Interview questions at Omnicare
We analyzed 141 interview reviews for Omnicare from various job sites, social network groups and forums.
Here are the most frequent job interview questions asked by HR managers during initial phone or onsite interviews. This list does not include technical or factual questions.
12 frequent non-technical questions at Omnicare:
According to our research, hiring managers at Omnicare ask soft skills interview questions 97% more than at other companies.
1. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? top question
How to answer
This question belongs to a family of behavioral, or even more precisely, reflective questions.
The interviewer wants to learn two things about you by asking this question.
- They want to know what you think about the job you are applying for. Remember, they are interviewing you for the job that's open right now. Are you a good fit and will you do a good job for them?
- Just as important, they want to get an idea of your ambitions and goals for yourself and if your goals align with their needs, especially going into the future.
In this way the employer should see how you see yourself today, and whether you are ambitious and strive to grow as a professional, and whether you like to learn and develop your skills.
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About Yourself
What challenges do you like overcoming? Where are you starting from and where might you be going?
For example, let's say the position you are applying for is junior accountant. It includes a wide range of tasks such as basic bookkeeping, financial analysis, and reporting. If accounting is your chosen field, then you would most likely want to move in the direction of obtaining your CPA so that you might step up to more responsibility as an accounting manager or senior auditor within the next 5 years. Your responses should make sense in how you see yourself growing in your professional career.
However, at this point, if you are happy just where you are and want to further your current skills, that is also fine as long as there is a growth path for you that can be imagined and described.
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About The Company
Research the company to learn what career opportunities may be available in the department you are applying to, and what the trends are in the company in general.
- Is the business expanding, are they opening new locations, or starting new projects?
- Or are they heavily automating and cutting staff?
Let’s say you are applying for a UX designer position for a brand-new product.
In the future, if the product becomes a success - which is what the company hopes for - the company will hire more designers and you may become a lead designer, or you may become a product manager.
On a side note: If you train your mind to be open to opportunities you will be amazed at how much this world has to offer to you!
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About The Fit
And, of course, try to see where the perfect fit lies between your own potential and aspirations, and the company’s trends and hopes.
However, beware of the risk of showing too much excitement for future opportunities compared to your attitude towards the current position.
As we said earlier, you must show interest and enthusiasm for the position you are applying for. If the interviewer senses that you are more enthusiastic about future growth than about the current position, they may conclude that you are not the right person for the job at hand.
Pro Tip
This question gives you a good opportunity to showcase your Key Selling Points (e.g. “As I am very good at delegating tasks, I can easily see myself leading a team of software testers in the future…”), and end your statement by asking about current initiatives and goals at the company.
In thinking about the possibilities that may lie ahead, you also might want to consider taking a personality test (I recommend 16Personalities which is based on the Myers-Briggs test), research the internet on what career paths are possible with your skills and current job.
It is generally NOT a good idea to say something like:
“Oh, I cannot imagine what happens to me tomorrow, let alone in 5 years”.
This will show you as a person who is unimaginative and not forward-thinking enough to grow with and be a good fit for the company.
Statistics
This question is asked 41% more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
2. What is your greatest weakness?
How to answer
This question ranks as the most challenging for many people. Fortunately, Mr. Simon is here to help!
Interviewers are not out to trick or trap you! They ask this question to gauge your level of self-awareness, your honesty and openness, and your capability for self-improvement.
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About Yourself
No one is perfect and your interviewer doesn't expect you to be perfect either.
While it is good to be honest and open, it will not help you to put yourself down.
What's important is to find a weakness that you have overcome. How you turned what might be considered a negative into a positive.
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About The Company
Research the company (website, social media, etc) to learn about the company culture.
What personal and professional qualities do they value?
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About The Fit
This is the time to clearly state a true weakness that you have overcome.
Be as specific as possible and stay away from vague cliches like “I work too hard.” It would be difficult for anyone to try and explain how they overcame a weakness like that
Mr. Simon emphasizes the Present-Past-Present method of responding to behavioral questions. When you are asked about your greatest weakness, you should be able to successfully use this approach as well. Here is an example of how someone might answer this question.
