2. Describe one time when your boss had to confront you about an issue with
your work. Tell me about a time that you made a mistake at work.: About a month
in, working as a research assistant in a pancreatic cancer laboratory, some of my
Polymerase Chain Reactions for a specific gene were not working. My boss told me
that I my DNA extraction probably was not clean enough, or not enough DNA was
properly extracted. Though I felt a little disheartened, I asked if I could watch him do
it the next time so I could see the correct way to do it. He agreed, and I was able to
perform the extraction correctly from then on. He showed me how to correctly spot
the DNA in the extraction tube as to not lose it with the washing steps. This proved
pivotal and the rest of my extractions were perfectly clean without any contamination
or too little DNA.
3. Describe a past situation in which your ethics were challenged.: In the past
month at my job as a clinical research assistant for Great Lakes Medical Research,
the CEO of a study company called complaining that we were screen failing too
many patients. I delicately explained that the reason the patients were screen failing
was the IRB approved questionnaire in which their protocol said the patient will fill it
out (instead of the doctor). The CEO tried to convince me that I, a study coordinator
for the study, should fill out the questionnaire based on the patient's answers, but
change them where I see fit (so the patient would not screen fail). After he yelled and
tried every which way to convince me, I could not be budged and after the phone call
went to my supervisor to explain the problem. I knew that it was my responsibility to
report this because this not only affected patient safety but also my own.
4. Describe a time when you used teamwork to solve a problem.: For my
organization, Survivor: Time & Change, we scheduled a fire-making challenge for
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, the contestants a night where it started to thunder, lightening, and pour. With only an
hour until the challenge, we had to come up with an entirely new challenge, a new
challenge location, as well as reserve any needed supplies and the location. As a
group, we split up into teams, one solely dedicated to the challenge and supplies and
another for locating a classroom and booking it. At first, we felt extremely pressured
by the time restraint, but as we worked together and just took a collective deep
breathe, we significantly improved. In that time span, we booked a perfect challenge
location, purchased all of the necessary supplies, and came up with an entirely, new,
never-seen-before immunity challenge which was one of our contestants' favorites.
By assigning tasks to each member, discussing our options, and making decisions
as a group instead of individuals, we were able to implement an excellent, exciting
challenge.
5. Have you ever been at odds with a coworker? How did you handle this?
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