What does the word quality mean to you

It is incredibly difficult to define quality, but surprisingly easy to recognize it. If you experience a quality stuff–be it a product you try, service someone delivers to you, or even a person you meet, you will immediately know it. You will say: “This was amazing stuff”, or “This product has an excellent quality”. But how to elaborate on such statements?

The struggles we have with defining quality make this interview question difficult to answer for almost everyone. But luckily you landed on InterviewPenguin.com website, and I will show you 7 good answers to this tricky interview question. Once you read the answers, do not forget to check also the notes below them, because they will help you to understand how to prepare a perfect and genuine answer for your interview.

7 sample answers to “What does quality mean to you” interview question

1. A quality product or service is the one that satisfies the needs of a customer, that meets their expectations or even exceeds them. When you receive quality, in whatever form, you are eager to get more. You want to come back and make another purchase, you refer the product to your friends and connections, you have a tendency to talk about it in public. Quality is what we should aim for if we want to have returning customers and a strong brand as a company.
2. Quality means to me a pursuit of perfection. To always try to deliver as much as we can, to improve this and that detail, to be the best version of our selves, and to constantly evolve as people and trade professionals. It’s a journey that has no end, and one I incredibly enjoy being on. I try to give the quality to wherever I do in my life. I may succeed at times and fail at other times, but I will continue trying. Because in my opinion it makes no sense to do something without 100% effort and commitment.
3. Your brand Apple is the synonym of quality to me. I cannot clearly explain why, it’s just the connection I make in my mind immediately. Maybe because your products are perfect both design wise and functionality wise, and I cannot imagine switching them for some products of your competitors. It is a actually one of the reasons why I want to work for you. I’d love to participate on creating amazing products of great quality.
4. What does quality mean to me? I cannot really say, but I know when I get it. Maybe it’s the extra touch, the extra one percent some creators add to their works of arts, the one percent that distinguishes their work from anything else their competitors do and produce. Or it is in the ingredients of the food, the special touch of the experienced cook, the love they expressed in their culinary creation… Honestly, I cannot define it, but I can recognize it, and if possible I’d love to participate on creating quality stuff in my work.
5. Quality is something that is missing in the local market of webdesign services. The websites local companies build are outdated, and do not follow the modern design trends. What’s more, they are hard to use for end users and load slowly on both desktop and mobile devices. Quality is missing here, and I am applying with you for a job of a web designer, to bring some quality to your customers. Let’s change the rules, let’s take things to another level, let’s become the best web design agency in the city. I am sure we can do it together.
6. In my opinion, to live a quality life means to give your best in all roles you have in this world. Be it the role of a son, sister, mother, employee, business owner, believer, or any other role you may have. When you approach all your daily duties, even the seemingly insignificant one, with precision, dedication, and love, whatever arises from your activity will have attributes of quality. And people will know it, they will feel it in their interactions with you. This is actually my goal, to live a quality life. I am still far away from achieving it, but step by step I am on my way.
7. Quality is in the present moment. How we experience life, people, and things around us, whether we recognize the uniqueness of each living creature and each moment, depends on our ability to live in the present. If we are slaves to our own thoughts, imprisoned by fear, anxiety, hate, doubts, and other emotions, we won’t recognize this secret quality. Only when we manage to break the chains, to liberate ourselves from all useless thoughts and formulas of thinking, we will be able to recognize quality, and also to create quality stuff. That’s why I always try to stay in the moment, to focus on the task at hand only, and not think about anything else while working. That’s my way of creating quality stuff.

Describe the quality indirectly, praise their brand

If you cannot define quality directly, you can at least explain what a quality product means for a customer, and to what actions it motivates them. In the 1st sample answer, job candidate refers to returning customers and positive reviews. Each employer will love to hear about such things in your interview answer.

In the 3rd answer, the job applicant defines quality with the help of a brand of their prospective employer, in this case Apple. Needless to say, each employer will love such comparison, because companies are proud of their products, and typically consider them superior to the products of their competitors. Of course they can be wrong with their observations, but it doesn’t matter for you in an interview. Once you praise their brand, they will be happy.

