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This is Emily, career coach and job search specialist. As a former recruiter, I canโ€™t tell you how many solid candidates Iโ€™ve seen turned down for a role because they interviewed poorly. They might have done an excellent job in the role itself but werenโ€™t able to prove it to the hiring team in the interview.

As a career coach now, I prepare my clients not just to perform their best in the interview, but also to show such a clear match between the role and their background that the company would be foolish to turn them down.

As a New Yearโ€™s gift to you, Iโ€™m sharing my top 4 interview tips. Iโ€™m also offeringย $600 OFF job search coachingย (read on for details).

Tip #1: Relevancy is key.

You could be the best software engineer at your company, but if you focus on your software engineering skills in an interview for a project manager role, youโ€™re not going to get the job. Itโ€™s crucial to focus on the relevant skills you have. If youโ€™re making a career transition, highlight your transferable skills (the skills youโ€™ve already developed that could be applied to your new career path). In the project manager example, maybe youโ€™ve been a software engineer your whole career, but youโ€™re sure to have worked on projects where youโ€™ve had to utilize your time management and cross-functional collaboration skills, two key skills used in project management. Focus your responses on those transferable skills; thatโ€™s what the hiring team cares about.

Tip #2: Use the job description as a cheatsheet.

Donโ€™t worry about having to figure out your transferable skills blindly. Use the job description as a cheatsheet! The job description will tell you exactly what the role requires. Think of it as the hiring managerโ€™s โ€œwishlistโ€. They have a need – a gap to fill – and theyโ€™re using the job description to tell you what their need is. Your job is to highlight your relevant, transferable skills to help them see why youโ€™re the right candidate to fill that gap perfectly. Pro tip: typically bullets in job descriptions are listed in order of importance, with the most important bullet being at the top. So if you had to pick just a few transferable skills to touch on, picking the first few required skills listed is a good way to go.

Tip #3: Use the STAR method.

The STAR method is a very common technique used to respond to behavioral questions. Behavioral interview questions are questions to which youโ€™re expected to give a specific example of past performance as a response. These questions often start with the phrase โ€œTell me about a time whenโ€ฆโ€. When responding to behavioral interview questions, youโ€™ll want to walk the interviewer through your example using the STAR method:

S =ย Situation. State the situation.

T =ย Task. Describe the task you took on.

A =ย Action. Walk the interviewer through the actions you took to complete the task and resolve the situation.

R =ย Results. Highlight the positive results as a way to put a bow on it and complete your response.

Tip #4: Prepare at least 8-10 examples.

Weโ€™ve all had that moment where weโ€™ve been asked a behavioral interview question and we blank on an example. Preparation here is key. I recommend preparing at least 8-10 specific examples. If youโ€™re having trouble coming up with specific examples, consider these questions:

  • What are some of your most significant accomplishments?
  • What are the most successful projects that youโ€™ve worked on (and what results did the project achieve)?
  • In what ways have you had a positive impact?
  • When have you had a conflict with a coworker and worked through it?
  • When have you failed and learned from the failure?
  • When did you fix something that went wrong or broke down?
  • When did you improve something?
  • When did you create a new process or initiative?

Once you have your repository of 8-10 specific examples, make notes of which interview questions each example could be used for. You donโ€™t know what questions youโ€™ll be asked. If you have an example that could be used for multiple types of questions, youโ€™ll be able to utilize your examples regardless of which question is thrown at you. (Just make sure you donโ€™t use the same example more than once in your interview!).

It makes a huge difference to feel prepared and confident going into an interview. If you are feeling shaky or fishing for something to say, things can quickly deteriorate.

$600 OFF job search coaching

If youโ€™re looking for a new job, or even just thinking about what else is out there, job search coaching can help you identify your dream job and go get it.

  • Want help acing your interviews?
  • Want to sculpt your resume so that it positions you as the perfect fit?
  • Want to update your LinkedIn profile so that your online presence attracts the right recruiters?

I can help you do all of the above and then some. Learn more about how job search coaching can help you land your dream job here: https://apaththatfits.com/job-search-coaching.

You can also book a free job search consultation call to talk to me directly about how to get the job you want.

Iโ€™d love to help you make 2022 the year you land your dream job.

Sincerely,

Emily

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