Present - "I have always had a fear of public speaking, and believe this may have held me back in my career, especially when having to make presentations to management."
Past - "Last year I learned about Toastmasters International and decided to join this group to help me gain confidence in myself and improve my ability to present to others in just about any situation."
Present - "By overcoming this weakness I believe that it has made me a much stronger candidate for this position, someone you can count on to make presentations to management, conduct training and communicate at a high level."
It's important to show how well you've overcome a weakness by motivating yourself and learning a new skill to grow professionally.
Pro Tip
Use this question to sell yourself!
Statistics
This question is asked 73% more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
3. What experience do you have in this field?
How to answer
This question may help you convince the interviewer how smoothly you would fit into the position to which you are applying. It's your chance to WOW them! Be sure to focus on the experience that is relevant to the company and position.
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About Yourself
Start with defining your Key Selling Points you want to emphasize for this position.
- What job experiences brought you to those points?
- What were the job titles and the most relevant responsibilities?
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About The Company
Do your research of the company and the requirements for the position.
- What is the company looking for in terms of experiences and qualifications?
- What problems are they trying to solve with this position?
Most importantly, make sure you are able to highlight and speak about at least 3-5 of your key experiences that match up with the requirements listed in the job description.
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About The Fit
Using the Present-Past-Present method is a perfect way to answer this question.
Starting with the Present, speak about your experience as it relates to one of the key requirements in the job description. You might say "I noted that the job description requires experience in employee training and this is an area in which I have a great deal of knowledge and skill."
Then go back to the Past to describe how you improved overall training of staff from 82% to over 97% within your first year on the job. Senior leadership took note of this accomplishment for which you received a company commendation.
Finally, come back to the Present to describe how you will help ensure that the company maintains the highest possible compliance with all employee training requirements.
Nowadays, every hiring manager wants results, so think in terms of specific achievements and try to structure your example accordingly.
Pro Tip
When telling your story, remember to talk about your STARs!
S - What was the Situation?
T - What was your Task?
A - What Action did you take?
R - Talk about the Results.
Statistics
This question is asked 2.5x more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
4. What are your salary requirements?
How to answer
This question seems factual, but it gauges how well you value yourself and how well you know your industry.
This is your opportunity to present yourself as a qualified professional and get a proper salary!
Read on to learn how you can answer this question with confidence, using an analytical approach. The answer may be given as a range or as a single target number.
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About Yourself
The first thing to research is the salary range for your role in the market. What is the industry standard?
Next, think of your qualifications for the role. Weigh in your traits, skills, education, and experience. Try this exercise, draw a line on a piece of paper where on the left side sits a complete beginner, and on the right side - the best professional in the world the company may try to invite for the role. Where do you position yourself?
Now, remember that once you start in your new role, your qualifications will be growing fast, due to all the new experience you will be gaining - consequently, your value will rise as well. Your salary, on the other hand, will not increase as quickly. So, try to imagine where your qualifications will bring you, on that scale, in about a year into the new job.
Map the scale against the industry range. Now you should be able to come up with an objective figure, as opposed to pure speculation.
This is not real math, however, so your number cannot be very precise, of course. Define a range, which starts with the minimum that will keep you satisfied a few months into the job, and the maximum which, a year into the job, will give you the lifestyle you would ideally like to have at that time.
Make sure the range stays within 40%-60% between extremes. Remember, the higher the position up the ladder, the wider the range can be. What is the number in the middle? Will you feel comfortable with this number?
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About The Company
Research the company and find out what they are paying. The best places to find this information are Glassdoor, LinkedIn, PayScale and other similar websites.
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About The Fit
Based on your research, does the company fit your desired salary range?
Now, whether you should be giving a range, or a single target number is a matter of debate. I personally think that a single number, given in a suggestive manner, is better than the range, because when given a range, they may logically gravitate towards the lower end, especially since you’ve said that the lower number is acceptable.
