The ULTIMATE GUIDE to TOP 10 Job Interview Questions & Answers

tell me about yourself it is the one question you are guaranteed to be asked in an interview and yet so many people waste the answer on that question when it's the one that they could make the most compelling case for why they're a good fit for the job today I'm going to show you how to strategically answer this question how to prepare for it and make sure you stay till the end because we'll talk about some common concerns like how personal should you really get this question should be focused on work now we'll talk about the personal part later but the main focus should be your work journey any experiences from the past that led you to why you are in the room today so make sure it ends with why you're sitting in that chair your answers should be about three to seven minutes long some people say five to seven I think it depends on the position and how much past experience you've had yes they have your resume in front of them but they want to hear a little more about some of those things and the stories that go with it so you can go a little bit deeper you're not going to give every detail of every situation so just hit the highlights talk about the job the position you had there and what you did that matters to this position you're sitting in the room for it today alright so how to prepare a little story time first I used to work in casting game shows and I had to ask this question 50 times a day tell me about yourself the first question you're gonna ask tell me about yourself and people do not know how to answer it they sit there nope well that's a loaded question really I just want to know about you and if you don't practice it for some reason it is super hard for us to figure out what do we want to say about ourselves for complicated creatures so we've got to practice ahead of time focusing on a strategic message that we want to get when someone asks us that question especially in an interview all right so to prepare and not vomit like the people do when casting game shows you want to go through your past positions write a past position write a highlight experience from that and what from matters to the job you're sitting in the room for today use that Job Description that they gave you that you use when you applied use that to make connections between you and your past experiences and like I said before you want to hit highlights only because obviously you're sitting in the interview they are going to go deeper on some of these things and ask you more questions where you're going to talk further in length probably about some of these experiences so you just want to hit a highlight or two because this is your chance to show hey these are the experiences I've had and why I think they matter to you and to this position it's a great chance to get things on paper that maybe you're afraid they might not ask you about but you think could be relevant so as I said before this is your one chance to make a compelling case well it's the one chance you know you have to make a compelling case of wire great fit for the position so take those bullet points and I tend to put them on an index card I take each job or each position and what firm it connects to the job and kind of bullet point them is to formulate my answer and then don't forget why are you sitting in the room today now sometimes this question does come up tell me about yourself and why your interest in the position and sometimes ask tell me about yourself and then they'll follow up afterwards why are you interest in the position so if they just say tell me about yourself give a sentence answer of why you're interested and then just be prepared that they may ask you to dive deeper on that as question number two but you want to end on why you're sitting in that room that day so because of all this past experience I think it is prepped me that I am now qualified to take on the role of manager or my past experience working in these teams taught me how to manage a group and so that is why I'm excited to take that into action in this position right I don't know it's up to you you have to decide what that's going to be but figure out how it connects Q today and then don't forget you also want to use this to talk about their mission their values maybe there's something there that you want to share as well and I'm excited for this position because I've only worked in this environment over here but now I want to work with the company that aligns with my mission and values my personal Michigan values and so I know that your company really you know cares about let's say environmentalism or making everybody feel included and that aligns with my personal values as well something like that basically your answer to this question is your personal statement of who you are and why you were ready for this position so think about it in those terms don't forget when you have to go deeper on all those other questions those will most likely happen in behavioral questions and I've created a video for you on those I'll put a card to it here and a link in the description box below and just because you wrote down those bullet points you are not done you now need to practice don't just go through it in your head it's really easy to look at that card or look at that piece of paper and read it in your head as if it's flowing as a conversation and then try and say it out loud it tends to go south the first time but good you're home alone who cares you want south at home now you can practice it until it flows until those words come clearly and the transitions move together well and then you're going to give a great poised answer to that question so the biggest question or concern I got with this tell me about yourself statement is how personal should I get now overall it should be focused towards your work so this is not the time to say I love long walks on the beach or I'm obsessed with comic books unless you're interviewing at Marvel so if something personal about you really relates to the position or why you want to work at that company then please bring it up if it's at Marvel and you love comic books don't just say oh I really love comics prove it to me say I have every issue of x-men ever created and I save all my money every to go to San Diego comic-con even though it's gone totally mainstream I'm still a fan right like whatever it is but if it goes to them share it some people will tell you you should never answer this question with your personal life but I think there are places where it can have a fit and where the interviewer actually does want to know