My Top 5 Tips to Succeed in a Job Interview

Ep 93 - My Top 5 Interview Tips

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On Career Clarity Unlocked, we're all about those light bulb moments. I'm talking to people who are still trying to figure out what they're meant to do, coaching them live to reach that magical yes, this is it moment. And we'll also hear from those who've already found their dream careers and figure out exactly how they did it.

Whether you're looking for inspiration or actionable advice on finding a career you love, I've got you covered. Time to unlock some career clarity. Let's dive in

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So let's dive right in. There are five things that are most important to get right in your interview, and we're gonna go through all five of them in detail. The first one is: tell me about yourself. That is the beginning of the interview. You want to start the interview strong. That beginning is so important.

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Third is asking good questions at the end. Then number four is a strong close, and the last piece is sending in your thank you note. So let's walk through all of those. I'm gonna make this as actionable as possible for you. And if you're driving, on a run, on the go, I will have a handout prepared for you that you can download for free so that you don't have to take notes as you're listening to me, and you're gonna have the most important points summarized on there for you.

stion is, is the interviewer [: 00:03:00

and, "Is, is this worth my time? Am I supposed to pay attention here or not?" So that is your make or break. You've got to really practice your tell-me-about-yourself answer, and my handout for this episode has a guide and a worksheet that walks you through how to prep that answer. So first of all, to have a successful tell-me-about-yourself answer, Right away, you want to address the problem that the person hired into this role will be expected to solve. That's what you wanna start off with, because then they are right away like, "Oh, she gets it. She knows why we're hiring for this role."

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Back that up very briefly with a relevant accomplishment, and then tie it back how it applies to this job, and don't forget to put in the passion or excitement that you have for this role. A really common mistake that I saw, I don't even wanna call it a mistake, a really common occurrence that I saw when I was the recruiter and hiring for a lot of roles and interviewing a lot of candidates, was that people get really nervous in interviews.

And if there's demand, let me know. Comment on this episode if you want me to do a separate episode on calming interview nerves, because that is a big deal for a lot of people. It's a super stressful situation. But what it does for a lot of people is it takes out all our excitement and passion, and we become very stoic, and that's not how you wanna show up in an interview.

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" Let's for example take a role, um, at a B Corp that exists because the B Corp needs to be connected with clients and investors.

So that's the problem this role exists to solve. So we start our interview answer with, thanks so much for having me today. I'm really excited for this conversation, especially because I am so passionate about connecting B Corps with clients and investors.

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What is it you want to be known for? For example, "I excel at growing a community through winning others over and building thriving relationships." We don't just wanna show, we wanna tell them how we did that, so adding in a very brief accomplishment. For example, "I expanded a community from seven to a hundred sixty-five residents and increased my company's market share by over two hundred and twenty percent within 14 month."

Now we wanna tie it back to why we're here, to this role, and that might sound like, "This opportunity at ABC B Corp caught my attention because I am so passionate about increasing awareness around innovative solutions to single-use plastic. And with my experience, I am confident that I would make an impact quickly in engaging, connecting, and building relationships with your clients and investors."

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Now you've got their attention. Now moving into the rest of the interview questions. The next thing you want to make sure that you get right are your accomplishment stories. In a lot of interviews, you... in pretty much all interviews, you are going to be asked behavioral interview questions. Behavioral interview questions are questions that ask you to describe your past experience to demonstrate how you handle situations, how you solve problems, how you work with others, or how you achieved results.

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That might all be right and great, but the interviewer cannot see you and picture you actually doing that because what you're telling them is what you do in general. You're not walking them through one specific story. So, in order to prepare for your interviews, identify your top five accomplishments that are relevant to that position you're interviewing for.

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And then turn that into an accomplishment story. For accomplishment stories, um, you often hear the STAR method: situation, task, action, result. I actually prefer the CAR method: challenge, action, result. Three are easier to remember than four, and it is actually much more effective to talk about a challenge than just a task.

ced. You wanna give them the [: 00:10:00

Make sure that you mention the skill here that you identified as one of the, uh, skills they're looking for and that you actually wanna demonstrate in this answer. And then The results you achieved. You wanna tell them the outcome, including any quantifiable results or achievements, if possible. So I'm gonna use an example again to walk you through a CAR story step by step.

