--- tags: Module 11 --- # During your interview Many people dread interviews. There's only one thing you can do to increase the chances that your interview goes well... :::success **PREPARE!** ::: Showing up to an interview ready, with your homework done and with a framework to answer any question is key. The research phase we covered in the last lesson is crucial. Thoroughly researching the company and knowing who you will be interviewing with will allow you to approach the interview much more relaxed. In this lesson, we will have a look at the most common questions you might get asked so you're not caught off-guard and can reply appropriately 😉. You will get two kinds of questions in an interview 👇: &nbsp; ## 1. General questions These are basic questions that will get asked in most job interviews. There's no excuse to mess these up! Read them, prepare for them. You should know the answers to these by heart. - Tell me about you... - Why do you want to work in tech sales? - What do you like the most/the least about it? - Why do you want to work for our company? - Why should we hire you? - What is your greatest strength/weakness? - Why did you decide to join a bootcamp? What did you learn? And the most dreaded question... > Interviewer: “You have no previous experience in sales... Do you consider yourself a great sales person after having done a sales bootcamp?” > > You: "I definitely still have a lot to learn, but i think i'm on the right track! In the past weeks I've done more than X cold calls, successfully ran X interviews and performed demos for a real company. If I can do that in just X weeks, imagine what I can do in x more! Also I believe my background in X can bring huge value into my sales profession because of Y and Z." &nbsp; ## 2. Behavioural Event Questions As every psychologist knows: "Past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour." 'Behavioral Event Questions' are a set of questions that try to assess how you behaved in certain situations in the past. This can give an interviewer a good idea of how you would behave in similar situations under their employment. It's likely you will face some of these in your interview. Here are some examples: - Give an example of a time where you used logic to solve a problem. - Give an example of a tough goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it. - Give an example of a goal you didn't meet and how you handled it. - Describe a stressful situation at work and how you handled it. - Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it. - Have you ever dealt with a company policy that you weren't in agreement with? You might be thinking... what's the best way to answer those type of questions. **⭐ Enter The STAR Method!** &nbsp; ## ⭐ The STAR Method The STAR method is a great framework to answer any behavioural question in any interview. It gives you a quick way to structure your answer and show off your communication skills. It's very straightforward: ![](https://i.imgur.com/M0j0OVC.png) Let's go through eeach element one by one... :::info ### Situation Set the stage for the story by sharing context around the situation or challenge you faced. In most cases, it’s best to describe relevant work situations but depending on the amount of directly transferable experience you have, it might also be appropriate to discuss academic projects or volunteer work. It’s also imperative to talk about a specific instance rather than your general responsibilities. You should spend the least amount of time on this part of your answer as interviewers are more concerned with the actions you took and results you got. Share the right amount of relevant detail by identifying the two or three most important pieces of information necessary to give the interviewer enough context about the situation. Example: “In my last role as lead designer, there was a point in time when my team was short-staffed and facing a significant backlog of work. The account managers were setting unrealistic deadlines, which was causing stress for my team and affecting morale.” ### Task Describe your responsibility or role in the situation or challenge. In other words, discuss the goal or task set out for you. This section requires a minimal amount of time similar to the situation component. Again, consider just one or two points that best illustrate the task you needed to complete. Example: “As a team leader, it was my role not only to ensure my team met our deadlines but also to communicate bandwidth to other departments and keep my team motivated.” ### Action Explain the specific actions you took to handle the situation or overcome the challenge. This part of your answer requires the most in depth description as this is what largely indicates your fitness for a role. Identify and discuss a few of the most impactful steps you took to find success. Often, workplace challenges are addressed by a team; however, it’s a common pitfall to use the word “we” to describe how you achieved your goals during an interview. In any case, it’s important to focus on what you did in the situation. It can be helpful to remember that the employer’s intention is to hire you for the role rather than your team, so you should use the word “I” to highlight your particular contributions. Example: “I set up a formal creative request process including project timeline estimates to set better expectations. I scheduled weekly meetings with account managers to discuss my team’s bandwidth and share updates on progress. I also kept my team informed of the new processes, so they could have some peace of mind knowing the issues were being addressed.” ### Result What was the outcome you reached through your actions? This is also an important part of your response to focus on. You should spend only slightly less time discussing the results than your actions. Decide what the two to three most impressive results were and talk about these. Quantify your success or provide concrete examples of the effects of your efforts if possible. In addition, discuss what you learned, how you grew and why you’re a stronger employee because of the experience. Example: “By providing more transparency into my team’s processes and setting better expectations with the account managers, we were able to re-prioritize the design team’s to-do list and complete everything in our backlog. I took these learnings, continued to apply this structure and as a result, in the following quarter, we shortened our average project timeline by two days. I also learned just how important it is to communicate clearly across teams.” ::: Cool, right? &nbsp; ## Your task Now that you know what kinds of questions you might be getting in an interview and how you can tackle them, it's time to practice a little. :::info **1. Write down the answer for the whole list of general questions:** - Tell me about you... - Why did you decide to join Hyrise? - Why now? - Why do you want to work in tech sales? - What do you like the most/the least about it? - Why should we hire you? - What is your greatest strength/weakness? - Why do you want to work for us? &nbsp; **2. Write down the answer to at least one behavioural question from this list** - Give an example of a time where you used logic to solve a problem. - Give an example of a tough goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it. - Give an example of a goal you didn't meet and how you handled it. - Describe a stressful situation at work and how you handled it. - Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it. - Have you ever dealt with a company policy that you weren't in agreement with? ::: Fornonw, you can keep these to yourself, no need to submit them. We will do a live mock interview later where we will test you on these! Let's now have a look at what to do after your interview! <style> body > .ui-infobar, body > .ui-toc, body > .ui-affix-toc, body > .ui-community, body > .document-footer { display: none !important; } </style>