just more about you as a person so share some of those personal details but as I said before make sure they're related to the job maybe it's something of your fandom for this company or this industry and maybe it has to do with their values and how they align with yours and how you've done all this small in tier work in this area or this is a cause that you want to get behind that you learned about just last year like anything like that relates to the position the other way I see it coming out is if you have a lot of volunteer experience or something with church like you want it you're interviewing for an event planning job and you've never done event planning professionally paid but you've organized every youth group retreat for the last four years you gotta bring it up right so I would share it in those cases just make sure those things are saying are relevant to the position it's not just a one-off like oh yeah and in my free time I made YouTube videos okay so to recap the answer to tell me about yourself should be strategically crafted to highlight how past work experiences have brought you to the point of why you are sitting in the room today you should prepare by going through your work history and finding those stories and highlighting experiences that have prepared you for this new position and lastly it's okay to get personal at times as long as it's related to the company or the position you're interviewing for have you ever been asked in an interview tell me about a time you've had to deal with the conflict at work or tell me about a time they were compromising priorities on the job and you had to figure out what went first well those are called behavioral interview questions they are a favorite among recruiters and hiring managers and they are not always the easiest to answer if you haven't given it some preparation so today I'm going to show you the right way to answer behavioral questions how to figure out what behavioral questions they'll probably ask you and make sure you stay till the end because I will give you my bonus tip on how to answer the secret question that is often hidden within behavioral questions okay so first off what are be a girl questions so behavioral questions are any of those questions I can't say more questions today guys any of those questions that start off with tell me about a time when or describe a situation where they often lead to more conversational interviewing and they are a chance for an interviewer to see your thought process behind why you did what you did behavioral questions are really hard to answer if you haven't given it some forethought but how do you know what behavioral questions they'll ask you well you need to look at the job description the questions are gonna ask are most likely related to what is on that job description when you apply for the position so hopefully you save go through the job description line by line and see what categories are listed does the job ask for teamwork for managing multiple priorities or multitasking for communication skills look at each of those categories find each of those categories and now find a story from your past experiences that aligns with each of those so there is a right way to answer behavioral question and fun fact one time I spent 20 minutes take a second and take that in 20 minutes answering a behavioral question because I didn't know the right way to answer it and I rambled and rambled trying to dig myself out of a hole to explain this situation so don't be me let me help you there is a great method called the star method that will help you answer these questions well star is an acronym and it stands for situation task action results the star method is awesome because it helps stay on track so you don't ramble plus it will give you clear and concise answers of the method you use and the transformation that happen from what you did so if somebody says tell me about a time when and a certain experience you're going to give the situation and the task of where that occurrence happened what the situation was around it what the task was that you were given then you're gonna give the action you took on that to everyone they think to a lot of candidates I should say they think this is the meat of it like oh this is the part that matters I took action so if it was dealing with conflict in a group and you had a group project you were working on or working on a team and a job and somebody wasn't pulling their weight in the action you're gonna talk about what you did to help that person along or how you went and talked to them and figure it out how you could work together right people think that's the most important part you need to talk about it please don't forget the are the result this is the most important part you want to give what happened after so let's say it is that you had a conflict with someone and you went and talked to that I'm in a major case and trying to make them feel heard a lot of people will stop there be like and I made them feel heard what did they say did they feel hurt did they come join the team again did they get their part of the work done have you worked successfully together ever since let me know the result so and from that meeting he and I had a great relationship from there on and we've actually partnered on three more projects that is what shows change and transformation so you want to make sure you're showing that result so here's another example let's say they asked tell us about a time you had to make a split-second decision you want to make a decision right in the moment you've prepared you saw it set in the job description you must be able to make quick decisions or think on your feet you were ready for this question so you're going to give this situation and the task sometimes days blur together situation tasks kind of goes so you could say well I was at my job at at Panera and my manager had just stepped out on break and a woman came up to the counter complaining that her food was ice cold and she brought it up to me and I saw there were even pieces of ice in it this happened to me once there were even pieces of ice in the salad it was just way way too cold obviously no one could eat that so normally that is something my manager would take care of if he were there I would have to go to him and say hey this woman had a cold salad can i refund her money but since he was on break I needed to think for myself and I decided you know what I'd rather take the heat from manager if I did the wrong thing and they can just take the money out of my paycheck but I apologized to the woman I got a new order for her made sure