面試必備的詞匯熱身
thorny ['θɔːnɪ] adj.多刺的，棘手的
objective [əb'dʒektɪv] n.目標，目的 adj.客觀的，不帶偏見的
involve [ɪn'vɒlv] v.包含，含有；使卷入；使參與；牽涉
pacify ['pæsɪfaɪ] v.使鎮靜
resolve [rɪ'zɒlv] v.解決（答）；決定；分解 n.決心，決意
tackle ['tæk(ə)l] v.對付；交涉；阻截 n.阻截；釣具；轆轤
renegotiate [riːnɪ'gəʊʃɪeɪt] v.洽談，協商；談判；順利通過，成功越過
credibility [kredɪ'bɪlɪtɪ] n.可信性；確實性
flawlessly ['flɔ:lisli] ad.完美無暇的
當被問及最近處理過的公司的棘手問題時你會說
1. I had to determine which budgets would be cut within my division to yield an overall 5 percent cost reduction. I tried to remain objective and keep the personalities of department head to commit to a 25 percent reduction through frugal travel expense planning, which was an enormous part of our sales division's costs. We accomplished most of the savings by combining trips and by securing two week advance airline reservations whenever possible.
我必須決定在我的部門里要取消哪項開支才可以使話費降低大概5%。我盡可能地保持客觀。最后結果是通過減少每個科組領導的旅游開支，讓他們負擔所要減少的經費的25% ，這是我們銷售分部的一大筆經費。在可能的時候減少出差，并通過買打折機票而實現大部分的節約。
2. My customer service position at the telephone company involved dealing occasionally with irate customers. When that happened, I'd try to talk in a clam, even voice, in order to get the person to respond in a businesslike manner and focus on trying resolve the situation. Most times I was able to rectify the problem and pacify the customer, but I remember one incident in particular in which the caller became verbally abusive. I tried to remain calm and professional and not to let my personal feelings enter into the situation. I didn't respond to the abuse, I just made a note of it and continued to help the customer as best I could. When the abuse persisted, however, I politely asked him to call back and ask for my manager, because at that point I knew I couldn't resolve the problem.
我在電話公司的顧客服務部時經常會接觸到一些怒氣沖沖的顧客。發生這種事情時，我盡可能心平氣和地與顧客交流，目的是為了讓顧客以公事公辦的態度來處理事情，且重點是解決問題，大多數時候我能處理好問題，使顧客滿意。不過我印象特別深是是一次顧客在電話里用臟話罵人，我盡力保持平靜且不讓我的個人的感受融入這種場景，我不理會哪些粗言穢語，我只是對峙作了一些記錄，繼續盡力的幫助他。可他仍是罵個不停，所以，我禮貌的叫他稍后再打電話過來找我們的經理。因為在那種情況下，我知道我是沒有辦法解決這個問題了。
A customer came in once and demanded money back for an evening dress that had apparently been worn. She claimed it was a different color after dry cleaning and that the cleaner said the fabric was faulty. I quickly told her we'd happily return her money, even though I didn't think she was being honest. I decided it was more important to keep other customers from hearing her and maybe doubting our high quality merchandise一次一個顧客要求退還那件她明顯已穿過的晚裝的錢。他抱怨說衣服干洗后變了另外一種顏色，而洗衣服的人告訴她是布料不好。雖然我認為她是不誠實的，但我馬上就退還她的錢。我認為不讓別的顧客聽到她的話而懷疑我們的高質量產品更為重要。
3. Two weeks into a job, it was clear that our client expected us add more features as we went along. I renegotiated with the client, outlined his goals, and showed him a price structure similar to a menu, from which he could choose more features at a higher cost and in a longer time frame. He opted for something in the middle that he understood would cause a three week adjustment to the schedule.
一次工作已經進行兩周了，可是在工作進行當中，很明顯地顧客有要求我們多加幾項特性。我重新和顧客商談，記下他的目標和要求，給他一張像菜單一樣的價格表，那上面他可以有更多的選擇，但必須付更多的錢和等待更長的時間。他選擇了一個她認為改變要做出3個星期相應調整的中間檔次。
4. At one time, for all of our new product launches, our chief engineer would release a press statement about its virtues. But when I was given responsibility for a new launch, I decided to get three of our largest customers to videotape an endorsement or use in our marketing campaign. The result was a far higher level of credibility, and we exceeded our month sales quota. We now use personal endorsements routinely when we launch our products.
