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Hello there, my name is Richard McMunn from the interview training company PassMyInterview.com,
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and in this tutorial, I will teach you how to pass a SCRUM MASTER INTERVIEW. So, it does
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not matter which organization or company you are being interviewed for, for the position
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of Scrum Master, please do make sure you tune in and watch this video from beginning through
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to the end, because it will make a huge difference to your preparation. Not only am I going to
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give you a number of scrum master interview questions that are pretty much guaranteed
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to come up during your interview, but I will also give you some top scoring suggested answers
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to make sure you are the stand out candidate! Now, before I do that, a very warm welcome
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to the scrum master interview training tutorial. My name is Richard McMunn. That's me there
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in the center of the screen. I am a former fire officer of 17 years, and since then,
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I've been helping people for about 20 years now to pass their interviews, and I do that
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primarily by giving you top scoring, unique and concise answers that you can't find anywhere
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else on the Internet. Please do make sure you SUBSCRIBE to the channel by clicking the
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red button below the video, and then you are not going to miss out on any of the weekly
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insider interview training videos I'm uploading. I would also very much appreciate your support
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if you gave the video a LIKE (thanks!) that always motivates me to create more content
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for you. Thank you very much indeed. Okay. Let's get into those scrum master interview
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questions and answers. Now, you can either take notes as I progress, or if you want to
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wait, I will tell you at some stage during this video where you can download my full
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set of 20 Scrum Master Interview Questions and Answers. So, the first question that I
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want you to prepare for during your scrum master interview is: Tell me about yourself
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and why you want to work in this role as our scrum master? As you and I know, being a scrum
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master requires a unique set of skills, qualities and attributes. So we want to start off and
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give the hiring manager a brilliant, positive answer that demonstrates you are capable of
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performing the role to a competent high level. Here we go. “I want to work in the role
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of Scrum Master because the essential skills, qualities and attributes needed to perform
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successfully are the ones I possess. Over the years, the experiences I have gained have
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enabled me to be effective as a scrum master. I am extremely driven, supportive, adaptable
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and I hold excellent problem-solving capabilities that enable me to facilitate and lead a team
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towards its goals. I always develop and maintain excellent working relationships with the teams
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I am working with, I know what level of influence to exert on a team, and I also possess a relentless
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pursuit of continuous improvement and development with all teams I am the scrum master for.
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I understand, from your perspective, this is a difficult role to fill, but based on
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my past experiences, my passion for the role and my excellent interpersonal and communication
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skills, I feel strongly you will be impressed with my work ethics, integrity, values and,
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more importantly, the results I will produce as your scrum master.” That is a rock solid,
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positive answer! It is in depth, but I prefer in depth answers, and based on the fact that
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lots and lots of people are passing their interviews after watching my videos, this
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is the method I want you to follow. Now, of course, you can either repeat that word for
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word if it is a match for what you believe in and your skills, or you can take notes
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of the elements of that response that you think are most suited to you personally and
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professionally. Second question of your scrum master interview: Why should we hire you as
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our scrum master? So, why should we hire you? This is another interview question for “What
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makes you the standout candidate?” Here is my suggested answer: “I believe you should
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hire me because I have the past experiences and qualities to deliver consistent results
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for you. As the scrum master, I will help the team reach agreement on all tasks, projects
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and deadlines, conduct productive and progressive daily scrum meetings, and also keep everyone
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focused on what we have all agreed during our meetings. I will also ensure I effectively
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remove any obstacles and barriers the team faces along the way. I am someone who always
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acts with honesty and integrity, and you have my word that I will work extremely hard to
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deliver the results I am responsible and accountable for as the scrum master.” Another great
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response! By the way, if you are LinkedIn.com and you want to connect with me, I have put
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my linked in connection in the description below the video, so you can connect and just
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say hello if you want to. Question number three of your scrum master interview: In your
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opinion, what is a successful scrum master? This is assessing your understanding of the
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job description and more importantly, the person specification. Here is my answer: “I
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believe a successful scrum master is someone who can meet the objectives that are defined
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by their employer – which in this case, is you.