the salad was the right temperature and refunded her money and also gave her a coupon for next time because she was just so beyond upset and so most people will stop there so that was the situation the task and the action but now you've got to give me the result what did the manager say did they like what you did what happened so don't forget that result and what my manager came back I filled him in on the situation and he said I made the right call and actually complimented me on my skills to take initiative and make sure our customer was happy and she actually has come back multiple times since so she seemed satisfied with the service that's it but if you didn't practice this beforehand you could be rambling a good long time giving away too much description in this story talking way too long about how you can know what you did so as long as you focus on that situation task action result you should be good okay so bonus tip time that one little piece of advice that will seal the deal for you on these questions ask for clarification so they ask you the whole long question tell me about a time when you had to deal with the conflict on the job with another code so you start talking start giving the situation in the task and then stop and say if this along the lines of what you're looking for they want to see that you are good with feedback and that you're making sure you're always on track with what you're doing I have heard about this from multiple recruiters that they want you to ask this question they want you to ask for clarification so even at the beginning if you're not sure if they want the question to go this way or this way ask for clarification say oh are you looking for something related more to this area of the job or this area of the job if it's a little ambiguous it's okay to ask for that clarification and it actually can really impress the person you're sitting across from so to recap behavioral interview questions can be quite difficult to answer if you haven't prepared ahead of time but if you use that job description and go through line by line you can figure out what they're going to ask you and then you can use the star method to take your stories and put them into clear and concise answers and don't forget you know ask that question at the end is this what you were looking for or could I get some clarification on which direction you'd like me to go with that and it'll show your awesome feedback skills in the process of giving great yeah what's your biggest weakness it's one of those questions people love to ask in interviews but we may not be quite as excited to answer it so today I am going to show you the old-school advice that just needs to go away on how to answer this question and then I will show you the proper way to answer it and I'll even give you a formula of how to answer it and some sample answers to make this one just a little bit easier than it probably seems right now the wrong way to answer this question and that is the old-school advice of turn a weakness into a strength or disguise a strength that's a weakness whatever these are those answers like I'm just such a workaholic I just have no idea do work/life balance basically saying like yeah yeah yeah I'll work for you all the time and I'll get all my work done or I get so caught up in the details I just care about the nitty-gritty so much great you have strong attention to detail here's the thing with those types of answers people see through it we've all read this advice we've all seen it somewhere everyone knows you're trying to disguise a strength as a weakness now I do think and we'll talk about a little later in an example I do think there are certain things that are strengths and situations and weaknesses and others and what you want to give for a weakness probably will be situational just know that that goes into the right way to answer this question for the what's your biggest weakness question number one you're not going to give your biggest weakness and you are not going to give a weakness that is directly related to what you are doing but you are going to give an actual weakness this feels hard this feels like you're laying your cards on the table right but they want to see that you're self-aware and know you're not perfect so what you want to do is you want to give an actual weakness but one that is not directly related to what you are doing so for example if you're in sales you are not gonna say oh my biggest weakness is that I'm kind of shy and I just have a real hard time approaching new people that's not gonna work that's the core of that job is to go talk to new and different people so it doesn't work for that you have to think relative to your situation what is something you're not great at and then you're gonna talk about how you're working on it so that is the formula essentially state your weakness how it affects your work or your life in some way and is is a weakness in situations and then don't forget you're going to finish on how you're working on it right now one of the best answers I ever heard for this was from a client who's actually an animator who worked in the animation studio she was very soft-spoken it wasn't surprising when she said well my weakness is that I'm very shy and highly introverted two things that are totally fine to be when you're an animator it's pretty independent job in most situations you're off at your desk drawing by yourself but she said I realized this is a weakness because I'm not really connected at work I don't know everyone as well as I could so I decided that instead of eating lunch by myself I would go up and sit with other animators for lunch each day and from that it's been great I've met friends I've learned new skills because I've heard more of their process and how they do things and so it's really improved my animation as a result as well and I'm going to continue trying to get out of my shell a little bit and meet new people it's a great answer it's not affecting the core of her work she can still do her job but she showed how life got just a little bit better by working on that weakness my go-to answer is very situational I am an external processor and I have an opinion on everything in certain cases that's great a little brainstorm like crazy but my answer to this question is always well I'm an external processor I'm very opinionated and I don't mind sharing opinions because I like bouncing off people that way however I realized it can look overbearing or a little too much when in every meeting when a questions asked I'm the first to share my opinion and I can see where that gets hard for others