Regardless of your definition of quality, ensure your interviewers that you want to deliver it

Maybe you cannot exactly define what quality means to you–just like most people cannot. But you can certainly say whether there is quality in the local market of any given product (see sample answer no.5), and you can also always say that you want to produce some quality in your job.

Remember that your attitude is the most important thing for the hiring managers. Once they see that you try to pursue perfection with your work, that you are ready to sacrifice something for the employer, that instead of mediocrity you aim for excellence, in whatever you do, they will be more than happy with your interview answer to a question about quality.

* Special Tip: It is hard to convince them about your desire to deliver quality, unless you come up with quality answers in your interview, when facing tough questions about prioritization, dealing with pressure, dealing with ambiguity, and about other tricky situations that happen in the workplace. If you want to make sure that you stand out with your answers and outclass your competitors, have a look at our Interview Success Package. Up to 10 premium answers to 31 tricky scenario based questions (+ more) will help you streamline your interview preparation, and show real quality in your interview. It can be the last part of the puzzle you are missing on your way to success…

Try to stand out with a philosophical answer

Job interview is not a meeting of aspiring philosophers. However, if you apply for a job for which you compete with many other people (that’s the case for almost all managerial jobs, well-paid entry level jobs in big corporations, and many other popular occupations in both public and private sector), it’s important to try to stand out with your interview answers.

If you talk about living in a present moment and dedicating 100% of your attention to a task at hand, keeping your mind quiet and letting higher intelligence to lead your hands (7th sample answer), you will certainly say something nobody else will say in the interviews.

Interviewers will remember your words, they may even touch them somehow in the depths of their being, and all of this can help you stand out from the pack of your competitors in the interviews.

Having said that, interview questions about quality are very difficult, and most people won’t have any answer ready… Sometimes just answering the question will make you stand out :).

Ready to answer this one? Check also sample answers to other tricky interview questions:

• Tell me about a time you had to comply with a policy you didn’t agree with.
• What does integrity mean to you?
• What does diversity mean to you?

You’re likely to hear the interview question “What does quality mean to you?” when interviewing for a variety of roles.

As a former recruiter, I’m going to show you how to define quality and give a great interview answer to help you win the job.

I’ll also share multiple word-for-word sample answers for everything from customer service roles to software development positions, so you can make sure your response sounds right.

Let’s get started…

Why Companies Ask What Quality Means to You

To start, let’s define quality.

In business, quality means the standard of a product or service when compared to other products or services of a similar kind.

You can think of quality as being a measure of the degree of excellence of something.

Employers ask interview questions about what quality means to you to ensure that you’ll keep their company’s and client’s best interests in mind if hired.

The interviewer wants to ensure that you believe in delivering high-quality work and also that you know what high-quality work entails.

They also want to ensure that you define quality in the same way that they do, more or less, to ensure you’re a fit for their company culture.

For example, imagine you’re interviewing for a customer service role and the prospective employer believes that excellent customer service means always making the customers feel like they’re the top priority.

Now, if you say in the interview that the customer’s purpose is just to support the company, and they’re not a top priority, then that could be a red flag to the hiring manager.

Examples of What Quality Means in the Workplace

Depending on your role and industry, quality will refer to different things. Here are examples of what excellent quality may look like in various industries:

• Delivering exceptional service to customers, going above and beyond what they expect
• Performing rigorous testing on each finished product before delivering it to customers, to ensure that no quality issues occur after purchase
• Creating a measurable performance standard that employees, services, or products must meet
• Developing a robust quality assurance program to avoid product defects
• Investing time and money into creating high-quality design specifications for products, to ensure that the result is a quality product that outperforms competitors’ products
• Using better raw materials to create a higher-quality end product with high reliability
• Following up with each customer to ensure they’re satisfied after a purchase
• Offering a better warranty than competitors in your industry
• Offering a similar product to competitors but at a better price, giving more value to your customers

The definition of quality in each organization will vary.

Some companies produce goods, others offer services, and still others offer a combination.

And there isn’t one single way that every business goes about achieving or measuring quality standards.

