Interview Coaching

Every job seeker waits anxiously to pick up the phone and hear, “We would like to interview you for the position of _ _ _ _ _ _ _.”

A woman recently called to tell me just that. She was both excited and frightened—excited because it was an excellent position and highly desirable to her professionally; and frightened because she had recently fumbled on a number of interviews.

“Lucy” had heard about Alumni Career Services’ offer for one hour of free career advice for current members of the University of Utah Alumni Association. With the interview upcoming in three days, she wanted to be prepared, so she e-mailed the job description and her résumé to me. The next morning at 11 a.m. I called her to conduct the interview coaching session over the phone.

Answering Key Interview Questions Like a Pro

Answering key interview questions like a pro is critical to a successful job interview. There are four key components to successfully answering interview questions:

1. Advance preparation.
2. Providing short, concise, specific answers that never exceed 60 seconds.
3. Demonstrating your ability to perform the job.
4. Exhibiting personality traits that brand you as the ideal worker.

Lucy and I first discussed her knowledge of the position for which she was being interviewed and how it fit it into the overall departmental framework. I discovered that she lacked a thorough understanding of the company program. Since the information was readily available on the Internet, she promised to study the Web site to get an understanding of the company context and background.

Due diligence and preparation are critical to convincing the person who is conducting the interview that you understand what the job is about.

I then asked Lucy, most predictably, to “tell me about yourself” and listened patiently for five minutes as she droned on about her life history. My immediate reaction: Forget your life story! Forget every job you’ve ever held! What you must do is capture the employer’s attention immediately, not bore him/her to death.

Lucy and I discussed how she should customize a statement that links key selling points, including specific skills, experience, and strengths into a 60-second commercial or “elevator pitch.”

Whenever possible, in answering questions, give a specific example of how you’ve operated in the past. Employers want assurance you'll be able to do the job. Keep in mind that the ideal worker is productive, gets results, and has a success-oriented, “can do” attitude. He or she is eager to learn, and is flexible and adaptable. Match those traits with some key answers and you will be a noticeable standout from the competition.

Star Response Strategy

One strategy for creating more succinct and less rambling answers is to use the STAR response technique:

S T - Describe the Situation or Task
A - Describe your Actions and Approach
R - Describe the Results

Interviewer: “Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult team situation?”

Your Response:

Situation or Task (ST):

“Our four-person team was tasked with developing models for field operation of our company. The task was to identify initiatives to improve efficiencies using different methods. Two team members focused on one analysis approach while the other two members worked on another method. We had to formulate three initiatives to improve operations.”

“One team member wasn't showing up for meetings, despite constant reminders and encouragement. His lack of participation was affecting team efforts and needed to be resolved quickly.”

Action and Approach (A):

“My approach was to meet with the problem team member in private and explain the team's frustration and how his actions were affecting the project. I asked if there was anything I could do to help. Before taking this action I discussed my intentions with the other team members to get their consensus.”

“The problem team member told me he was burdened with another difficult project. I proposed that we find resources to help him with the other project. He agreed. I also asked him to commit to specific actions toward our project and to attend team meetings.”

Results (R):

“After I found other resources and employees to assist him with his other project, he was able to invest more time on our team's project and focus on specific milestones. The final team result was that we finished our project on time, and presented our recommendations to the company's operations leadership team.”

During the one-hour phone coaching session, Lucy and I went over the main kinds of questions and I explained Behavioral Event Interviewing to her.

Behavioral-Event Interview Questions

The purpose of BEI questions is to solicit evidence or examples of a specific competency or skill you process.

BEI is based on the premise that a person's past behavior is the best predictor of his/her future performance. Interviewers are tasked with predicting the person’s likelihood of success in a given position and use his/her past behavior as one indicator of the individual’s future performance.

BEI questions have two parts, the introduction and the focus. The first part of a BEI question (introduction) are phrases such as...

• “Tell me about a time when you …”
• “Describe a situation when you …”
• “Walk me through a situation where you …”
• "Give me an example of a specific situation when you…"

The second part (focus) involves providing relevant experiences that demonstrate different dimensions of your competencies and skills. Work experience is just one form of experience. If you lack requisite work experience in that arena, highlight other experiences that demonstrate the skills the interviewer is seeking. Evidence of your talents can come in many forms. Projects done in an academic setting, volunteer work, professional associations, and other life experiences each may provide relevant evidence of your abilities.

The Good News

Two days after Lucy’s interview, she phoned me. She sounded excited and delighted. Her interviewers were so impressed with her knowledge, her preparation, and her focused answers that they couldn’t wait to give her the job offer. She thanked me and said that she couldn’t have done it without the coaching.

Hire Coach Julie to Assist You in Your Next Job Interview

Job Interview Coaching, Including Salary Negotiation

Julie’s coaching is comprehensive, with step-by-step strategies and a preparation process that will empower you to enter your interview ready to perform at your very best. You'll have ready-made answers for the toughest interviewer questions. You'll easily convey your valuable strengths, build rapport with the interviewer, and be armed with impressive questions of your own to ask. You'll avoid the mistakes that eliminate many candidates from the positions they seek.

You'll learn to handle the salary issues like a pro as Julie will advise you on how much your skills are worth, the minimum salary you should accept, and how to get the best possible compensation package.

To learn more about Alumni Career Services go to: www.alumni.utah.edu/career

Or phone Julie Swaner, Program Manager, Alumni Career Services
(801) 585-5036.

If you are a current member of the University of Utah Alumni Association you can receive—free—one hour of career advice. Not a member? Click here.