who maybe needed a moment to internally process and think through their answer and maybe wanted to share something else but feel like they now can't because of that I know intentionally do not answer first in meetings and I give people a breath and I wait and try and hear a couple of people's answers before giving my own that's it it doesn't say oh I'm a horrible person but it's something I realized I need to work on because I want to make sure other people have the opportunity to feel hurt as well it's not gonna affect my day to day in my work but it does show some growth which is something you want to prove to this hired manager okay so to recap answering the tell me your biggest weakness question it takes a little practice but it can be done to answer it don't share a strength disguised weakness but instead share weakness that's situational and will not affect the day-to-day work of your job is hired and please don't forget to share how you've been working on it and the improvement that you've seen why are you interested in working here should be one of the easiest questions to answer when going on a job interview but yet we can still mess it up in this video I will give you the main points you want to cover and how to answer why are you interested in this position do you want to work here or why are you interested in this position well there are some key things you need to do there's actually three so number one you're going to connect your past experience to this experience number two you're going to show you did your research on the company number three you are going to demonstrate your excitement or enthusiasm for the position so first your answer needs to connect past experiences to this position so kind of similar to what you did and tell me about yourself you are going to need to think through what things have you done in the past but give specific situations that represent what you could do for them in this position in the future and the key on this is you have to be specific so even if it's something like they need someone to run social media you need to not just say oh I can do social media for you I did it for my club you're gonna say well I know in this position I would be handling the social media accounts and trying to grow our numbers there in my organization on campus I was actually in charge of all our social media and I increased our followers by 50% and I also therefore increased our membership in the club by 25% those are the good numbers and then tell them remember it's why are you interested in working here so not just qualifications add to that the enthusiasm piece that we talked about third but a little hint of it here make sure you say you really enjoy doing social media but give that specific example okay so even if this is like a stretch job something that's kind of the next step up in your career journey and you haven't maybe done exactly that before talk about what you've done that led up to this moment that you think maybe you prepared to take this next step so for example if it's a management position and you've never been an official manager before but you were the lead during all your shifts at your part-time job for the last year that counts talk about the leadership skills you gained from that and how you're ready to move to this next step so really on this you have to prepare ahead of time and think what are the key things that I want them to know I've done that qualify me for this position and then you need a correlate for them why those things matter we think people are always going to be tracking with us and know exactly why we're telling them what we're telling them but they don't know you have to finish by making that connection so even with the social media example that's why you can't just say oh I did social media before and I do social media here well the question was why are you interested so it needs to be more than just I did this thing and it qualifies it's and I like doing that thing and I'd be excited to do more of it so your answer to this question is the one where you also get to show that you have done your research on the company the department the division etc and you're excited to work for a company such as this one so truly in your prep be asking yourself why am i excited to work for this company why do they interest me are they a leader in the industry are they super innovative did you read their HR culture page and you know that they treat people like people including their employees like what about them excites you you want to make sure you state that in your answer you don't just say like one I know this is a great company to work for it no talk about what really matters to you you can get a professionally personal on this one don't go too deep you know you're not gonna say oh I love that you have tons of sick time because I actually get sick a lot like no but you can talk about the fact that you know I love that you're a really innovative company and you're not afraid to try something new and that's really important to me because I like taking on new challenges and trying things and I know they're not all work but I like having the room to fail and try if that aligns with that company's mission oh that's gonna be a great answer now if they're like we're traditional and like we like doing things the right way the first time probably not the answer you're gonna give so be reading and researching about the company and drop that knowledge in this answer and then lastly you have to show some enthusiasm when you're answering this question you have to let them know you actually are interested in the position it's a shocking thing people on the interviewer I mean on the interviewee side often think well I'm in the room interviewing so isn't it obvious I want the position but it's really not you could be there for a myriad of reasons and so you need to let them know I am excited and interested this in this position and here's why I always say like when you answer this question your eyes should light up a little bit because you're excited to work there when we talk about things we're excited about our eyes light up you want me to talk about ice coffee eyes light up you want me to talk about Top Chef let's go eyes light up like when we talk about what we like we get excited we get a little more vibrant in our face so make sure that you actually say the words that you're interested in the position and your face shows it your body language shows it we're interested we lean forward our eyes smize right so keep that going throughout your answer to this question why should we hire you I will be