Expert: Torski Dobson-Arnold - 11/30/2008

Question
I get many job interviews, obviously because I'm good at writing applications and I have excellent education. But when I'm at an interview, I somehow just can't find the right words to efficiently answer their questions about my past work experience (honestly, I don't have much experience) and project the self-confidence I'd want. Do you have some tips to overcome my less than perfect interview appearance?

Answer
Mandy:

As a career coach, I work with clients everyday in technique and tools as it relates to the interview process today.  First off, companies and employers today are using the behavioral interview method most often in the interview setting.  These are the questions that begin something like this...."Tell me about a time when..." OR "Please describe a time when you...."

In order to project the self-confidence you seek and efficiently answer questions about your past work experience, you should use the STAR method.  STAR stands for S-Situation OR T-Task, A-Action and R-Result.

So, in any given question,  first you'll want to determine what example situation or task would be  best suited to answer the question.  Describe this.  Explicitly describe what action you took to complete, remedy, solve the situation/task at hand. Finally, explain the results of your actions.  But here's the piece most interviewees miss:  Talk about the results as it relates to the value-added and/or benefit to the  organization; not to you.  Companies don't want to just know that you've done something in the past OR that you did do it; they want to understand what value it brought to the organization's bottom line.  Did U save the company money in the process?  Did you generate revenue?  Did you retain customers? Improve service?

If you ever get asked a question about something you have not done before, as you mentioned that you don't have a lot of work experience, you can still use the STAR method, but preface the response with something like "Where I have not actually had the opportunity to perform this task, if given the opportunity to do so, I would....."

Mandy, I hope these quick tips give you some tools to use in creating rewarding interviews with prospective employers.

Best of luck to you in your future career opportunities!

Torski
Your Career Confidence Coach