2. Practice answering interview questions
It is very important to be well prepared for your interview with the company. Some very common questions almost all interviewers ask are:
- Tell us about yourself
- Tell us about your strengths and weaknesses
- Why should we hire you?
We will discuss how you can answer these questions later in the module.
It is important to note that you will have to use your interview to demonstrate your skills and abilities, this is where you have to use your past experiences to demonstrate relevant required experiences for the job you applied for. You may have to show when you have been able to drive results, demonstrate leadership, overcome challenges etc during your interview.
Key storytelling framework, STAR, may be relevant here:
- S - Situation
- T - Task
- A - Action
- R - Result
An example of the framework is as follows:
Questions asked by the recruiter/employer: Describe a situation where you have had to demonstrate leadership skills in school or at work.
- Situation:
- Describe the challenge you encountered and the important details the interviewer(s) should know about: ‘In my role as part of the community service club for my school, we had a situation where we were supposed to deliver an event on mental health awareness. We were working on a tight budget and deadline and one of our sponsors had to pull out of the event due to sudden changes in their internal priorities.’
- Task:
- Tell the interviewer about the responsibility that helped you rise above the challenge: ‘My role was to ensure enough funds were present to help us execute the event in a timely and orderly manner. The sponsor pulling out of the event left us in a positon of bother as this left us short of funds for the event.’
- Action:
- Explain what steps you took to complete the task before deadline: ‘I personally went to the offices of 3 potential partners and asked for a meeting so that I could pitch the event. I also encouraged my team to reach out to as many companies/people as possible to find new partners because we had a very short time to pool the funds for the event’.
- Result:
- Define the results you were able to achieve because of your action. Where possible, use numbers and examples to further strengthen your case: ‘By the end of the week, we were able to sign on a new partner and we built relationships with 2 further potential partners who later expressed interest and worked with us on a different event during the school year.’
If possible, ask feedback on your answers from a mentor or a friend who has gone through similar processes. Constructive criticism and feedback will help you continuously improve.