Tell me about a time you were not satisfied with the status quo.

This interview question is attempting to probe your ability to challenge the status quo, innovate, and use your problem-solving skills to make improvements in the workplace. The 'status quo' refers to the existing state of affairs or situation. The interviewer wants to find out whether you are a proactive and brave employee who does not shy away from changing things for the better. They are essentially asking: "Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you disagreed with the way things were being done and took initiative to change it?”

When you plan your response to this question, think of instances where you found a situation unacceptable and took the initiative to bring about improvement. You should outline the situation, how you felt about it, what actions you took to change it and the end results (it is essentially a 'Situation, Tasks, Action, Result' (STAR) answered question).

Key points to remember when you answer this question:

1. Make your answer specific: Vague responses like 'I always lookout for improvements' are weak. Provide a specific example.
2. Result: Always keep the end result in focus. How did your action benefit the organization?
3. Make it relevant: Choose an event or experience that is somehow related to the vacancy for which you are being interviewed.

In my previous job, I was a part of the sales team where monthly reports were manually created, which was highly time-consuming. The existing practice was to do so, and no one really questioned it. However, I wasn't satisfied with the situation as it greatly curtailed our productivity. I took the initiative to propose the use of a specific software that could automate the process making it more efficient and less prone to human error. I took the responsibility to showcase the benefits of automation to my team and the senior management. After getting the approval, I also led the training sessions for my colleagues. On implementing the new process, we saw a significant increase in productivity, and the error rate dropped by 80%.

In my previous role, I was working as a team leader for customer support in an e-commerce company. I noticed that we were receiving a large number of complaints and queries about the same issues repeatedly. The existing practice was to manually resolve these issues for every customer independently. I was not satisfied with this approach because it was ineffective and inefficient. I proposed a change: creating an FAQ page and an automated response for these common issues. I wrote the FAQ myself and formulated standard responses for the repeated queries. The company saw a 30% decrease in similar complaints and a considerably faster response time, which in turn led to improved client satisfaction rates.