Quantifying Qualities

Interviewers use different interviewing techniques to sift out information to aid them in making the hiring decision. One of which is to ask candidates behavioral-based questions, such as describing a situation whereby your decision was challenged. This style of questioning allows interviewers to understand the situation and your course of action, from which they assess your skills. However, the assessment does not account for your inability to verbalize your thoughts and situation accurately which may cause you to lose this job opportunity. So how can you verbalize and demonstrate your qualities effectively?

The only way to do that is to prepare for it. Do your research about the company and the position that you applied for. Analyze the job description to identify the competencies required to do the job. Think of how your accomplishments and highlights of your previous employment can showcase these competencies and prepare it according to the STAR approach. Use the same few examples to demonstrate the different qualities in you. The more you prepare, the more confident you will be, enabling you to approach the questions tactfully at ease, adjusting and modifying the way you answer according to the interviewers' response and reaction.

STAR Approach:

• Situation / Task

Describe the situation or the task that you need to accomplish in details. If it's a situational question, what was the situation? How did you feel? What were your thoughts? Why did that happen? If it's a task, what were the objectives? What are your challenges? What are your options? Make sure that enough details is given for the interviewer to understand and visualize the actual situation / task.

• Action

Describe the action you took and the rationale behind it. Make sure the "How", "What", "Why" were explained adequately. Make sure you focus on the particular situation / task that you described.

• Result

Analyze the results of your actions. Were the objectives achieved? Why did that happened? Is there anything that you would do differently now? How can you do it better?

The STAR approach is an effective way for you to prove your capabilities and to provide evidence to show that. However, you need to substantiate it with a good case to support your stand. Let me know if you have other tips.

3 secrets you don't think your interviewers know

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Have you been to a interview lately and felt great about it?
Every question came out exactly how you prepared for it but you were not selected for that position and you are probably wondering why?

Bear in mind, interviewers were candidates before too. We know that you are going to prepare yourself and tell us how wonderful it is to have you. Besides, we know what you came here for and how you are going to do it. Here are 3 things maybe you don't think that we know:

1. You are tensed. You want to put on your best self, look good, answer properly and leave a lasting impression. So you are cautious about your words and actions. Therefore we will smile regardless of your answers and actions, make you feel that you did well and try to be your best friend for the next 1 to 2 hours so you will let your guard down and tell us everything that we want to know.


2. 90% of you came for our offer. You don't come for the interview to know more about the company and see if we are suitable for each other. So you are going to tell us what you think we want to hear. There may be a few trick questions here and there to find out your values and attitude. What we actually want to know is the true you.


3. If we will ask a scenario question, you will probably tell us what you think is the best course of action. Therefore, we prefer to ask you about your past behavior than what you think you will do in the future even though your past behavior may not be an accurate predictor of your future actions. It's because your past behavior would probably be a better reflector of you than what you think you would do. And we will ask you to describe your past encountered situations to make it harder for you to lie.

*We do know your secrets. Don't look at us in a different light, we have a job to do.

5 steps to explain employment gaps

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Are you worried about how to explain your employment gaps? On second thought, don't I deserve a break? If you are surprised why do you even need to explain yourself, you must understand that this is necessary to maximize your chances of landing the job. There is no sure way of getting a job but there is definitely a way of failing it. So don't jeopardize your chances of getting it. Though employment gaps are normal, how you communicate about this gap is going to make a whole lot of difference to your application. There are 5 steps to explain your employment gaps and be sure to address to the 3 most important interview questions:

1. Be Honest

No matter how long was your break and what was the reason for it, be honest. What did you do in between? What was your takeaway? Maybe you stopped for a year to travel, to experience different lifestyle, to take care of your kids, whatever it is, never lie to your prospective employers. At the same time, rationalize the reason for taking the break.

2. Give Assurance

Now that you have explained your reason, what is the possibility of you taking another break soon? For instance, you have a baby. Will you take frequent breaks for your new born? How do you plan to minimize the disruption to your work? Do not wait for them to ask you. Once you explained yourself, go on to present your work plan.

3. Move Forward

After you covered the gap adequately, move the topic forward. Do not hang there or wait for the interviewers to start questioning you. Be sure to be as natural as possible to move to the next topic. A good topic would be, what is your career plan?

4. Show Interest

How can the interviewers be sure that you are ready to commit yourself back to work? How do you present yourself? Are you interested? Eager to get a job? Do you understand your job scope? Tell the interviewers why you applied for this company, this job. This may be a good time to ask some questions too.

5. Focus Suitability

Round it up by focusing on why you are the perfect candidate for this position. Give examples of your past experience in performing on similar jobs. What are the difficult situations you encountered? How did you overcome them? What were your accomplishments in your previous employment?

Interview is 90% on how well you can verbalize your actions, thoughts and accomplishments. Expecting a group of people to know you and your work capabilities within that 1 to 2 hours is impossible. (HR don't have superpowers!) So if you can't communicate well about your employment gap, try following the 5 steps and start preparing now.