Identity, Values and Strengths

Explain a situation where you have made an ethical decision. Discuss how you weighed up the values involved in that decision, the decision you made, and how you reflect on the decision now.

I have worked as a secretary for many years and sometimes my job involved handling payments. A few times customers mistankly paed more than they should and all the times I returned it back. I did it because it is the right thing to do and that is what I would expect if I made I wrong payment. I am pretty sure I've taken the right decision, I wouldn't be able to cope with the icky feeling that gets in our soul from taking sth that doesn't belong to me.

Describe how your culture and the people around you have influenced your values and identity.

Being a Brazilian, I grew up in an friendly environment of kindness and respect. I believe my upbringings have helped me become who I am today. I can see the open-hearted, honest and family-oriented brazilian characteristics in myself.

Identify your strengths and how they will support you during your learning journey.

I am hard working and a great team player. Those are strengths that I know have always helped me to deal with difficult situations and that spur me on to achieve anything I want to.

Evaluate your limitations in terms of your learning and career development. How might these affect your learning journey?

Sometimes I get dispired when I do not get the expected outcomes and it can make it harder when learning something new as we are mostly likely to face challenges when we leave our confort zone. I am working on that and I believe I have improved a lot in the last couple of years.

Share an example of when you were trying to work productively with others, but there was resistance or tension. Discuss strategies you tried at the time, how effective they were, and your reflections on what other strategies you would try now and why.

A few years ago, while working for a Brazilian company, I faced a challenge that required me a lot of thought to solve without creating more conflict. The company sales team hired a new employee who was a bit uncomfortable, and maybe a bit afraid of asking for help. His lack of business knowledge had a huge impact on his productivity and hindered the team's performance. I tried to help him, but I could see he was a bit resistant to that situation, so instead, I started asking him questions when I was unsure about something. By doing that I knew I would encourage team bonding and develop trust between all the team members. The approach worked very well, and not long after, he started asking questions which helped him to learn faster about the business and quickly become ultra-productive. Thinking about that now, I believe another approach would be to suggest a new hire training program.