One example of how to structure your answer of a single target number is this:
I have done my research and based on the average for the industry, location, and my level of expertise, something like XXX seems reasonable to me. What do you think?
Besides giving the factual answer that the interviewer is asking for, such an answer will also show you to be someone who takes the initiative, who goes the extra mile, and someone with data-driven and analytical mindset.
Pro Tip
Firstly try asking the interviewer to give you their intended range as budgeted for this role, which is a regular practice in most companies. However, don’t be too evasive and if you see they are not inclined to give you their number, name yours.
Statistics
This question is asked 3.5x more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
5. Tell me about a difficult work situation and how you overcame it
How to answer
Everyone faces some awkward, difficult, and possibly even dangerous situations on the job once in a while.
The interviewers aren’t asking you this question to remind you about any stress you have experienced in the past or so that you can complain about your old job. They are asking you this question to see how you handled the situation.
It says a lot about you as an employee and as a person. They want to know how you will deal with an unprepared situation that might arise during your work tenure.
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About Yourself
Try to think of a time when outside forces created a stressful situation.
- What was the context?
- What was the challenge?
- Did you step in?
- Were you able to create a solution that could make everyone happy?
- What did you learn from that situation?
- How would you handle this situation should it happen again in the future?
Avoid examples that make you seem indecisive or uncertain, and keep your answer positive.
This is your chance to show that you have problem-solving skills. Showcase these skills using the STAR method, which will help you effectively organize your response when answering this type of question.
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About The Company
Do your research about the company. What challenges and kinds of situations may you face in your new role?
Read carefully the job description and the list of responsibilities required.
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About The Fit
Do your best to ensure your interviewer that you are a person who can identify, isolate, and solve problems.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter how big of a difficulty you had with any particular project. What really matters is the process of how you overcame that difficulty and whether you are capable of handling difficult situations in the future.
Choose your example wisely: if you're looking at a team leader or manager role, it might be better to talk about a people issue rather than technical.
If you're looking at a developer or architect role, then highlight something more technical.
Name your soft skills as well, such as project management, dealing with difficult people, pushing back requirements that were inadequate, etc. Talk only about your fits which are relevant to the job you want to get.
Pro Tip
Any company would prefer to hire a mature person, capable of rising above complex situations.
Therefore, make it a point to describe a situation in which you utilized your strong personal and professional skills. Emphasize how the situation helped you grow in different aspects of life.
Statistics
This question is asked 6.5x more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
6. What were your responsibilities in your last job?
How to answer
This is a good opportunity to demonstrate that you have experience or knowledge suitable for the job you are applying for.
Even if you have never done exactly this specific kind of job, usually you should be able to name a few “transferable” skills that you used in your previous work assignments that are quite easily applicable to the position you are applying for.
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About Yourself
Remember your last (or current) job and compile a list of things you had to do while working there.
If you don’t know where to start, picture your typical working day at one of your previous jobs, or college day if you are applying for your first job ever.
Describe the categories of tasks in bullet points. Then, try to remember the less ordinary tasks you had to do as well, and add them to the list.
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About The Company
Research the company and the job description.
- What do you expect to be doing in this job?
- How would your performance be measured?
List a few items in bullet points.
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About The Fit
Choose a few task categories that seem like a match between your experience and the requirements of the current position. Think of a couple of relevant examples to illustrate your experience.
Craft your stories using the STAR method.
Pro Tip
Optionally, you can end with a question like “Does this correspond with the expectations for this role? Could you give me an example of what is expected from a successful candidate within the first, say, 3 months?"
That can help you learn more about the company and the job, turn the "interrogation" into a conversation and will allow you to relax some tension.
Statistics
This question is asked 3.7x more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
7. What skills are you looking to develop on your next job? Why?
How to answer
When employers ask you about skills you would like to develop, they are looking for honesty in the way you answer.
A common target of the question is to discover how motivated you are to extend yourself. If you are willing to learn, then you are probably more motivated to do the job well.