honest I think this is one of the most loaded questions in an interview it is right up there with what's your greatest weakness but doesn't mean you don't have to answer it if you practice and strategize I promise you can have a great answer to this question that directly relates you to the position and puts you above every other candidate I should we hire you is a slightly nuanced different version of why are you interested in this position they sound similar they are different questions now if you need help with how to answer why are you interested in this position I did a whole video about it you can find it in the card here and I'll put it in the description box below but now let's get into why should we hire you answering the question why should we hire you is your opportunity to give your unique value proposition to the company yes your unique value proposition mm-hmm so basically you want to show what makes you stand out from other candidates what makes you uniquely qualified for the position this means during your interview prep you need to really research the company the department the position go through and take notes what are they looking for that you think most candidates won't have that you have I mean it's a known fact that very rarely does anybody fit all the qualifications in a job description and there's some that are probably a little more wish list item than others so look for those and if you have them this is where we start it and go okay I'm gonna talk about that so for example I will use myself I work as a career counselor at a college with all students that are looking at communications fields a lot of those wanting to go into entertainment and when I looked at the job description for this position they were looking for someone who had career background like had worked in a Career Center before had a degree in higher education but in the like additional qualities section it said you know would love a background in film television etc now how many people have a master's in higher education and have worked in entertainment before let me tell you very field so I know immediately I am going to be a highly qualified candidate for this position above others because I have this weird skillset that most people aren't going to have I had my master's in higher education I had worked in a Career Center at a college for a year and oh yeah I worked in television for 10 years so what a weird set of skills to end up bringing but it made me really unique and great for the position so your this question should hit on some of those key qualities they're looking for in a candidate but you should also give that little extra like hey on top of these things here's where I think I can go above and beyond all the other candidates no you don't need to say all the other candidates but think about the ways that you can go above and beyond and share that and it should be based on your skills now I know you might be sitting here going well what if I don't have any unique skills like what if this is kind of the next step in my career and I I have the basic qualifications but nothing that makes me unique well this is when we need to share our passion okay this is when you're gonna say I know you are looking for somebody who can do the job and I think my answers on these questions have shown I can do the job but I want you to know it's not that I can just do the job I am passionate about this job and then tell them why people love to just go and I'm really passionate about this job oh wow I believe you know your eyes should light up a little bit you should be giving them clear facts of what makes you passionate so if this is your dream company and they create a magazine tell them how you have read that magazine every month since you were 12 like you've got to back it up with why you're passionate about the company or about the position tell them how you love getting into project management and why you think it's good for you or whatever the thing is but give an example and that's really key whether it is passion or unique qualities qualifications you have from the past you have to give examples in either case you can't just say like let's say it's something where you realize the company doesn't really have any social media and you've done social media for the last two years in your last position and you think that's something extra you could bring to this position on top of the qualifications and the job description you're not just gonna say oh yeah I think I'm unique because on top of these things that you want I could also run your social media no you're gonna say well for the last two years I ran the social media at my last company or at my current company and in that time I you know increased our followers by bla-bla-bla numbers and impressions by such-and-such percentages and I'd be really happy to do that for this company as well on top of the things listed in that job description so an example was given so examples are key problems I already talked about weakness it but today we are going to talk about the opposite end that interview question what are your strengths so I still see this question asked in interviews a lot I've actually asked it in interviews and I will say shockingly it's one that I see answered really poorly most of the time so today we're gonna talk about the right way to answer this question so that you get better careers through practical tips to gain confidence let's get started here's the mistake I see made a lot with this question as I said in the intro I use this one all the time especially with college students and I will ask what's your strength and they will tend to just list off for me a bunch of a bunch of words a bunch of strengths so what's your strength oh you know I'm really organized and I have like really good time management skills and I think yeah I'm a leader okay cool like can can you expand upon any of those things you can't just say that right you have to demonstrate it for me it's similar to why we can't put soft skills on the skills section of a resume if you said what's your strength and I just said oh I'm hilarious you'd be like you can't just say you're hilarious like you gotta tell jokes and stuff so I can decide you're hilarious but yet people all the time think they can just say well communication and we're gonna believe it so here that's what not to do let's talk about what to do so the overall best way to do this is to name the strengths give an example of how you're doing it in your current position how you've used it before and how you will use it in the future in job so first you're naming the