Interview for Quality Assurance Analyst

I had recently interviewed 3 candidates for the position of Quality Assurance Analyst. The role and responsibility of this position are very much related to internal auditing, however I have a lot more ideas in store as I intend to develop the team I am managing to be in full compliance with the Control Framework structure as specified by my organisation's Financial Controller Management unit.

As my team is big (37 employees organised into 3 teams) and they are involve in payroll data maintenance, the biggest challenge I am facing is ensuring accuracy and integrity of data. I have a goal of zero error in payroll data where the processes are outline as follows :

• Detect and correct error before payroll processing
  
• Ownership of error


• Learnings from error


• Avoidance of recurring error

I structure my interview into 3 main ares, securing evidence of functional capabilities in

1) Human Resources,
2) Customer/Shared Services
3) Auditing.

Secondary to that, I also explore evidence of teamwork and good interpersonal behaviours.

One of the interview candidates had a very high score in Auditing and show evidence of resourcefulness in acquiring information when there seems to be the lack of it. Though she has little knowledge of Customer/Shared Services, she has high score on teamwork as she leads a team of 4 in her current role and had shared evidence of how she had organised the team.

However one of the questions I asked which normally most of the interview candidates would feel uneasy to answer is "how do you handle difficult situation or person?" Normally I will not post the question as such. In this instance I have asked her "have you had any experience in either handling a difficult situation or person?" She was quite for a while, and then she answered unassuaringly, "Yes, my boss, the accountant". I then asked her to elaborate. She then opened up and told me that her boss had always gone back on time even during critical period of account closing and reconciliation. Hence, she had difficulty in getting support post the normal working period. So any outstanding matters had to be carried forward to the next day, which delay the recon and reporting. When this happen, the accountant would then make a fuss and she will keep quite.

I then asked her, "What is your expectation from your boss?" She answered, "as a boss, at least he should understand the difficulty of his subordinates in completing the work without his assistance and make some time to stay back or ask the subordinates whether they require his assistance before he goes back". Then I twist the question and asked her "if I were to switch the role where you are the boss, what would you think of your subordinates?" She did not get what I meant in the first instance. Then I rephrased myself "you are the boss, everyday you go off on time as you need to fetch your children from school. You always wondering why is your subordinate had never asked you any question on her work before you leave. However whenever the dateline for recon and reporting are up, she is always behind time." Hearing that she laughed in agreement.

Sometime in life, we always expect others to know what to do and to take the first step. However, it is a lot easier for us to take the initiative and pull out the first step as we have then the control and the steer.

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