They might also be trying to determine whether you’ll be a good long-term fit for the company. Are you looking for an opportunity to grow with an organization – or will your plans take you to another employer before long?
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About Yourself
Answering the question, reflect on yourself. Show that you are concerned and active about your own evolution.
You can indicate how development has worked for you in the past, give examples.
- What qualities do you wish to develop in yourself both professionally and personally?
- What kind of culture do you want to work in?
- What motivates you?
- What qualities do you feel make strong, healthy relationships?
- What skills do you admire most in your role models?
And probably the most important is: What will help you to achieve your future goals?
Choose something you’re already pretty good at, but still trying to improve even more. Maybe it is something that you learned a long time ago but haven’t used in recent jobs very often?
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About The Company
Do your research and learn as much as possible about the organization and the career path you might forge there. Read the company’s story on their website, review their LinkedIn page, explore their blog.
What personal and professional qualities do they value and what can you learn if they hire you?
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About The Fit
No matter what skills you say you want to improve, however, make sure that you follow it up with what you’re doing about it.
Focus on a work skill that may not be critical to your industry or job level and demonstrate how you would like to develop this skill further, implying you already have a level of competency. This way you won't be sounding negative about yourself.
You could say something like “Coworkers often come to me for advice on how to write or format a document they are working on. I know that I am good at this (that’s why they come to me in the first place), but I have no formal training on mentoring others. I would like to take a course or two on mentoring others that would help them while also improving my own skills in this area.”
Say you are willing to learn new things and take on new challenges. Show employers that you’re self-motivated and actively looking for ways to improve your skills and value in your career.
Pro Tip
If you choose one of the more common working skills such as networking, presentation, mediation, technical, coaching or mentoring, make sure that they are not anything that’s vital or crucial to the job you’re interviewing for.
For example, if you are applying for a manager position, you don’t want to say that you need to work on developing your supervisory skills.
Statistics
This question is asked 4.0x more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
8. What makes you a good teammate?
How to answer
The ability to work well with others is a critical skill for most positions.
When you are part of a great team, you go to work excited and motivated every morning.
The interviewers ask this question to see the level of your self-confidence, whether you are easy to get along with, whether you can collaborate, mediate, motivate, or even lead when necessary.
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About Yourself
Look back to your experience when you were a part of a team.
- Were there any people in your team whom you were always looking forward to working with every day? If yes, why did you like them so much?
- What qualities did they possess?
And now ask yourself the next questions:
- Do YOU have such qualities?
- Would you consider yourself a good teammate?
- Are you somebody who is understanding, open, responsible, dependable, somebody who can take criticism, be supportive and honest?
Ask your previous coworkers about the qualities they value in you.
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About The Company
Carefully research the company and its culture. Review the job description so you understand what "teamwork" means for them.
- How do the employees value each other?
- What qualities of a team member is the company looking for?
- What kind of challenges could you help the company/department resolve by working as a part of a team?
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About The Fit
Being a good team member in different professions means different things, it depends on the requirements of the company.
Emphasize your strong personal and professional qualities that make you a great fit for the company:
Show that you are reliable and helpful. If the job deals with tight deadlines, independent work, limited supervision and needs a person who works with few or no errors,* be that person*! Demonstrate that you are someone who can take the lead when needed and provide professional support to other team members.
Highlight your ability to adjust quickly and easily to changing situations, taking risks and coming up with creative ideas to drive positive changes yourself. If the company you are applying to operates in a dynamic environment or with other challenges that need a quick reaction, be the person they are looking for!
Mention that you always strive for and promote good communications; this can include using the tools that your past teams have used (Email, Slack, etc.) in a way that worked for them.
Emphasize that you have no fear of stepping outside your comfort zone for the benefit of your team, project, and company.
Display your genuine passion and commitment toward your team, especially if the company’s culture is based on teamwork. Emphasize that you never undermine relationships, you speak honestly and truthfully and respect the decisions that the leader makes.
Pro Tip
Good teammates have to be focused on their own personal development as well as the development of the entire team.