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A successful scrum master is also someone who has a clear understanding and grasp of
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both leadership and facilitation. As a scrum master, you need to know when to lead situations,
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and also when to simply facilitate the team to help them achieve their goals. A successful
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scrum master is also someone who can help a team reach its full potential by both encouraging
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and enabling its members. To be successful, you need breadth of knowledge in respect of
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the product you are helping the team develop, and also the market within which that product
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falls in. Finally, you need to be a strong relationship builder and influencer.” So,
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another stronger answer. And you will notice, even though we're only, I think, three questions
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in to our scrum master preparation, you'll notice that a lot of my responses are literally
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loaded with positive key words and phrases. And I believe that's important, because they
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will resonate positively with the interviewer and it helps you to be the standout candidate.
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Question number four: Tell us about an issue you had with a stakeholder and what you did
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to resolve it? Now, this doesn't necessarily have to be in a role as a previous scrum master.
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You could have worked in a different role as perhaps a project manager, or project coordinator.
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The important thing is, what they are assessing here is your ability to resolve situations
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and take responsibility for them. Taking ownership of situations is a unique skill that not many
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people have. But it is vital if you are to be an effective leader or scrum master. Here
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is my suggested answer to the interview question: Tell us about an issue you had with a stakeholder
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and what you did to resolve it in a previous role? “In a previous role I was responsible
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for facilitating the completion of a time-sensitive project. The project was progressing extremely
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well. However, as time went on, one particular stakeholder was starting to stall on the delivery
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of their part of the project specification. It was my job, as the project facilitator,
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to speak to the stakeholder in order to find out why there was a delay, and more importantly,
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what we could do to speed things up to ensure the project completed successfully. Despite
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trying to make contact with the stakeholder, they would not return my calls, and so I decided
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to jump on the train and make my way to their offices. When I arrived, it was clear they
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did not share the same enthusiasm for the project as me, and their CEO adopted an entirely
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defensive attitude. He had effectively under quoted for the work, and as a result, they
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were operating at a loss for this particular project. I explained in very clear terms how
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their inaction was going to impact massively on not just everyone who had a vested interest
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in the project, but also the end user, which in this case was a local hospital. I used
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effective negotiation and persuasion techniques to explain how any failure with the project
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could impact negatively on their company from a local media perspective, and that it was
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imperative they delivered on their promises. The CEO eventually came around to my way of
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thinking and he promised to deliver their side of the project on time. From that day
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on, I kept in regular contact with the CEO to make sure he kept to his word, which he
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did do. The project was finally completed on time and to the required specification.”
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Now, if you just quickly look at how I have structured the answer, I have used a common
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technique, an effective technique, called the star technique. You start off and you
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tell them the SITUATION you were in. You then explain the TASK that needed to be done. And
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then the bulk of the answer is the ACTION that you took. And then finally you finish
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off with the RESULT of your actions. And in that response, you'll see that I've used a
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short story that explains how I took ownership of the situation, and I also used effective
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persuasion and negotiation techniques to get somebody to complete their side of the project,
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which everybody was dependent upon. Next question of your scrum master interview: Tell me how
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you would facilitate a daily scrum meeting? As you and I know, as a scrum master, you
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will need to hold daily scrum meetings. What would you do during your scrum meeting? Here
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is my suggested answer: “The daily scrum meeting is absolutely vital in ensuring the
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team is focused on what they need to achieve. It is also vital in providing me with information
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and details on what it is, if anything, that is preventing the team from achieving its
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objectives. On that basis, I would ask three very specific questions during the team scrum
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meeting. The questions I would ask are: what the team had achieved the previous day; what
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they were planning to achieve on that particular day, and also what was preventing them for
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achieving their objectives. To summarize, I would use the daily scrum meetings to focus
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the team and use my expertise and experience to influence and facilitate them towards the
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goal.” A really strong answer! Next interview question: How would you deal with discord
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or conflict in a team? So again, this doesn't have to necessarily be a situation as a scrum
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master. You might have been in a previous role where you took ownership and dealt with
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discord or conflict within a team. So, we've already tackled the question about dealing
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with an external stakeholder. But what happens within a team? How do we resolve this, or
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facilitate it? Here is my suggested answer: “I believe there are five important steps
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to follow when resolving or facilitating the resolution of conflict in a team. The FIRST
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STEP is to identify the main cause of the issue. If you don’t know the exact reasons
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for the problem, then you cannot resolve it. STEP TWO would be to hold discussions, most
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probably during the daily scrum meetings, to openly talk about the discord and what
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the team could do to resolve it. STEP THREE would be to explore different ways the team
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could resolve the discord or conflict. It would be important at this stage to listen
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to both sides, understand the issues and look to stop it as soon as possible by ensuring
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everyone cooperated with the proposed resolution. STEP FOUR would be the agreement of a definitive
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way forward for the team, whilst STEP FIVE would be to regularly revisit the progress
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the team was making through open discussions during the daily scrum meetings.” And what
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I particularly like about that response is that you are following a number of steps,
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which in this case is five, to achieving your objectives of resolving discord or conflict.