strength and you really want to think about this ahead of time right just like everything else we prepare so look at that job description and see what are the strengths that you have based on that job description jot down one or two now think of an example of how you've done that thing in your current position or if we're not currently working how are you doing that in your life at this moment or in a volunteer position anywhere where there's a great example think of that then try and think of another place to use that maybe you used it in a different way so let's go with communication let's see in your current role you have to do a lot of presentations so you're gonna talk about your communication skills and how you use that in giving information to large groups but before this I worked in a job where I worked one-on-one with people and so I really worked on my interpersonal communication skills there so you're gonna give how you're currently using it and then how you used it in the past even if it's the same way talk about how you used it before just just strengthened the strengths so you're gonna strengthen the effect of that skill so not only have I communicated in this position but I've been doing this for years because I also did it in this other position and then the clincher you're gonna say how you will use it in this new position so currently I use my strengths this way before that I was in this other position where I used it in this other way and the beauty of it is I see it really working for this position in this way ok because you're looking at that job description you can see the types of things you need to be doing and so you can talk about it one more time and say this is how I would do it here y'all if you do this this is an awesome interview answer now if you want to do it fast and you think there's two things you can highlight you can do two but please no more than two strengths and I will say if they say what is your greatest strength one we give one and we give really strong examples for that one so make sure you're listening to their question think through how you want to answer it and answer accordingly don't give three if they ask for one but give one or two depending on how they ask with really strong examples of a currently before and okay y'all today we are tackling that super hard kind of sucky interview question how have you handled a difficult situation or conflict at work no one likes this question right it's not a fun one so today we will talk about how to ride the fine line of answering that question right without sounding like we're a problem or other people are just super difficult in our minds we'll talk about the right way to answer it how to use that star method and what not to do let's talk about how do you handle a difficult situation at work or tell me about a time you handled a difficult situation at work so first let's think about the why behind the question and I think this is something you all need to do no matter what i sat in a lot of interviews this week where people just answered point-blank our questions and I kinda what why didn't you think about why we were asking it because if you had you may have answered differently so why are they asking this question the key thing is they want to see how you handle conflict right so if they say how did you handle a difficult situation instead of how did you handle conflict just know it's all about conflict I think too sometimes they're looking for how do you handle taking responsibility the way you treat others etc so you want to be mindful of those things while giving your answer now to answer this we go back to our trusty star method right it's situation task action results so first you want to give the situation and the task those tend to go together and this is where you're gonna folk why was there a conflict right people sometimes just say oh yeah well you know this person wasn't pulling their weight well well why right give a little bit of the background as to why there became a conflict in the first place this is also a helpful place to think about focusing on was this a miscommunication was the why that this was kind of a one-time thing this wasn't the status quo of the way things were at work what set this apart to give it a conflict then you want to give that action what did you do to help resolve this conflict or to resolve this conflict now here's where we might want to add some things to kind of show some self-awareness and a little bit of understanding of proper ways to deal with conflict so you don't want to say that there is a conflict and that you just started yelling at everybody you know you'd be surprised you'd think that wouldn't be the like everyone would know not to do that not always the case so think about adding in details like did you go home and think about it for a night before coming back with your response to the situation did you try to hear everybody out and gain different perspectives to see why there was a conflict like give the detail to how you responded a lot of people kind of go to the last step of their action which was probably talking to somebody or organizing it was the last step but give the process of how you got to that last step okay then this is the key and I always talk about this with start method you have to give the results people love to end on yeah I want to rant they love to end on the action yeah I went around and I talked to everybody and I realized oh the reason we had conflict was because this person was seeing the situation this way and this person was seeing it that way and so I brought us all together to talk about our different perspectives and how we could work it out they love to end there that's not the result the result is what happened after that did that work it out did the people than see each other sides did you all come to one final strategic goal with the situation I you've got to give that result so make sure to add that part and then lastly what not to do we do not want to throw people under the bus so even if your conflict is that you had the worst boss on the face of the planet we do not want to say that we have to give some sort of understanding to why the other person might have been difficult so just make sure and your answer to this question you don't throw anyone under the bus now some tips on this practice this at home if you do not practice you will throw somebody under the bus because you haven't thought about the way to craft kindly their position so make sure you practice this at home and the first time write it out the way you write out your answer if you were talking to