So before you answer an interview question about what quality means, or how you define quality, make sure you understand how quality relates to the job you are interviewing for.

Coming up, we’ll look at some sample interview answers that you can adapt to your industry/job.

Example Answers to “What Does Quality Mean to You?”

Sample Answer 1:

As a customer support representative, I believe quality means going above and beyond what the customer expects to ensure that they’re satisfied.

I also believe that quality means delivering a consistent experience to customers. Customers should be able to predict the quality of help they’re going to get every time they interact with a business and be able to count on that. It’s better to have a consistent and reliable process so that customers don’t experience variability. To me, consistency is a part of quality.

Sample Answer 2:

Since I design products for a living, I think of quality in terms of how I design and create any given product.

To me, quality means delivering a product that exceeds expectations both in terms of functionality and reliability. Those two factors are essential in a product’s success and can be the difference between failure and success in a business, so they’re a couple of the first factors that come to mind when I hear someone mention quality.

And in terms of my individual work, I think there are many different ways quality comes into play. I think quality work involves high effort and focus, consistency, being open to feedback, having strong communication with management, and being an upfront and accountable employee.

Sample Answer 3:

As a software developer, I think quality means delivering products with great usability and features, and creating tools that efficiently solve problems for the users.

It also means having a thorough quality assurance and software testing process and weighing user feedback throughout the product’s life cycle to continuously improve. The best digital products improve over time.

Sample Answer 4:

In my work, I think that quality means bringing my best effort, always looking for ways to improve and grow, and delivering consistent, productive work that management can count on.

And in terms of a business’s products, I think quality means delivering value beyond what customers expect.

This includes great product design, reliability, service excellence, and even pricing.

As a manufacturing manager, I work across my current organization to improve the quality and reliability of our products and also streamline our manufacturing processes to save the company money on each manufacturing run.

This allowed us to lower some product prices last year to be more competitive and offer more value to customers.

The result was a boost in sales resulting in 32% higher revenue.

Note in the last sample answer above, you’re concluding by sharing specific metrics of what you achieved recently. It’s always a great idea to include this type of info in your job interview, if possible.

When you talk about past performance, it gives the hiring manager a clear picture of what you could likely achieve for them if they hire you.

Review Your Industry’s Quality Standards Before Your Job Interview

Quality refers to different things in different industries.

The sample answers above are a good guideline and general starting point for how to define quality and deliver a good interview answer, but in certain industries, you’ll want to be more specific.

Look up industry guidelines, quality certifications, and general standards to help you sound more knowledgeable and prepared when you define quality in your interview.

For example, in the manufacturing of food and pharmaceuticals, there are specific certifications of cleanliness and sterile environments for product quality.

You may see pharmaceutical companies mention GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices).

Some service-based businesses will utilize quality frameworks like Service Process Design.

And in a customer support role, quality will be measured in terms of customer satisfaction and delivering a great customer experience.

So the way you measure quality will depend on your role, and ideally, you want to give an interview answer that’s tailored to the type of job you’re applying for.

Keep this in mind as you describe quality in your job interview, and you’ll make a far better impression on any hiring manager.

Conclusion: Answering “What Does Quality Mean to You?”

In today’s world, with the rise of online reviews and social media, one bad customer experience can lead to hundreds of people hearing negative comments about your organization.

Therefore, quality is more important than ever to a business.

A company’s management is going to care about quality in all aspects of the business and be more likely to ask what it means to you in the job interview.

If you’ve read the info above, you know how to define quality in your interview and how to relate it to a specific company’s product or service.

As a final step, practice your answer at home — both the definition and any follow-up points you want to talk about (such as an example of how you approached quality in your current/last position and what result you were able to achieve for the company).

The bottom line is: You’re going to be make a better impression when answering “What does quality mean to you?” if you prepare ahead of time instead of making up a response in the moment.

Related interview questions:

• Describe your work ethic
• Describe your work style
• Are you detail-oriented?
• What does integrity mean to you?

Quality refers to how good something is compared to other similar things. In other words, its degree of excellence. When used to describe people, it refers to a distinctive characteristic or attribute that they possess. In this sense, we can also use the term for things. If I think that Mary’s best attribute is her honesty, I can say “Mary’s best quality is her honesty.”