So the challenge, the situation or the background at that time, the challenge you faced, and how was that impacting your work, your team, the organization. So one example of how the challenge might sound like is,

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What were the specific steps that you did take? What were the strategies, techniques, methods that you used? Here's an example of how that can sound. I led a community feedback initiative to better understand resident interests and identify barriers to participation. Based on those insights, I developed a targeted engagement campaign that included themed community events and a revamped communication strategy across social media, newsletter, and our website.

f there is this challenge, I [: 00:12:00

I want her to do that for us." And then you bring in the results. What was the result of the action? How did that benefit your organization or your team or the work that you're doing? And are there any quantifiable results or specific achievements? So this can sound like, "Within six months, event attendance increased by thirty-five percent, exceeding our target goals.

wer is like, "Okay, how, how [: 00:13:00

Now, the most common question I get is, what if I don't have any accomplishments, or what if I don't have quantifiable results? Okay, let's talk about that. So let's start with what if I don't have any accomplishments? Okay, if you've never done anything, you've actually just spent your entire life sitting, doing nothing, maybe then you have no accomplishments.

Even then, you probably do something in your mind. Anyway, it's really hard to have no accomplishments. The hard thing is to actually find them. So the number one question you wanna always ask yourself when you think about like, "Oh, does this count as an accomplishment? Is that worth mentioning?"

ybe it was part of your job. [: 00:14:00

Then that is an accomplishment. Your actions led to a different outcome than the outcome that would have happened if you didn't do that. So you've got an accomplishment right there. Now, what if it's not quantifiable? You don't have to quantify every single accomplishment. If you can quantify at least a third of your accomplishments, that is fantastic.

get met? What was the budget [: 00:15:00

How many people or teams were involved or impacted? How many users or customers benefited from the end product? What was the timeline or deadline? Or are there any clear metrics like sales efficiency or user engagement?

The golden rule here is if there are truly no measurable outcomes, then we wanna quantify the environment instead. I'll give you some examples. So instead of saying, "I helped streamline internal processes", you wanna think about how many internal teams were involved in that, and then you can communicate it as standardized operational procedures across five plus internal teams, and so on.

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I don't remember, was it 27, 29? Not quite sure, but I can confidently stand behind it was more than 25." Perfect. You use 25 plus. Or another example, coordinated product launch activities. Eh, it doesn't sound like that much on a resume. But if you turn that into supported launch readiness for customer facing platforms, updates used by 1,000 plus end users, coordinating timelines across four departments, now we're talking.

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So those are examples where you can add in metrics without having the actual number or where you have a clearly quantifiable outcome, and yet we have numbers and a really strong accomplishment.

Now that we have your interview answers nailed down to a T, you have your CAR stories that you're gonna go into the interview with, and then when you're asked a question, you just have to pick which story is most relevant to that and share that with the interviewer in the challenge, action, result format The third really important piece on nailing your job interview is to ask questions at the end.

me to ask questions, they're [: 00:18:00

That's impossible. Anywhere I'm gonna be going for forty hours every week, I have a lot of questions, a lot, and you barely know anything from the job description or maybe the company website, and this is your opportunity to learn. It's a two-way street, an interview. Just how much they're assessing you, you're assessing them to see if there is a mutual fit.

And asking questions really [: 00:19:00

There are three types of questions that I highly recommend asking. . The first question I recommend asking is one that demonstrates your interest in the position.

You can, for example, ask about the challenges that you might anticipate in this role. The second question I recommend asking is s- a question that demonstrates your drive to excel in that role. What can you ask that doesn't just show you wanna do the job, but that you want to take the job to the next level? Ask questions about where there are opportunities for improvement. Can you use new technology? Where's that team going? This is your opportunity to really show your forward and strategic thinking.

he company. You wanna add in [: 00:20:00

All right. That was point three, ask questions. At the end of the questions, we need to close that interview strong. You do not want to say, if they ask, like, "Do you have any more questions?" You'd be like, "No, I asked my three questions. I'm good. Thank you." End of the interview. No, no, no.

closing statement prepared. [: 00:21:00

So for example, you wanna say, if they ask, "Do you have any more questions?" You say, "No, thank you. Um, it was super insightful to hear your answers on the questions I just asked. At this point, I don't have any further questions, but I do wanna thank you so much for the opportunity to discuss this exciting role" I am really passionate about designing innovative, science-backed digital learning solutions that drive sustainable behavior and personal growth.

is that I'm not just excited [: 00:22:00

I am confident that my proven ability to craft transformative learning experiences makes me an ideal candidate to help your company achieve its vision of human transformation. Did you hear what I just did there?

