Being A STAR - In My Job Interviews
May 3rd, 2009At the age of fifty-something, I lost my job. My company, here in Oklahoma City, was very pleasant when they notified me that I was not being fired, just laid off. But, you know what?The outcome is the same.The upshot is I am out of a job, idle, not working, and oh I almost forgot, looking for employment.
I began my journey to a new job by updating my resume (there was some dusting off involved but I finally got it ready to go). Next, I got the resume out to as many potential employers as possible.Then, guess what follows getting your quality resume out? That’s right!You are then called in for an interview. Another journey I hadn’t taken in 36 years.
I arrived on time for my first interview (I would hope so!). I sat down with a smiling Human Resources woman who said that she had a few questions for me and she would be taking some notes as I was answering them.
And so we began.She was asking many questions, all of which I was sure I had the answer for. I noticed quickly, however, that she would often re-package the question and toss it back to me, even though I felt I had already answered it. The questions dragged on forever, it seemed. In fact, a lot of the time the “question” didn’t seem like a question at all but rather it was phrased like this, “Give me an example of a time when you …”. I left the interview feeling frustrated and a little unnerved. I was prepared to answer questions like, “Why did you leave your last position?”, “Do you have a strong sales background” or “How often did you figure the sales commissions at your last job?” No such luck! These questions never came up. What were these people looking for anyway? Couldn’t they trust that I would give them 110% if they would just give me a chance? The answer: I guess not!
I went home and, as I had with my resume writing, I looked for information on what makes a good (might I say great?) interview.I would like to share with all of you what I found out. Information that would have been good one short interview ago. Here goes:
Employers want you to answer questions in the STAR format. They will ask you a “question” and they want you to answer it by sharing either a situation or a task that you were involved in (either in a personal situation or at your workplace), then include the actions you took and the results you achieved. Thus the star. So, let’s break it down by including some examples.
1) The first question she asked was, “Give me an example of a job you had where quality and/or accuracy was very important”.
· A possible answer from me should have been (t), “Each month, at my previous job with a furniture store, I calculated the commissions for all of the sales people”. Here I had placed myself squarely in the middle of a task.
· I would then add, (a) “I created an excel work sheet, on the Great Plains software I worked with, that allowed me to input their commissions on a daily basis and have their totals calculated for me by month end”. All right, that’s a strong action, this doesn’t seem so hard.
· And finally, I would finish with, (r) “This saved me time but, most of all it provided a precise accounting of their work and they could be accurately paid”. Great finish with a result that impacted people’s paychecks.This is always a reason to be especially accurate.
2) Let’s try one more example. Another question I was asked, “Tell me about a time you dealt with a frustrated/upset customer”.
(s) “A woman stormed into the furniture company I used to work at complaining about a side lever that had broken off of the new recliner that had just been sold to her. The chair had cost her a fortune and she had been assured it was top quality.”
· (a) “I remained calm while I apologized for this inconvenience and assured her I would do everything I could to help get this resolved.I got out the number for La-Z-Boy and together we called them up.These types of warranty difficulties go through a manufacturer like La-Z-Boy. Arrangements were made to have the part shipped to us and our Service Department would do the repair. I told her that we would be by to pick up the chair that afternoon but the delivery of the part and subsequent repair would take about 3-4 days. Again, I apologized for any inconvenience this would cause her.
· (r) “The woman had composed herself by now and told me that, although it truly was an inconvenience (she had purchased the chair in time for her son’s graduation), she appreciated how quickly and calmly I handled the situation and she would continue coming back to shop at our store in the future.”
Had I answered the questions in my first interview with such thoroughness I know the Human Resources person would not have had to prod me along. Needless to say, I didn’t get that job but I am now armed with all the information I need to be a STAR in my future interviews.