When we refer to ‘people of quality’ we usually mean people of high social standing. However, the term, with this meaning, is less common today than in the past.

In business, especially manufacturing, it is a measure of excellence. In this context, it can also refer to a state of being defect-free.

The ISO 8402-1986 standard defines quality as:

“The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.”

ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization, an international standard-setting body. ISO consists of representatives from several national standards organizations.

The term contrasts with the word ‘quantity.’  When somebody says ‘how much,’ we think about quantity. If they say ‘how good,’ on the other hand, we think about quality.

Quality in business

In business, manufacturing, and engineering, the term has a pragmatic interpretation as the superiority or non-inferiority of something. It also refers to a product as ‘fit for purpose,’ while at the same time satisfying consumer expectations.

Quality is mostly a subjective and perceptual attribute. Different people may not have the same understanding of the meaning of the term.

Customer’s and producer’s interpretation

Wikipedia says the following regarding customers’ and producers’ perception of the word:

“Consumers may focus on the specification quality of a product/service, or how it compares to competitors in the marketplace.”

“Producers might measure the conformance quality, or degree to which the product/service was produced correctly. Support personnel may measure quality in the degree that a product is reliable, maintainable, or sustainable.”

In this context, the word ‘consumer‘ means the same as ‘customer‘ (this is not always the case).

Quality management

In business, there are many aspects to quality. It may refer either to goods or services. The key aspects of how good or ‘fit for purpose’ goods are, are rooted in the concept of quality management, which covers four areas:

1. Quality planning

This is a means of developing the goods, systems, and processes required to meet consumer expectations. In many cases, the producer tries to exceed them.

2. Quality assurance or QA

QA is a program for the systematic monitoring of all aspects of production, a project, or a service. The aim is to make sure that the producer and what the producer makes meet the required standards.

Quality control or QA

QC is a system in manufacturing of maintaining standards. Here, the focus is on the finished product, i.e., making sure it is defect-free and meets specifications and standards.

While QC focuses on what happens after the producer makes the product, QC focuses on what happens before completion.

Quality improvement or QI

QI is the systematic approach to the elimination of waste and losses in the production process. Sometimes, it also includes the reduction of waste and losses. QI involves weeding out what is not working properly, and either improving it or getting rid of it.

She enters the school-room makes a few criticisms, asks a blessing at the table; occasionally a misdemeanor is reported to her, when the offender is cited to the august presence, and duly reprimanded, not according to the quality of the offense, but, in an inverse proportion, to the _quality_ of the offender. ❋ Various (N/A)

Now it is evident that the first two sciences presuppose that which forms the exclusive object of the third, namely, quality; for all quantity in nature is either itself derived, or at least derives its powers from some _quality_, as that of weight, specific cohesion, hardness, &c. ❋ Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1803)

Gende® €quality: Europes quality? was an international seminar organised by JEF-Europe and ❋ Unknown (2010)

Gende® €quality: Europes quality? was an international seminar organised by JEF-Europe and JEF-Slovakia in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia from ❋ Unknown (2010)

High quality of UE «MZOR» products is awarded with: In 2007: — «Award of Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Belarus in the field of quality» In 2008: — «Best goods of the Republic of ❋ Unknown (2010)

Andrea Zopp: You’ve used the term «quality seat» repeatedly today. ❋ Matt Farmer (2011)

This season’s scripted finales were a mixed bag, ranging in quality from the intentional hilarity of CBS ‘Big Bang Theory (the Penny/Sheldon knocking duet) to the unintentional hilarity of ABC’s Life on Mars. ❋ Unknown (2009)

My degree was 50% online with a huge difference in quality from the for-profits. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Hayate praises the theme park and comments that the Sanzenin quality is incomparable to others. ❋ Unknown (2007)

It does vary in quality though, so be sure to go after the lunch rush as they seem to not put as much cheese on it and the overall quality is much better. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Get to the new wing, where the curators ‘choices are on display, and the drop-off in quality is palpable. ❋ Frank Wilson (2006)