I thanked them. I expressed how excited I am. I reminded them what makes me unique, what is my superpower. I told them h- that I know what their problem is, and that I am the one to solve their problem. And I tied it all back to their company's mission. Now, when you leave that interview, they're gonna be like, "Wow, that was good."

, it was sending a thank you [: 00:23:00

So you sending a thank you note makes you really, really stand out. So as soon as the interview is over, I want you to take notes about what you learned in that interview, because you're gonna need those notes to write your thank you note, and it's still fresh in your mind. So after the interview, take a deep breath, get a sip of water, relax for a minute, and then take notes about what you wanna remember after the interview.

ow excited you are about the [: 00:24:00

When you're thinking about, and I'm bringing in a different example here outside of the hiring process, but when you're thinking about sales, marketing. A marketing department always wants to bring the product they want you to buy in front of you as many times as possible, because you're not gonna buy the first time you see or hear about it.

There is a similar approach to that in the hiring process. You don't wanna be overly annoying, obviously, but you want to keep reminding them about you and the value you bring so that you stay top of their mind, and a thank you note does exactly that. They might interview 10 people that day, and the last thing at the day they get your thank you email, they're like, "Oh, yeah, she was really awesome.

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Now, those were my five top tips to succeed in a job interview. We'll summarize here. Tell me about yourself. Start the interview strong with a solid tell me about yourself answer that introduces you and tells them right away that you are the solution to their problem. Then have your CAR, your CAR stories prepared, challenge, action, result, that showcase the skills you want to be known for.

citement for the role you're [: 00:26:00

So the golden rule for following up on your interview is if the interviewer provided a timeline, so they said, " we're gonna get back to you next Tuesday", your follow-up date is gonna be two days after the date they told you. So if they say, "You're gonna hear from us next Tuesday", if you have not heard by Thursday, you're gonna send a follow-up message.

xt steps. Hopefully with all [: 00:27:00

I had a client who interviewed for a role at a higher ed institution and was rejected for that role. She was really heartbroken. We got together and sent an email to that hiring manager, being very, very graceful about the rejection. We started us off as, "Thank you so much for your thoughtful message regarding this role.

a culture of excellence and [: 00:28:00

And then we tell them that we're still interested. "I remain very interested in the direction the company is moving toward, and I'm keen to find a role that aligns more closely with my expertise in," whatever that is, "where I can contribute to the organization's mission." And that's where we made an ask.

And that ask that's gonna come next is what turned into a job offer. The next paragraph we wrote in this email is, "Could you possibly recommend someone within your organization with whom I could have an informational conversation about future opportunities that might be more closely aligned with my background?"

ent. That person interviewed [: 00:29:00

Within a month, she had a job offer. That's how you can even turn a rejection into a job offer. And as a bonus, I will provide you with this email template in your download for this podcast episode. And I know right now the job market is tough. There's a lot of competition, but I also know there's gonna be the right opportunity out there for you.

With all those tips and tricks that you've learned in this episode, you are equipped to handle interviews and really set yourself apart from others and show them that you are the candidate that deserves the chance and the opportunity. And also remember that in the end, you just need one yes that can potentially change the entire trajectory of your career and maybe even your life.

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Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Career Clarity Unlocked. I hope to see you back here next week.

And until then, please remember that you have agency. You can be in the driver's seat of your career. If it doesn't feel this way, get into the driver's seat now. Take charge of your career. Focus on where you want to go and what is the best way to get there. And I'll see you back here next week on Career Clarity Unlocked.

And that's a wrap for today's episode of Career Clarity Unlocked. If you're feeling stuck in that what's next spiral and are ready to finally break free, let's chat. You can book your free career clarity call, where we'll uncover what's really important to you, tackle any obstacles holding you back, and map out your best next step.

loomcoaching.com. And before [: 00:31:00

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