INTERVIEW TIPS - Answering ‘How Do You Prioritize Your Work?’ In A Job Interview

Posted 3rd June 2025 • Written by Kathy Caprino on forbes.com • • • • • •

Understanding The Question

When interviewers ask "How do you prioritize your work?" they want to understand your ability to manage multiple tasks efficiently, handle stress and the unexpected, and ensure critical projects are completed on time. This question and the answers you provide help the hiring manager evaluate your organizational skills, time management abilities, decision-making processes, and communication approach, as well as your capacity to anticipate and mitigate potential challenges.

Key Themes To Include In Your Answer

There are several key areas of focus to address when you answer this question. They include:

Task Assessment and Categorization

Urgency vs. Importance: Explain how you differentiate between urgent tasks (those with immediate and critical deadlines) vs. important tasks (those that contribute to longer-term goals). The Eisenhower Matrix can be a useful reference here.

Impact Evaluation: Describe how you assess the potential impact of your tasks—on your projects, team, and organization—to determine their priority.

Planning and Scheduling

Daily and Weekly Planning: Discuss your process for setting daily and weekly goals, using to-do lists, planners, or project management tools.

Time Blocking: Mention if you use techniques like time blocking to allocate specific periods for focused work on high-priority tasks.

Tools and Techniques

Project Management Software: Talk about any tools you use to track tasks and deadlines, such as Trello, Asana, or MicrosoftMicrosoft 0.0% Planner.

Prioritization Frameworks: Reference any frameworks you use, such as the ABCDE method or the MoSCoW method (Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have).

Communication and Collaboration

Stakeholder Engagement: Explain how you communicate with stakeholders to understand their needs and adjust priorities accordingly.

Team Coordination: Highlight how you collaborate with team members to align on priorities and share the workload effectively.

Flexibility and Adaptability

Re-Evaluating Priorities: Describe how you regularly reassess and adjust your priorities in response to new information or changing circumstances.

Handling Interruptions: Share your strategies for managing interruptions and staying focused on high-priority tasks.

Stress Management

Coping Strategies: Discuss how you handle stress on the job and the strategies you’ve developed to manage stressful times productively.

Examples and Results

Real-Life Scenarios: Provide examples from past roles and experiences where your prioritization skills led to successful outcomes.

Measurable Impact: Offer key data and metrics that quantify the impact of your prioritization decisions (e.g., meeting critical deadlines, improving efficiency, achieving key milestones).

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