The movies range in quality from a good copy made from a master print to shaky versions filmed in a theater with a moviegoer’s head silhouetted in front of the screen. ❋ Unknown (2006)

I’m very impressed with all of the Clone Wars novels, although I think that the one that lacks the most in quality is Jedi Trial, one that I’ve been anticipating all year, which was a little of a disapointment. ❋ Andrew (2004)

After all, it only took two or three shootings for the D.C. sniper to make national headlines. “Jeepers Creepers 2” is a decidedly sharp drop in quality from the first film. ❋ Unknown (2003)

Man 1: Hey, have you seen [Donnie Darko]?
Man 2: Yeah, man. [Quality] [movie]. ❋ Payinginpalaver (2011)

she is ‘quality‘,that [car] is ‘quality‘,that [lesson] was ‘quality‘ ❋ Nina Ellis-feather (2006)

That [bud] was quality ❋ D Bob (2003)

I [smoked] some mad quality [reefer]. Then i watched a mad quality movie!!! Then i drank and got [ferjunked] ❋ Garemy String (2005)

that was one [dope ass] quality [chris]
i know [will it] was so good ❋ Scottthedon (2009)

«dude, [thats] quality. [i would] [do you] myself if you werent you.» ❋ Kat (2004)

«your woman [that works] down in peter marks, ye know, that wears the [rec] [coat], shes a fucking quality bird» ❋ Chomskola (2006)

«Did you watch [Ali G] last night?»
«[Yeah mate], it was [quality]» ❋ Louie Kay (2007)

[Rupert] that [stamp collection] is [quality]. ❋ TrevDawg (2003)

Wow, [last night’s] [episode] of x had some major QUALITY. [Fail]. ❋ IndexAnna (2010)

What is Quality? Quality is the degree to which a commodity meets the requirements of the customer at the start of its life. (As defined in ISO 9000)

Quality does not come from using a ISO 9001 quality management system. The ISO9001 standard is not designed to create quality. ISO 9001 is just a “bookshelf” to store and manage your quality creation processes and procedures.

The Effects of Quality are experienced by the customer. Product quality perception comes from your design specifications and the manufacture standards achieved. Service quality perception comes from your service process design and standard of delivery.

After being an ISO 9001 consultant to many companies I saw that nearly every operation I had worked with misunderstood what is quality. They thought that by getting an ISO 9001 quality management system (QMS) they would become a quality-driven company. No, that is totally wrong! ISO9001 cannot create quality. ISO 9001 certification is not a solution to becoming a quality company. Or to getting quality into your products and services.

This misunderstanding is why ISO 9001 has such a poor reputation for delivering the customer perception improvements that senior management wanted by adopting ISO 9001—the ISO 9001 standard does not tell you HOW to design and create quality in your products and services.

When you put a ISO 9001 quality management system into your business it cannot give you product and work quality and reliability. ISO 9001 gives you a management framework. Think of it as like a set of empty bookshelves with a document tracking system but no books. It is up to you to design and build the ideal processes and products that make your customers satisfied. ISO 9001 can never do that for you, it only stores your QMS documents on its shelves.

So, what is quality? Quality is delivered when you achieve the minimum requirement of a specified performance standard. Quality is a specified performance range. Get into the range of required performance and you have ‘quality’. Both a basic Toyota Corolla and a top-of-the-line Mercedes Benz are quality cars. They each have specific engineering design standards to meet and once those standards are satisfied then quality is delivered.

To help executives, managers and supervisors understand what is quality, how to create quality, and how to embed quality into their workplace I wrote an explanatory ebook with a simple, structured methodology. I called this approach to work quality control and quality assurance the Accuracy Controlled Enterprise (ACE). The couple of images below try to summarize the purpose and use of the ACE 3T approach of quality control and quality assurance. If you want more information on the ACE 3T methodology you can follow the web links at the end of this page.

The late American Management guru Peter F. Drucker said, “Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for.” It might be true that customers decide if they got quality results, but in the practical business world you have to embed quality into products and services so that customers can then experience it.

