Answering Interview Questions

Answering interview questions: Answering interview questions can be tough, from commonly asked interview questions, to more unusual ones! In this article, I’ll show you how to transform your successes into powerful techniques for answering interview questions, especially behavioral questions. Then, when you’re asked, “Tell me about your experience in…,” you’ll be answering interview questions easily and effectively!

Pick a skill you want to emphasize in answering interview questions, plus an example of when you’ve experienced success in that area

Choose a skill you want to emphasize in answering interview questions, plus an example of when you’ve proven your success in that area. Then ask yourself, “What was going on in this situation? Was there a problem I needed to solve, or a plan that I needed to implement?” Write a few notes about the circumstances to help you with answering interview questions. To make this tough answering interview questions step a little easier, just write down a short phrase about what was happening at that time. For example, if my aim in answering interview questions was to emphasize my skills in record-keeping, I could describe an example from when I worked in a law office, and I might write,

“Lawyer was leaving law firm.”

Good. It’s a start. Now, a little more about what was going on to help you in answering interview questions …

“All his files needed to be copied.”

And just a bit more detail:

“I was hired to copy all those files.”

Enough!

As you work on your responses for answering interview questions, keep in mind that what you write doesn’t need to be perfectly worded. You’ll just want to include enough details that paint a picture of the situation as you work toward answering interview questions effectively.

Write a few sentences about “How” you did it

In your aim develop effective strategies for answering interview questions, this next step will probably seem a little easier, because it’s like giving a blow-by-blow report of what you’ve done. Ask yourself, “What specific steps did I take to accomplish the task?” Aim to provide a step-by-step account of your process as a powerful technique for answering interview questions. Again, in working on this strategy for answering interview questions successfully, phrases are sufficient. Example:

The office manager at the law firm showed me what needed to be copied.
There was a specific process for checking files in and out of the file room, and I could only check out one file at a time.
I copied each file page by page, front and back, keeping all the documents in the proper order.
After a file was copied, I had to check the original file and the copied file back into the file room, to maintain client confidentiality.
Altogether, there were over 1,500 files and I needed to copy over a three month period.

Describe the results of what happened—the “Proof” that you did well, as part of your strategy for effectively answering interview questions

Many people tend to run and hide when they get to this step in preparing for answering interview questions. But this is the final piece in developing powerful strategies for answering interview questions —so don’t punt now! Do it, and you’ll to learn how to hit a home run in an interview (and actually, it’s not as scary as you fear it might be…) and you’ll be answering interview questions like a champ. If you did the work well, then there’s a worthwhile outcome to describe, and these details can be use to help you in answering interview questions. For instance, continuing with my law office example, I ask myself, “Did I help the organization…

Save money? Well, yes! If the files hadn’t been copied correctly, and if client confidentially had been breached, the law firm could have been sued, and that would have cost them a lot of money.

Make money? Did I add anything to the bottom line? No, I guess not. On to the next one…

Improve quality? Yes! Properly-copied files support delivery of quality legal services. My quality copy job did support the ability for the law firm to provide successful services in the future.

Improve image? Yes! Helping the departing lawyer prepare for his next position maintained good professional relationships, contributing to the positive image of the firm.

Now it’s your turn. As a final step in creating an example to use when answering interview questions, answer these questions about one of your examples:

• How might I have saved the business money?
• How might I have made the business money?
• How might I have improved the business’ quality?
• How might I have improved the business’ image?

How’d you do? Got a few small ideas? Great! You’ll get better at this technique for improving your strengths in answering interview questions as you practice it more.

Here are some additional ways to look at your results information to help you improve your abilities in answering interview questions:

• How many times did you do something? How many pieces did you process? In what timeframe? Remember, you don’t need an exact count. You’re allowed to say, “Approximately…”
• What other departments / customers / people did you help, even if it was indirectly? What did you do for them?
• What impact did your work have on the long term performance of the organization? Has the organization grown or thrived, due in part to your quality contributions?
• How did other people describe your work? Have they made positive comments? Did they include note favorable things about you in your performance review? What did they say?

See if you can come up with a few more details to add to your results information, and to help you build your strength in answering interview questions. Realize that you’ll get better at this as you go along, and soon you’ll be answering interview questions easily and effectively.

Put your What, How & Proof pieces together for a real WOW! experience in answering interview questions

This is the fun part…plus it’s easy sneezy! Just line your What, How & Proof information up back to back for a powerful answering interview questions result:

What: I worked at a law firm, and a lawyer was leaving. All his files needed to be copied, so that he could take a set with him to his new firm. I was hired to copy all those files.

How: The office manager at the law firm showed me what needed to be copied. I had to follow a specific process for checking files in and out of the file room. I could only check out one file at a time. I copied each file page by page, front and back, keeping all the documents in the proper order. After a file was copied, I had to check the original file and the copied file back into the file room, to maintain client confidentiality. Altogether, I copied over 1,500 files and over three months.

Proof: I know I did well with this job, because I followed procedures carefully, maintaining client confidentiality, and protecting the law firm from being sued. I also helped the firm continue to deliver quality legal services by copying files correctly. Another result of my quality record-keeping skills was that I helped the departing lawyer prepare for his next position, supporting good ongoing professional relationships between the two law firms, and contributing to the positive image of the firm.

Excerpted and adapted from “Career Coward’s Guide to Interviewing” by Katy Piotrowski, M.Ed.