從前，在我們新產品投產時，都是我們總工程師發布一則關于新產品優良性能的評論。但是當我負責一項新產品的投產時，我決定讓我們3個最大的客戶錄制一盤宣傳我們新產品的錄像帶，用于我們的市場推銷活動。這種做法大大提高了我們的信譽，而且銷售量超過了六個月的銷售定額。現在我們通常都采用這種方式來推出我們的新產品。
5. During my summer internship I was assigned the task of conducting a bench-marking study for all the communication expenditures for a major utility. I had to get the consensus of employees in several different departments. Unfortunately, they resented the fact that I was just a summer intern, and they refused to cooperate. I had to schedule individual meetings with every employee and persuade each one that what I was doing would be ultimately beneficial to his or her own department and to the company. After a frustrating month I finally got everyone's cooperation, the project went flawlessly, and in the end I received a bonus for my efforts. 在我做暑期實習生期間，我被派去對一主要公共設施的所有通訊費用基準進行調查研究。我必須取得屬于幾個不同部門的員工的一致意見。遺憾的是，因為我實習生，被拒絕合作。我不得不和每個員工單獨會面，并說服他們，我現在所做的一切最終都是有益于他自己的部門及整個公司。經過一個月的努力，我終于說服了他們，計劃得以圓滿的實施，最后拿到了因努力而掙得的獎金。
6. One of my talents is to take complex issues or problems and break them down into the simplest parts. I'm also good at teaching other people. As a result, whenever I'm faced with a complex problem, other people tend to let me find a solution and instruct them on how to proceed. As a result, I've found that I'm an effective leader in this kind of situation. 我的一項才能是解決復雜的問題，并且使問題的難度降到最低，我也擅長教導別人。因此是不管什么時候遇上復雜難題，別人總是設法讓我找出解決辦法，然后教他們如何去繼續。所以我發現在這種情況下，我是有影響力的領導人。但在高級行政管理部門，我不是一個特別有影響力的領導。我的愛好是處理、解決一些實際情況和數據。
7. One of our components kept arriving at distribution points with stress cracks. My materials science background helped me to diagnose the problem as one of storage temperature during shipping. Although our equipment was safely stored at both end points, it had been sitting in an air conditioned cargo space for up to thirty hours before reaching its destination. We're now using a different shipping company, and we've improved our labeling on large shipments to reflect the users warning about temperature extremes. 在運送部件到達目的地是總是出現裂痕。我用原料學方面的知識判斷這與航運期間的存放溫度有關，盡管我們的儀器都安全的存放在兩端封閉的地方，但在到達目的地之前，儀器要放在無空調設備的船艙里30個小時。現在我們用另一家航空公司運送貨物，我們用貼在貨物上的標簽顯示極高或極低溫度都是不允許的。
8. When I need to solve a problem, I generally start by writing down as many ideas as I can think of about possible causes. Next I look for relationships among causes so I can group together symptoms of bigger problems. Usually, after I study these groups of problems, the real cause becomes readily apparent. 當要處理問題的時候，我通常會盡可能把所想到問題的原因寫下來。然后找出原因之間的關系，以此來歸納主要問題的共同特征。通常，研究完這些問題后，真正的原因就顯而易見了。
9. I was promoted to manage a new department. A coworker in that group resented me from the beginning. I soon learned that her best friend had been turned down for the position. I actually confronted her about it; I explained that I had once put a friendship to the test because I'd worked too closely with someone and we found that we spent our leisure time talking about work. A few weeks after our talk, she admitted that she'd never thought about the potential results of working too closely with a personal friend. Our working relationship was fine after that. 我被提拔管理一個新的部門。那個部門有一位職員一開始就對我很反感。很快我知道了原因：她的好朋友剛剛從我現在做的職位離開。我當面跟她談這件事；我解釋說我也曾讓友誼面臨考驗，因為我與一位朋友工作交往過于密切，我們倆甚至花業余時間談工作。談話過后幾周，她承認她沒有想過與私人朋友工作交往過密潛在的后果。從那以后，我們把工作關系處理的很恰當。
10.I had to start a policy of no food in work areas, including private offices, because the production workers were unhappy with the inequity. For safety reasons workers couldn't have food anywhere near expensive equipment. Now it's forgotten, but at the time a number of supervisors were angry at me. I thought the matter was important and that the solution was consistent with other new policies, like doing away with assigned parking spaces for high level employees. So far we've been progressive enough to keep unions out of our company. 我制定規章禁止攜帶食品進入工作區，包括私人辦公室，為了安全起見，工人不能帶食物靠近昂貴的精密儀器。現在這已經被遺忘了，但那段時期許多監管員對我生氣。我認為這件事很重要而且解決辦法也和其他新條例一樣持續下去，如廢除給高級職員分配車位的做法等。到目前為止，我們還能不斷改進，市公司團結一致。