In the business world, quality is indeed what the supplier puts in. It is always the designer who set the quality and the manufacturer who instills quality, or they leave it lacking. The designer engineers-in-quality and the manufacturer builds the quality into the product. A customer can only experience the effects of past quality choices and actions.

Customers may judge quality through their perceptions, but customer opinion is not what quality is. Customer satisfaction is the after-effect of quality. Because customers cannot clearly specify in measurable engineering values what makes them satisfied, quality improvement becomes an iterative process of trial, testing and feedback on performance when used by the customer.

Over the years business has had to find a way to define and measure quality so that companies can make products and deliver services to definable performance standards their customers will experience and either accept or reject.

Measuring Quality:

1. Quality is specification driven – does it meet the set performance requirements
2. Quality is measured at start of life – percent passing specification acceptance
3. Quality effectiveness is observable by number of rejects from customers

The quality characteristics of a product or service are known as the ‘Determinants of Quality’. These are the attributes customers look for to decide if it is a quality product or service.

Definitions of Quality:

People have found many ways to describe quality. Some of the most popular definitions for quality are listed below.

1. A degree of excellence
2. Conformance to requirements
3. Totality of characteristics which act to satisfy a need
4. Fitness for use
5. Fitness for purpose
6. Freedom from defects
7. Delighting customers

All of the above gauges of quality are useful, as they each contain elements of what quality means to users of products and services. However, for quality to be embedded in a product or service there must be a set of measurable performance standards, which when achieved will guarantee the desired level of quality.

Definition of Reliability:

Reliability is the probability an item will function correctly when needed, for the period required, in the specified environment. An all encompassing definition for reliability is ‘the chance of success’. With success defined by whatever measure you wish to use that tells you when success is achieved.

Reliability comes from achieving quality standards. This means the level of quality produces its equivalent reliability.

In a manufactured product, the reliability comes from its inherent design, materials-of-construction, precision of manufacture, and the operating stresses received when used in-service. In the service industry, reliability come from robustness of service process design, strength of client support, follow-through on your promises, and staying in business over the years.

The, “What is quality?” question has many implications that flow across your business and throughout the lifetime of your company, its offerings, and its clients. Quality is valuable, because when you have it, it brings success to the customer, and consequentially, to the business the customer buys from.

Measuring Reliability:

1. Reliability is customer satisfaction driven—the User was successful when they used the commodity
2. Reliability is measured at end of life—it functioned as required for the periods of time it was needed by the User
3. Reliability is observable by number of past customers that return, and the number of service call-outs from users

Value of a Quality Management System:

You need to purposely design business systems and processes that will deliver all the quality and reliability intentions your customers want. Service and product success is decided by its Users’ satisfaction.

That is why you need a Quality Management System, so you have the organisation structure, procedures, processes and resources needed to implement the design, creation and management of quality in your company. ISO 9001 gives you a framework to hold your business processes, methods and solutions and helps you improve them. But that is all ISO 9001 can do for you.

So when you decide to adopt a ISO 9001 quality management system be sure that FIRST you design and build the ideal quality-creation processes, products and services that are sure to make your customers satisfied. ISO 9001 will only keep you making the same quality and reliability that you engineer into your business offerings and customer solutions.

Work Quality Control and Work Quality Assurance With An Accuracy Controlled Enterprise:

ISO 9001 is not the answer to the question, What is Quality? You can’t use ISO 9001 to design the processes that create and embed quality and reliability into your products and services. To design and build the company processes that actually put quality into your goods, products and services needs business process design techniques and tools.

A powerful methodology to ensure work quality control and work quality assurance is the Accuracy Controlled Enterprise (ACE). You can read how ACE delivers work quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) by following the link to the webpage.

If work QC/QA is important to you, a comprehensive manual on writing standard operating procedures (SOP) using the Accuracy Controlled Enterprise (ACE) approach for designing business processes that ensure outstanding work quality results is now available. You can read information about the method and the manual at the online store webpage: Write SOPs with Accuracy Controlled Enterprise 3T (Target Tolerance Test) method.

All the Very best to you,

Mike Sondalini
Managing Director
Lifetime Reliability Solutions HQ