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.