a friend so say well my boss was a monster and had way too high of expectations and wanted me to do way too much in this amount of time and there was just no way there was a time conflict with another thing right go through that ramp T version then go back and reword it and soften it so that you have some understanding of your boss was dealing with a lot at once and so that carried over on to you okay but you can't get there if you don't write the crazy version the like word vomit version first so do it at home so you don't say that in the and today we are going over how to answer the question where do you see yourself in five years in an interview so on top of answering this question we're also going to talk about why they are asking it what they're looking for how to answer if you don't really want to stay at that company and how to answer if you have absolutely no clue what you want to do in five years okay so starting off what our interviewer is asking for when they ask this type of question well first they're looking to see if you are a motivated ambitious person right do you have goals do you have things you're setting for yourself that you want to achieve they're also looking to see what's your long term thoughts about the company you know are you going to stay with them are you going to try and go elsewhere but they also are looking to see do you understand how to set realistic expectations so if you are going for an admin assistant position and they ask where do you see yourself in five years and you say well I hope that I'm a senior level manager you don't seem to understand how this works so make sure that your answer shows ambition that you are hoping to grow and move up in your position but it's realistic so is it one promotion by then if you're in mid-level management five years is right about the time where you might be looking for something new or maybe you're just gonna say I would hope that in five years I have an expert level of knowledge over this role and we'll be starting to seek out higher opportunities in the company right you're not saying oh I think I've made three jumps by then you're saying this is where I really think I would be realistically in that position so make sure your answer is realistic now if you do want to make a jump incorporate how this job will get you to that place so you're not just gonna say oh well I hope in five years that I've been promoted to associate or manager whatever that next position is you're going to say well I hope that I really gain that foundational knowledge in this job that I need to take the next steps and move into a higher position you know my goal is to one day be a manager of a sales department but I know that I have to start at this level and learn everything about you know the ground level work so that I can be an excellent manager down the road so incorporate this job into the if you have no clue what the next step is but you want to move your way up you can talk about hoping to get a solid foundation of how the department works through this current role so that I can take on bigger challenges and take on bigger opportunities and grow within the company in the future so it's a little more general but it's saying I understand I need base knowledge to go for something higher down the road if you love the company tell them that you want to stay in the company so basically if this job aligns with your dream job tell them how it aligns and how you want to work on those things to get you to that dream job in the company in the future no one is going to be hurt by that answer people want royal employees so they'll be happy to know you want to stay with them now if you don't feel that way don't lie they will be able to see through it okay so what if you don't care about this job at all or it doesn't align with your bigger plans or this job is just a paycheck right like we need a job we need to get paid so we are interviewing for this well you can let them know you know I'm not quite sure what the future holds I don't quite know what my next step is but I'm very excited for the opportunities I get in this current position and I'm just excited to dig in and learn as much as possible here to hopefully clarify and figure out what my next steps will be this is also what you can do if you have no clue because that was really an answer for I have no idea and it's a totally fine and valid answer no one needs you to have like a perfectly filled out five-year plan but you have to respond in some way so that's a helpful way to let them know hey I'm not sure what's gonna be next but I can promise you that right now in this position I'm gonna give it my all you're at the job interview and they ask you tell us about your greatest accomplishment and you go oh crap I don't know what I've done well we need to prepare for this question so that's what I'm going to help you do today today we are going to talk about how in the heck do you answer what is your greatest which man and why now for some of us I think the what is your greatest accomplishment question is actually harder to answer than the what is your biggest weakness question people do not like talking about themselves I hear this from a lot of you I have a hard time selling myself I don't know how to talk about myself in an interview so the greatest accomplishment question can really freak you out so let's get prepared for it now first thing I want you to do I want you to write a list of everything you are proud of that you've done this could be work-related or personal now I will be honest that some of the personal things probably aren't the right place to write them in or to say them in the interview but we're not there yet just write down anything you are proud of that you've accomplished it could be running a marathon it could be turning that giant project in on time and your boss telling the whole office what a great job you did you choose okay so you've got a list now I want you to go back to that job description and look at what they're asking for also read over the company values on their page and see if any of your accomplishments match something in the job description or something in their values so if they say we value endurance we value persistence talking about how you ran a marathon and how you trained for it and got up every day and ran 13 miles on a Saturday to practice for the race down the road and then ran 26 point whatever miles God demonstrates persistence that demonstrates obviously endurance so it might be a good fit you want to be looking at that job description the values see what you've done that matches those you're