Invest your skills, experiences and competencies into the company for achieving common successful results and have a good attitude - bring a smile to work and encourage your teammates. Then you can consider yourself a great teammate.
Statistics
This question is asked 31.0x more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
9. What are your drivers? What motivates you?
How to answer
Motivation is what we use to drive ourselves forward to complete tasks and bring results.
Why do hiring managers ask this question?
They want to get a sense of your personality. But more importantly, they want to see your resiliency and determination.
They do not want to hire someone who will quit when encountering difficulties, whose focus will be elsewhere, or who will just waste their time.
Enthusiasm ranks very high on the list of qualities employers are looking for in a candidate.
If you can demonstrate that you are genuinely passionate about your profession and interested in the position you are applying for, your chances of getting hired will improve significantly.
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About Yourself
This question requires serious self-examination; you should be asking it yourself long before the interviewer does.
Look back on everything you’ve done in your life, job, and career so far.
- What was it about your best days that made them the best?
- Can you take those feelings and apply them to specific moments from your life and past work experiences?
- Are you ready for tough projects or for being asked to do something that isn’t quite on your job description, or for having to stay at work till late instead of another team member?
- Will meeting deadlines, learning new things, finding a way to solve problems or overcoming a challenge inspire you and make you want even more?
- What gives you a sense of accomplishment when you can look back on and say "I achieved that"?
Look deep inside.
Analyze your experience by types of tasks, by type of environment, type of feedback, level of responsibility and stakes? Do you prefer independence, or being part of a team?
- Task type: if you were given a whole day or even week at work to focus on just one of your tasks, without interruptions or multitasking, which one would that be? Why?
- Environment: do you feel motivated in a dynamic environment with lots of action, communications, deadlines? Or would you rather disconnect from the outside world and immerse into a single task, with your headphones on?
- Feedback: are you better motivated by positive feedback, or by healthy criticism? Or maybe by customers’ smiles and “Thank you” messages?
- Responsibility and stakes: are you motivated to do your best when you know that the stakes are high and your contribution will make a great impact on the bottom line? Or do you feel better in a more safe and relaxed environment when someone else is responsible for making big decisions?
- Financials: what is the salary range that makes you feel comfortable and respect yourself? Let’s be realistic, this is one (although definitely shouldn’t be the first) of the drivers.
Be creative, this list is not exhaustive.
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About The Company
Take a long look at the job you’re applying for.
- What kinds of tasks will you be responsible for?
- What will the environment be?
- What do you know about the possible kinds of feedback you will be receiving?
- What is the level of stakes in this role?
- What do you know about the salary they can possibly offer?
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About The Fit
How comfortable are you with the drivers the company can offer, comparing to those of your own? Pick those that have a match and give some examples.
For instance, if you’re applying for a software engineer job, describe how you are motivated by solving complex technical challenges.
If the job involves teamwork, give an example showing that you love collaborating and accomplishing big things as a part of a team.
That is what drives you to do your best each day. You can say you enjoy meaningful work creating products that change people’s lives, if this is relevant to the company.
Pro Tip
Be enthusiastic. The more enthusiasm you have for what motivates you, the more enthusiasm the interviewer will have for you!
Statistics
This question is asked 3.7x more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
10. Tell me about yourself
How to answer
Most job candidates expect this to be one of the first interview questions and probably think of it as an “icebreaker” to get the interview started. It is much more than that! It is your opportunity to show the interviewer your relevance for the job. You want the employer to know that you are qualified to do the job, you are interested in doing the job and capable of getting it done.
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About Yourself
What is your current occupation? Define yourself professionally in one statement.
Pick 3 key skills that make you great at your work (your Key Selling Points). How have you applied these skills?
Try to give some numbers to support your statement.
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About The Company
Your first step is to Research the company to find out as much as you can about what they do and their approach to their business and their employees.
Based on what you know about the company and the job description, why are you interested in the position you are applying for?
