Staying organized saves us time, and from extra stress – especially when an interviewer catches you off-guard in an interview, with the question: “How do you organize your work?” We’ll show you which answers can help you demonstrate your most efficient self.
How do you stay organized? By organizing your workday. Here are our tips.
Your interview has gone perfectly – to this point. What could possibly go wrong? And then suddenly, there comes a question that you never counted on: “How do you organize your work?”Oops. Behind this beloved interview question, there’s more than a harmless question about your habits.
More than that, your interviewer wants to understand how you function as a colleague, and on a deeper level, as a person. Naturally, you can answer flippantly: “Organization is for neurotic types – only idiots let chaos get the best of them.” Sure, that’s pretty direct, but this answer most likely won’t lead to your dream job. Instead, you should prepare yourself for answering this question.
We’ve got a few tips to gain valuable points in your next interview – or even in your job.
Challenge: Emails
Whenever you receive a new email, see if it’s something you can reply to in two minutes or less. If it’s the type of mail that requires more time and attention, place it in a designated folder and work on it whenever you have the time. Dr. Martin-Niels Däfler, an organization expert and author, advises us against what most employees do: reading our mails first thing in the morning. “Our ability to perform is at its peak before 10 am and after 4 pm. It’s much more worthwhile to use these time for activities that require higher concentration.”
Challenge: Desk
Keep your working space structured and tidy. Martin-Niels Däfler knows the best way how: “Organize your desk like a pilot’s cockpit. He has everything important right in front of him.” A clean desk is reflected in a cleaner thought process.
Challenge: Efficiency
Visualize your most important tasks by writing them down on a sticky note. After you accomplish these tasks, stick these notes in a notebook. “With this work diary, you have a view of what you’ve accomplished each day,” advises Martin-Niels Däfler.
Challenge: Team
As a leader, you have the challenge of leading your employees calmly and simultaneously getting things done for the whole company. The stakes are extremely high. Friedemann Schulz von Thun, a psychologist from Hamburg, recommends that leaders should strive to be as “integral“as possible.
His tip: “Try to appreciate what’s brought to you”.
Good leadership is only made possible when all team members feel accepted. Support your team with clear guidelines, see how much time you and your team are spending for each task. Then, adjust the tasks and structures as you see fit, based on each individual team member and project.
Tool Time – with these digital helpers, you’ll be organized in no time!
When you’d like to find a new path in your organization process, try out these digital tools. They should help you to use your time more effectively. We recommend:
Wunderlist
Helps with organizing tasks and notes. Insert comments and attachments to every point. Wunderlist is also a calendar.
Todoist
This simple tool is ideal for task management. List your projects and invite team members to help contribute.
Wrike
This project management tool is the one-for-all solution for team collaboration. Strong capabilities and easy to use.
About the Author:
Jörg Peter Urbach is an author, editor and a blogger, with a passion for words. Urbach has been writing for more than 25 years. Print and online. Concepts. Stories. Trade articles. After his studies in musical sciences, German language, and literature sciences, Jörg Peter worked as an editorial manager in the classical music business. As an experienced editor-in-chief for the online portal Wissen.de, he knows how to entice readers and find topics. Today, he advises companies on the topics of content marketing and digital communication. When the Kiel native isn’t writing, he enjoys exploring and photographing the Alps. Or listening to opera music.