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That demonstrates to the interviewer that you know exactly what to do, and you already
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have experience in this situation and you have a process that you would follow that
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is tried and tested and that it works! Next question of your scrum master interview, which
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is guaranteed to come up: What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses? Now, this might
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be divided in two questions, but I've put it into one. So, what are your strengths and
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what are your weaknesses? Now, you will notice in this answer, I give a number of strengths,
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but I only give ONE weakness. But the important thing when giving a weakness during any interview,
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is to make sure that that weakness does not harm your chances of success. So, if you were
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to say during a scrum master interview: “You know, I don't feel very confident, or I'm
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not very good at facilitating.” Then you won't be getting the job! So make sure the
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weakness that you give is obviously honest and genuine, but that is one that will not
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damage your chances of successfully passing the interview. Here is my suggested answer:
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“I have numerous strengths that I feel will enable me to excel in the role of a scrum
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master. These include, my ability to deliver consistent proven results for my employer,
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exceptional influencing and facilitating skills, and also strong interpersonal and relationship
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building capabilities. In respect of my weakness, I sometimes find it difficult to strike a
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healthy work/life balance. In the past, I have literally been working 16-18 hour days
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during some difficult and complex projects whilst being scrum master, and obviously this
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can be unhealthy if you maintain this level of work. Having said that, as the years go
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by, I am becoming a smarter and more intelligent scrum master whilst still being passionate
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and fully committed to the role.” While you are giving a weakness, you are also saying
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that, you know, I am looking to improve and develop, which as you and I know, is an important
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aspect of being a scrum master. But you'll notice that that weakness is actually quite
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intelligent in some ways. And that has been one of my own personal weaknesses in the past,
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where I've worked so hard, you know, because you're so committed, that it can be unhealthy.
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But from an employer's perspective, that would be music to their ears that you are prepared
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to work long hours. If you would like my full set of 20 great answers to your SCRUM MASTER
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interview, there's a link that has appeared in the top-right hand corner of this video.
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If you click it, it'll take you through to my website… PassMyInterview.com, which I
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founded a few years ago, and it's designed to get as many people as possible to pass
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their interviews, and we are having a huge amount of success with it. I've included all
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of those, I think these seven answers that I've given you there, but you'll get another
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13 top scoring answers to help you prepare for your scrum master interview! I hope you
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enjoyed that. Please don't forget to SUBSCRIBE. I very much appreciate your support within
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this community. We've got about 200,000 subscribers now, so we're growing at a rate of about 1,000
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a day. Make sure you take part within the community. If you have any questions, put
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it in the comments section below. And also, I would you appreciate it if you gave the
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video a LIKE. I'd like to say that motivates me to create more content for you. Don't forget
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to connect with me on LinkedIn. Thank you very much indeed! I wish you all the best
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for passing your scrum master interview. I hope you have a brilliant day. Thank you very
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much.