Do job interviews make you nervous? Has it been a long time since you had a job interview? Or maybe you get a 1st interview but never progress to 2nd interview. You never get feedback, so you never understand why.
Job interviews are a huge part of everyone’s career journey, and often make people nervous. No one really teaches us how to get ready for a job interview. However, it is possible to research and prepare for one.
As well as knowing your answers to common interview questions such as, “Tell me about yourself?” and “Why do you want to work at our company?“ You must also prepare your stories. Doing this helps you answer behavioural based interview questions.
Companies use behavioural interviewing as previous experience is often an indicator of future actions. In other words, if you’ve it before and can demonstrate the result or outcome, then you might do similar for their company.
How To Prepare
Few people can answer a behavioural interview question without doing some preparation beforehand.
To prepare, firstly, get a copy of the job advert or job description. Highlight the 5 main things they are looking for. You will often find this under “key or essential requirements” and “to be considered” or “your experience”.
Then find the key words they are asking for. These are words that are mentioned a few times throughout the advert. Finally, write down and summarise 5 stories where you have done these things over the last 5 to 10 years of your career. Each story can be used to answer each interview question.
To help you refine and summarise your stories, use the CARL framework.
Example Interview Question – “Tell me about a time you managed a major project, what your role was in this project and what challenges did you overcome?”
Your Answer using the CARL Framework:
CHALLENGE/CONTEXT – In my current role at ABC company, 18 months ago there was a large project that involved merging 5 divisions within Australia into one central team that would be based in Sydney. I was the project lead for the Sydney team. My main focus was to ensure all stakeholders were engaged on the project as I had to ensure that Sydney was up and running as a stand alone site by January 2023.
ACTION – The first thing I did was set up weekly and daily meetings with all 10 stakeholders to ensure that we were all on the same page. I invited them to email me their top 3 concerns or challenges. One of the managers in South Australia was not keen on the change and I knew that he might give some push back. I called him directly and we had a good chat, and he discussed his concerns. I assured him that I would keep him involved in all the steps of the project. Additionally, I told him that he could call or text me at any time. I ensured him that all the main concerns that the stakeholders had were discussed and everyone was aware of them. I found that by keeping things very transparent they all felt included in the decision process. They were therefore more likely to help me and everyone else in the project.
RESULT – The result was that the project was delivered on time. All divisions were relocated into Sydney and running successfully from January this year. Having a clear communication plan upfront and including all the stakeholders really helped.
LEARNING (optional) – On reflection, my main learning from running this project was to ensure I have all stakeholders on board from day one. If there is anyone who isn’t on board then I ensured I addressed this immediately. By doing this with the South Australia manager I feel that I averted a potential problem further down the track.
Common Mistakes
- Remember to say “I” not “we” (a common mistake!) The interviewers want to know what your role was. Constantly, answering with “we” can make them question how much influence you actually had. Therefore, always say “I”
- Another common mistake is to answer with a very general answer such as this: “in my previous company we had a lot of major projects and I was very involved in many of them. Because we were such a large company, things changed quickly. Sometimes we would start a project and then it would not be completed on time because things would change……………………”
Answering the question like this is not being specific. You are not telling the interviewers anything about you and your skills and why they should hire you. They want to hear your story and your previous experience.
Practice Makes Perfect
- Keep your answers to around 2 minutes or less.
- Ensure you sound relaxed and authentic.
- It should be a conversation, and not sound like you are too rehearsed and reading a script.
- Practice your answers, video yourself and time yourself.
- Check out your own body language when you are speaking. Are you someone who constantly puts their hand through their hair, someone who always looks down or do you just look very tense!
All of these little things add up. Being aware of your body language and how you come across can be just as important as your actual answers.
I worked with a client who was constantly pulling at her hair as if she was putting her long hair into a ponytail, but she didn’t! It was very off putting (I politely told her. She was unaware how often she actually did this.)
TOP TIP – unsure on what stories to use as your answers? You can never go wrong with stories in your career, related to the following topics:
- Difficult customer
- Difficult internal stakeholder or team member
- Communication
- Leadership
- Problem solving/process improvement
- Tight deadlines
- Business transformation
Finally
If you struggle with how to prepare for a job interview, then an interview coaching session can really help you. I often find it is the small things that can be tweaked to encourage success.
My client Ruth said this:
“Working with Angela was the key to getting my dream job. On my own, I was not getting shortlisted and was frustrated at how long it was taking. Once I started working with Angela, I better understood the power of LinkedIn and consistency with my applications.
The work we did on my Resume, Cover Letter and Skills and Experience documents led to 100% success rate for getting shortlisted!
What I should have done earlier was the interview practice session. We went through the ‘Tell me about yourself’, and she was able to pinpoint very quickly where I could improve in my responses. It gave me such confidence, and I got the very next job I interviewed for.
Angela was engaging and straight with me. If you are serious about your job search, I highly recommend Angela Farmeary.”
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
- Career crossroads and need clarity? Click here
- Maximise your LinkedIn and Resume for a successful job search, click here
- Nail that job interview and get the job offer, click here
Alternatively, if you are feeling overwhelmed or are unsure where to start and need help with EVERYTHING click here
