the workplace
Depending on your job and industry, quality will relate to different things. The following are examples of what excellent quality might look like in different industries:
- Providing exceptional service to customers, going above and beyond what they expect
- Strict inspections of each finished product before delivery to customers, to ensure that no quality problems occur after purchase
- Creating a Measurable Performance Standard that employees, services or products must meet
- Development of a strong quality assurance program to prevent product defects
- Investing time and money in creating quality design specifications for products, to ensure that the result will be a quality product that exceeds the products of competitors
- Using better raw materials to create a higher quality final product with high reliability
- Track each customer to make sure they are satisfied after purchase
- Offers a better warranty than competitors in your industry
- Offers a product similar to competitors but at a better price, gives more value to your customers
The definition of quality in any organization will change.
Some companies produce goods, others offer services, and others offer integration.
And there is no one way in which every business achieves or measures quality standards.
So before you answer an interview question about what quality means or how you define quality, make sure you understand how quality is related to work. are you Interviewed for.
Below, we will look at some sample interview answers that you can tailor to your industry / role.
Sample answers to “What does quality mean to you?”
Sample Answer 1:
As a customer support representative, I believe quality means beyond what the customer expects to ensure they are satisfied.
I also believe that quality means providing a consistent experience to customers. Customers need to be able to predict the quality of help they are going to receive whenever they communicate with a business and be able to rely on it. It is best to have a consistent and reliable process so that customers do not experience difference. To me, consistency is part of quality.
Example 2 answer:
Because I design products for a living, I think about quality in terms of how I design and create any given product.
For me, quality means delivering a product that exceeds expectations both in terms of functionality and in terms of reliability. These two factors are essential to product success and can be the difference between failure and success in business, so they are the first two factors that come to mind when I hear someone mention quality.
And in terms of my personal work, I think there are a lot of different ways in which quality comes into the picture. I think quality work involves high effort and focus, consistency, openness to feedback, strong communication with management, and being a primary and responsible employee.
Example 3 answer:
As a software developer, I think quality means providing products with great usability and features, and creating tools that effectively solve problems for users.
It also means maintaining a quality assurance process and thorough software testing and weighting user feedback throughout the product lifecycle to continually improve. The best digital products improve over time.
Example 4 answer:
In my job, I think quality means bringing in my best efforts, always looking for ways to get better and grow, and provide consistent and productive work that management can count on.
And in terms of business products, I think quality means providing value beyond what customers expect.
This includes excellent product design, reliability, service excellence and even pricing.
As a production manager, I work throughout my current organization to improve the quality and reliability of our products and also streamline our production processes to save the company money in every production cycle.
This allowed us to lower some of the prices of products last year to be more competitive and offer more value to customers.
The result was an increase in sales that led to high revenues by 32%.
Note in the answer to the last example above, you summarize in conjunction with specific metrics of what you have recently achieved. It is always a great idea to include this type of information in your job interview, if possible.
When you talk about past performance, it gives the recruiting manager a clear picture of what you might achieve for him if he hires you.
Check the quality standards of your industry before your job interview
Quality refers to different things in different industries.
The sample answers above are a good guideline and a general starting point on how to define quality and provide a good answer to an interview, but in some industries, you will want to be more specific.
Look for industry guidelines, quality certifications and general standards to help you sound more knowledgeable and prepared when defining quality in your interview.
For example, in the production of food and medicine, there are specific certifications of cleanliness and sterile environments for product quality.
You may see a mention of drug companies GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices).
Some service-based businesses will use quality frameworks like Service process design.
And in the role of customer support, quality will be measured in terms of customer satisfaction and delivering an excellent customer experience.
So the way you measure quality will depend on your job, and ideally, you want to Respond to an interview tailored to the type of work for which you are applying.
Keep this in mind when describing quality in your job interview, and you will make a much better impression on any hiring manager.
Conclusion: Answer “What does quality mean to you?”
In today’s world, with the rise of online reviews and social media, one bad customer experience can lead to hundreds of people hearing negative comments about your organization.
Therefore, quality is more important than ever for a business.
Company management is going to take care of quality in all aspects of the business and you will be more likely to ask what that means to you in the job interview.
If you’ve read the information above, you know How to define quality in an interview and how to link it to a product or service of a specific company.
As a final step, practice your answer at home – both the definition and all the follow-up points you want to talk about (such as an example of how you approach quality in your current / recent role and what result you were able to achieve for the company).
The bottom line is: You will make a better impression when you answer “What does quality mean to you?” If you prepare in advance instead of making an immediate response.
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