The key to giving good answers is to remember that this is a matching exercise: your evidence for their role.

So when you are asked something that seems vague and open  like: ‘What sort of leadership qualities do you have?’ this is not a cue to deliver a shopping list: for instance, ‘determination, clear-headedness, communication skills, empathy etc, etc’ but an opportunity to give a piece of clear and vivid evidence.  An answer more like: ‘Determination would be top of the list, I think. And in 2012, when our department reorganized I needed every ounce of it. We lost 4 jobs and but 2 of them were still required in truth. So I…( rest of your AAA)’.

You are on a quest in an interview to show these AAAs in an appropriate way as possible. Where you do not understand a question then clarify: ‘Are you asking me about…?’

There is something that feels like a ‘right length’ to an answer.

Rehearse your questions and answers aloud, again with someone, or recording yourself and you playing both roles. (It is very useful to get outside feedback on this if you can). Ask the person to let you know: ‘Is there anything you would like to have heard more or less about in my answer please?.’

Introverts can tend to answer in an overly-succinct manner, coming right to the point, to the extent that they risk sounding terse or unhelpful. So if you know you have this tendency, make sure you have many and full examples in your AAAs to be added in to your incisive declarations. Extraverts can tend to wonder off the subject, and keep talking to maintain relationship as much as to provide targeted and helpful information in their answers. If you know you have this tendency, rehearse answers as linear sequences, being sure to take your answers from A to B to C.

There is a format that can neatly package up an answer: a sandwich technique.

Asked ‘What sort of leadership qualities do you have?’ You answer top slice: ‘Determination to see things through I think would be top of the list. Then your filling: ‘And in 2008, when our department reorganized (your AAA) Then bottom slice: ‘So yes, determination would be the top leadership quality’

This format works well as Intee hears something clearly shaped and knows exactly when you’ve finished. They’re not sitting there unsure if you going to continue or not. And the top and bottom statement (slice) repeat your overview in the answer.

A final point on answers. If you’re asked whether you have any questions, it is always better to have one. This after all, is a conversation leading to greater engagement you hope. Positive, but uncontroversial areas, include potential in the job, training opportunities, future plans generally of the enterprise. Your aim again being  to plant an image of you in that future, in the Intee’s mind.
Your Secret Ingredient

For a final time now, I’d like to you to leap into your Intee avatar. You’ve got the processes, procedures and paper work of your interview ready. You know the day will be tiring – listening and attending hard can be exhausting – and there may be disagreements with other people on the panel about decisions.
What Will Lift Your Spirits?
Can I suggest the candidate that offers reassurance, hope and potential? Intee may not be aware that this is what their preferred candidate offers – the effect may be completely unconscious – but these qualities are profound.
On our Employability courses at university, we have unofficially tracked candidates who have got immediate and, or several job offers. They are candidates who show distinctive behaviors over our three days together:

• they ask questions in and out of the group sessions. They pester at coffee breaks for individual advice.
• they seek to match our content to their needs and to create a practical plan for themselves
• they are especially keen to learn, notably attentive and enthusiastic, driven to get themselves in best shape possible for the job market.They show more energy and purpose than their peer group.

My totally unscientific thesis is that Intee employers spot this hunger and know in their water than these are good bets as employees: they spot, above all else, they are enthusiastic and fast learners.A more scientific explanation can be read here, at mindset online where a ‘growth mindset’ is described and illustrated as contrasted ‘fixed’ one.
Coach Yourself

Now I understand that some of you may be reading this feeling utterly demoralized by how difficult it is to get an interview and how much competition there is in the job market. Not only can viewing yourself a learner help you succeed in an interview, it can also help you through times of great uncertainty. So to coach yourself through job search and interviews, remember to do the following:

• Ask yourself daily and certainly after every interview ‘what went well and what could I have done differently?’
• Get friends and family involved in your quest and urge them to make constructive suggestions.
• You are not just a job role. You are a full and vital human being who may not just have been lucky enough to find and match themselves to the right job slot.

Please remember this. There is a video and pdf with exercises to go with this book at mrsmotivator. And there are other books in this series which may appeal: You Talk We Listen and Your Blog Voice, with more titles in the pipeline.

But for now remember: no one ever practiced too much for an interview and it’s not YOU who won’t get it, it’s your FIT.

Very best wishes to you – and good luck.

Copyright Philippa Davies 2011 Please tweet me here.