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About The Fit
Now is the right time to show the fit between your skills and the company's requirements. Your answer works best if you emphasize your relevance. How do you do this? You will have already researched the company, studied the job description to identify their needs and possible pain points and prepared the relevant Star Stories that show how you addressed similar issues in the past. Your next step is to develop your Present-Past-Present approach.
Start with the Present. Focus on the skills and experience from your most recent positions. What has enabled you to get the job done successfully and how this relates to what the employer is looking to accomplish.
Next go back to the Past. Here is where your Star story comes in. Explain how you were able to use your skills and experience to accomplish a task that relates to an area of concern for the employer.
Finally come back to the Present – summarizing the lessons you learned and how they shaped your response and approach today.
Remember, the whole conversation is about the present, not the past. Just one sentence can summarize why your approach works, and its applicability and relevance to this position.
Pro Tip
You can also end with a question like:
“Do you know what the current needs in the company/department are, where my skills and experience can help?”
That can help you learn more about the company and the job, turn the “interrogation” into a conversation and will allow you to relax some tension.
Read our blog post to learn more about how to answer this question.
Statistics
This question is asked 78% less frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
11. Tell me about your work experience. What was the most interesting?
How to answer
This question lets an interviewer gauge what makes you tick and whether the job you are applying for corresponds with your areas of excitement and enthusiasm. Such a fit will earn you important points for being a viable candidate.
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About Yourself
Review the details that you shared in your resume. Select the three to five best points to highlight and relate to the position to which you're applying.
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About The Company
Carefully research the company and the job description.
Find out what duties you'll be taking on to determine which of your top skills to emphasize. Try to find out what current challenges they are trying to solve by opening this vacancy.
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About The Fit
Knowing the duties for which you will be responsible will help you identify which prior experiences to highlight.
How well you connect your previous experiences with the job requirements can tell the interviewer how prepared you are for this role and how enthusiastic you will be about your job.
Pro Tip
Do not start your answer with "as you can see from my resume," even if you have listed those skills and qualities.
Instead, tell a story showing that you can solve problems similar to their current challenges and that you are enthusiastic about this.
You can best do this through constant practice of your STARs.
Statistics
This question is asked 91% more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
12. Tell me about your greatest professional accomplishment
How to answer
Of all your accomplishments (and I am sure you’ve had a great many of them!), you should choose the one most relevant to this job position.
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About Yourself
In preparation for answering this question, list the top 3 professional accomplishments that you are most proud of. No need for lengthy descriptions, just a sentence or two for each one to help you recall each situation.
Write down your Key Selling Points - your top 3-5 skills that make you a strong professional.
Make sure you have developed the story behind each accomplishment and have a strong command of the details of what happened so that you can tell the story clearly and distinctly.
Along with each accomplishment, mark which of your Key Selling Points they showcase. How exactly?
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About The Company
Based on your research of the company, what are their current needs?
- What are the major projects going on?
- What are the expectations for the position you are applying for?
- Think about which of your accomplishment stories best fit their needs and expectations?
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About The Fit
Once you have decided on the appropriate accomplishment story, think how you will relate it in an interview and how you will make it relevant to the the job you are seeking. One approach is to use the Present-Past-Present technique.
Let's say that the accomplishment was leading your team in installing a new billing system and bringing it in on time and under budget.
You might start off in the Present by talking about the importance of having good leadership skills.
Then move to the Past to relate your story about how you successfully lead your team in accomplishing the objective.
Finally, come back to the Present to address how you will be able to help them reach their goals (the ones you learned about when researching the company) going forward.
Be sure to keep practicing your accomplishment story until it flows naturally and convincingly.
Pro Tip
Most enterprises are now going through major transformations, often called Digital Transformation.
Do your research on what it means and what is often involved, to get a better idea of the current goals and environments in companies. But one thing that definitely characterizes this transformation is striving for agility.
Whether the prospective employer is a long-established company or a startup, they are looking for people who demonstrate qualities like agility and adaptability, which are generally considered to be both helpful and quite a safe choice in most circumstances today.
Statistics
This question is asked 22% more frequently at Omnicare than at other companies.
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This page has been updated on February 23, 2024.
