That time of year again: peacoats, pumpkin spice lattes, and phonathon interviews! Here are some tips I’ve learned about how to do one-on-one interviews with potential student fundraisers:
Getting hired at a reputable company like Ruffalo Noel Levitz is a goal for many talented professionals With over four decades of experience in higher education services, RNL has established itself as an industry leader renowned for driving enrollment growth and student success
However, with a highly selective hiring process just getting your foot in the door can be a challenge. This is why it’s absolutely essential to come fully prepared to your RNL interview. In this comprehensive article I’ll be sharing the top interview questions candidates can expect, along with tips on how to craft winning answers.
Whether you’re interviewing for a client success, technology, marketing or any other role, these insights will help you put your best foot forward and land the job at this prestigious firm. So let’s get started!
Overview of Ruffalo Noel Levitz’s Hiring Process
Before we dive into specific questions, it’s useful to understand RNL’s overall hiring process. This will allow you to strategize and mentally prepare for the different stages.
Here’s a quick rundown:
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Initial Screening: The process typically starts with submitting an application online. Selected candidates then undergo a screening call with a recruiter to discuss your resume and experience.
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Interviews: If you impress the recruiter, you’ll be invited for 1-2 interviews, either in-person at their office or via video call. This involves meeting with hiring managers and senior team members.
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Assessments: Some roles may require you to complete an assessment or assignment to evaluate technical or analytical skills.
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Final Decision: The final interview is often with the department head. If selected, HR will make you a job offer which you can choose to accept or negotiate further.
The interviews are your biggest opportunity to showcase your abilities. With the right preparation, you can outperform other candidates and get one step closer to landing your dream job!
Common RNL Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
Now let’s get into the meat of this article – the top interview questions candidates need to prepare for at Ruffalo Noel Levitz.
I’ve categorized them into different themes along with detailed tips and sample answers to help you craft strong responses.
Leadership and Collaboration Questions
RNL prides itself on a collaborative work culture. Hence, expect questions that evaluate your leadership approach and ability to work effectively in a team:
Q1. How would you describe your leadership style? What approaches do you find most effective?
Tips: Discuss your leadership philosophy briefly. Highlight skills like communication, transparency, empowering others, and leading by example. Share examples of when your leadership style drove success.
Sample Answer: My leadership approach is centered around transparency, inspiring my team, and leading collaboratively. I believe in communicating goals, plans, and expectations clearly. This allows the team to stay aligned and motivated. I also encourage open feedback and ideas from everyone. This not only makes my team feel valued, but also leads to better solutions. Finally, I strive to lead by example – whether it’s meeting deadlines or responsive communication. I find this inspires the team to emulate my work ethic. A recent example was during a product launch. By encouraging cross-functional collaboration and keeping all stakeholders informed, we executed it flawlessly and exceeded our KPIs by 30%.
Q2. Tell me about a time you successfully led a team. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
Tips: Pick an example that showcases strong leadership abilities – communication, decision-making, problem-solving, motivating your team, etc. Discuss the situation briefly but focus more on the actions you took and the outcome.
Sample Answer: As the project lead of a client acquisition campaign last year, I was responsible for guiding my team of sales reps to achieve our revenue target. The main challenge was low team morale after missing goals the previous quarter. To overcome this, I first had transparent discussions to understand individual concerns. I then worked closely with each rep on training needs and provided ongoing feedback to help them improve their pitch. To motivate them, I broke the large target into smaller milestones and celebrated wins. I also tracked progress visible to keep the team driven. As a result, we exceeded our final revenue goal by 18%.
Q3. How would you handle a disagreement with a teammate? What steps would you take to resolve it?
Tips: Demonstrate your conflict management skills – remaining impartial, facilitating open communication, finding a compromise or common ground, etc. Focus on resolving the issue respectfully.
Sample Answer: If a disagreement arises with a teammate, I would first seek to understand their perspective through open dialogue. My goal would be to find common ground and identify a solution that satisfies both parties. I’ve learned that most disagreements arise from miscommunication or differences in working style. Keeping this in mind helps me remain impartial and not take conflicts personally. If needed, I would suggest bringing in an unbiased third party to mediate and help us arrive at a compromise. The key is addressing it quickly before it escalates and impacts team morale. Ultimately, our shared goals and delivering value to clients is far more important than letting an unresolved conflict fester.
Client Relationship and Management Questions
RNL’s client-focused approach means you should be ready for questions evaluating your ability to understand client needs and deliver successful outcomes:
Q4. How would you identify and assess the needs of a new client or account?
Tips: Demonstrate your consultative approach – asking probing questions, listening actively, identifying pain points, understanding their goals and metrics for success. Give examples of how you uncovered needs successfully.