going to answer in the star method formula so take that story and write it out a situation task action result so I decided that I wanted to get healthy in 2019 and so I downloaded something from Pinterest that was a checklist of how to run a marathon in a year and I decided to dedicate this much time every day that's me so that was the situation now the task I decided to dedicate a specific amount of time every day to run and I marked those times on my calendar and then the action and so I ran I ran every day and then the result and I ended up running my first marathon I finished in blabla amount of time and I did it in October and I am just so proud of myself that I set a goal and I followed through and finished it that's what mattered more the health benefits were great but seeing that I had that persistence and endurance was a really huge accomplishment in and of itself so we tied it back into that company so you want to use the star method now I think it sometimes helps to know why are they asking this question what the heck is this for number one they're trying to see your work ethic do you finish what you start when you put your mind to something how do you execute it it also shows an example of how you work right were you dedicated and got up every morning at 5:00 a.m. to complete that goal or did you set a certain time aside at work or did you do like a boot camp-style you crammed that project into one weekend and you went hard for the weekend and you still finished it with great results it gives them an idea of your style but it also in case you hadn't figured it out is going to be a great way to see if you match their core values based on what you choose that you accomplished will show them if your values match up with theirs so keep that in mind that they are also looking at it of an idea of do they have similar values to leave your last position that's a fun one right we're all thrilled to talk about the reasons why we left now hopefully they were easy reasons but I've heard from a lot of you in the comments like what do I do when I had a toxic work environment a horrible boss it's truck how do I answer this question well in this video we are going to talk about how to answer the why did you leave your last position question and the things you definitely cannot say so let's be real why did you leave your last position is a dumb question I don't quite get why interviewers still ask it because it's gonna be a BS answer like that's just the truth if I worked somewhere where I had an insane boss I'm not gonna go oh I'm ready to leave my last position because they're crazy like my boss is an insane person who yells at me all the time that's not gonna happen you're never going to say that or I'm bored to tears they don't really give me a lot to do and frankly I'd like to be challenged or the opposite it's super hard and they make me work like a dog all the time and I just really want something where I can kind of coast a little bit like you're not gonna get a real answer so what do we do we can't be that honest what do we do instead so I would choose one of the following ways to answer the question number one you're ready to leave your last position because you're ready for a new experience you know this is a great one to use if it's a lateral move or if it's moving up the rung I feel like I've done all I can in this position and I'm just ready for a new experience or I understand that this is very similar to what I did at this company but I know you have a totally different culture here you do things a certain way and so well on paper it might look like I'm doing the same thing I know that I'd be getting a brand new experience being at your company and then you turn it on them and we talk about company values and the culture and how we are a good fit for it okay so this is the one we use when we have gone as far as we can go in our current company and you realized there ain't no way you're getting promoted so you can say you know I just this position came up and I saw that it does some of the things I've done before but there's some new opportunities here and I'm just really ready to grow and challenge myself I feel like I've done all I can in my last position or in this current position and I'm ready to move on and take the next step so it's all about growth new challenges I see the challenges in this position and notice on these we're taking a question that's about our old position and putting the focus back on why we are a good fit for this new position another thing you can say is you're ready to move to something where you're more passionate about it so we don't want to bash a company we never throw anyone under the bus but there is a diplomatic way of saying you know I really appreciated the work I did and I love the people I worked with at my last position but I really want to move into an industry that I have more passion around and that's why I'm excited at the opportunity to work with you because we have the same passions on Jana Jana Jana or I'm much more passionate about working in this department for this reason so focus it towards passion and not boredom of the last place now let's say it really was toxic in some way maybe you got a new boss who made things kind of a living nightmare well what you can say is you know the office changed directions this new person came in and they kind of took the company in a different direction and it didn't quite aligned anymore with my own values or what I thought my job responsibilities were and so I figured it was time to start looking for something new where I am better aligned that's a diplomatic way of saying my boss was a nightmare so those are a couple of ways that you can answer the why'd you leave your last position question without you know throwing anyone under the bus bashing anybody rambling on and on about what a bad environment it was and getting stressed out so hopefully those helped you please leave me a comment down below with how you would answer this question if asked and if you liked this video give it a thumb up hit subscribe and the notification bells so you know when new videos come out I will see you in the next one bye

Channel: Cass Thompson Career Advice

Views: 407,207

Rating: 4.859714 out of 5

Keywords: cass thompson career, The ULTIMATE GUIDE to TOP 10 Interview Questions & Answers, interview questions and answers, most common interview questions, best answer to job interview questions, how to answer the most common interview questions, job interview tips

Id: BUlDJsees-g

Length: 57min 9sec (3429 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 13 2020