You are driving by a movie theater. It is showing the movie of your life. What 3 words are on the marquee that would describe your life?
For most of you, you are not going to be prepared for it so it’s important that you stall a little bit and just start by saying, “Huh. That’s a great question!” What you have done is buy yourself a couple of extra seconds by acknowledging that it’s a great question. You want to think in terms of “integrity.” You want to speak in terms of positive things that you can demonstrate what you’ve done.
Hard-working– I am not sure that anyone would say, “lazy,” but integrity, accountable, excellence, or commitment. These are some words that come to mind as I encourage people to answer that question. You look for yours but think in terms of strong positive themes.
A good interviewer is then going to follow up and ask you if you, “Can you give me an example of where you demonstrated integrity in your work (or being accountable for your work, or excellence in your work).
Recognize that excellence is 1 of those vague ones to them, but you have to be prepared to back it up with stories because, at the end of the day, it’s not just what you say but how you parlay this into a homerun that is going to be important.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2020
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, all as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1900 episodes, and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
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