Sample Answer: Understanding a new client’s needs requires an in-depth discovery process. I would first study their existing materials like websites or annual reports to gain some context. However, the most valuable insights come from directly engaging the client through calls and meetings. My strategy is to ask open-ended questions to understand their goals, challenges, metrics, and what success means for them. I also get perspective from different stakeholders – leadership, team members, customers, etc. This provides a 360-degree view. Active listening is key as it allows me to identify pain points they may not state directly. Lastly, I compare their goals against industry benchmarks to identify gaps. For example, doing this for a university client revealed their lower-than-average alumni participation. This became a focus area for our engagement.
Q5. Walk me through a time you delight a client by going above-and-beyond. What was the situation and what steps did you take?
Tips: Share a specific example that reflects your dedication and client-centricity. Discuss the context briefly but elaborate more on actions you took and the impact it had on strengthening the relationship.
Sample Answer: One of my long-term clients was preparing to launch a huge rebranding campaign. Despite it not being part of our scope, I offered to conduct complementary research into their brand perception. I interviewed current and prospective students, faculty and parents to gain insights that would strengthen their campaign messaging. The client was thrilled at this initiative and felt it really added value. In fact, they directly incorporated our findings into their new brand platform. Not only did it strengthen our relationship, but they also expanded their contract with us next year as a result.
Q6. How would you handle a situation where a client is dissatisfied with or complaining about your work?
Tips: Demonstrate maturity, empathy, ability to handle criticism and focus on a resolution. Share an example if possible.
Sample Answer: Handling disgruntled clients requires remaining calm, showing empathy, and focusing on resolution. I would listen closely to understand the root cause of their dissatisfaction without getting defensive. I would then apologize for the mistake and immediately discuss ways to rectify it – whether it’s redoing the work or providing a discount on their next project. Taking accountability is key. I would also take their feedback constructively to improve our process and avoid repeating errors. For example, when a client complained about a delay in completing their report, I worked overtime with my team to get it done sooner. We also implemented tighter timelines for future projects. This not only resolved that client issue but improved overall project management.
Company and Industry Knowledge Questions
Since RNL seeks people aligned with their mission and culture, you must demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the company and higher education industry:
Q7. Why are you interested in working at Ruffalo Noel Levitz compared to other firms in this space?
Tips: Show you’ve researched RNL and know their history, mission, culture, leadership philosophy, etc. Convey genuine interest and align your values or goals with the company.
Sample Answer: I’m very interested in RNL because of your pioneering history in higher ed services and continued innovation in areas like enrollment management and student success. Your data-driven approach also appeals to me. Additionally, RNL’s culture of transparency, collaboration, and mentorship perfectly aligns with my values. Many of your leaders started in entry-level roles and were groomed to advance. As someone passionate about a career in this industry, I feel RNL would provide the ideal environment to grow and learn from the best minds.
Q8. What do you find most compelling or impressive about our products or services?
Tips:
Kicking off the Interview:
- I think that the first one-on-one interviews should all be done over the phone so that you can hear and see how the person sounds and performs when they make fundraising calls.
- Once you get to know the person you’re interviewing, ask them what they already know about the job. Then, use what they say to start going over the parts of the job.
- When talking about the role itself, don’t avoid talking about the problems that will come up. Be honest about the problems, rude people, or awkward situations that will happen. Don’t forget to talk about the good things about the job! As I wrote in a recent blog post, the interview is a great time to talk about your motivational strategies to get more callbacks.
- Most of the time, it doesn’t really matter what questions you ask or what people say in response. Good. Can they talk? Can they link ideas? Can they make an argument? That’s who you want.
- Some of the questions I use most often in interviews are “What’s your favorite TV show?” and “Why should I watch it?” What’s your least favorite thing about this university? Now tell me what your favorite thing about college is. You could give the University a million dollars. What part of the school would you give it to and why?
- These questions help your candidate show you how they can use communication and charisma to get people excited about giving and persuade them to give over the phone.
Reading the Mock Script:
- If you let candidates try out the job during the interview process, you might want to have them call you (or, better yet, someone else who is willing to let you listen in). Have the person you’re interviewing read a short fake phonathon script while you (or a friend) play the prospect on the call. It’s important to have this part of the interview because it shows you how the person you’re interviewing might do on real fundraising calls and helps them understand the most important part of the job.
- You can give the interviewee the script and ask them to read most of it word-for-word, but make sure that when you ask them to say something they don’t want to say, they have time to come up with a response and, ideally, a reason for you to change your mind. If someone says, “Oh, $150 doesn’t work for you? How about $75?” and then says something else, that person is probably the best person for the job. Do they acknowledge your objection? If so, they’ve found a winner.
- Lastly, the script should stress all the important parts of the call that are necessary for the success of your program. For instance, credit card gifts are a big part of the University of Rochester’s phonathon, as they are in many others. So, in the fake script, credit cards are the only way to pay for something; pledge cards are never mentioned. Callers in the future learn to put credit cards ahead of pledge cards when they make real fundraising calls.
How to Answer Behavioral Interview Questions Sample Answers
FAQ
What questions are asked at the GT interview?
