In the previous ‘How to Job Interview (part 3/4)‘ I talked about some really good strategies on how to make yourself sound intelligent during the interview. In this article, I will finally show you how to actually answer questions.

Up until now you should have picked up on the fact that what you are really trying to do during the interview is to SELL yourself. People buy you before they are willing to buy your services (meaning employ you).

Lets break down the process of answering questions in an easy to digest way.

First of all you need to understand that giving very long answers is not a smart thing to do. Saying less and choosing the right words is the correct way to answer questions. You see, people have a very short attention span. We are all easily distracted and loose focus very quickly.

If you read the previous three articles, you already know all the needed steps to form your answer. Now you simply need to understand the format in which to deliver your answer.

Again, there are many systems/methods out there for answering question but I wont go through them. Some are good, other sound good but are not practical.

When it comes to answering questions, I usually always use the 4 step system below as this has worked very well for myself and my clients. These steps are as follow:

1. What is going on?
   I describe what the situation was before I did anything.
2. What am I thinking of doing?
   I explain my thought process on going through the various options available to me.
3. What did I do?
   I explain why I chose to go with my solution.
4. What effect did it have?
   I explain the benefits of what I did and how I am their candidate of choice, also known as the Hero.

Pretty easy right? Trust me, it is not difficult.

Before you start answering a question in the above format, you should introduce your answer with what I call a ‘filler phrase‘. These can be the following:

• “I’m glad you asked…”
• “Sure, I actually have several examples of this, but I will give you one really good example…”
• “Thats a neat question, I remember once…”
• “I agree, to be more specific I had a case where…”
• etc…

You get the point. It is just a way to acknowledge that you have understood the question. This is not rocket science so don’t stress out over it.

Now lets break down each of the four steps a bit further. Let us say that you are asked the following question:

“Can you share a specific incident in which you motivated a staff member to better work performance?”

This is what my answer would sound like:

Filler Phrase (opening to my answer):

• “Sure. Actually I have many examples of incidents where I have helped others become better self motivated. I guess I get it from all the past years of great coaching from my own mentors.”

Step 1 (I describe the situation):

• “Specifically speaking though, I remember just recently at XYZ company where I had a young energetic member on my team whose performance and attendance both started to decline after having been with our organization for about a year or so. I really liked this team member, but the performance was becoming rather unacceptable.”

Step 2 (I explain my thought process):

• “I knew that I could confront this team member head on, but through my experience I have learned that there is always an unique reason for drops in performance. You know, a great manager understands that everyone has to be treated different. What motivates one person, could potentially demotivate others.”

Step 3 (I explain what I did):

• “I decided to introduce a program in my department where I would take one team member out for lunch every month. Guess who the first lucky person was? Thats right, and we had a great conversation over lunch. I learned many interesting facts about the situation, and this just goes to prove that you should never judge a book by its cover. It became rather obvious that the drop in performance was due to a lack in challenge at work. This is very common. It’s like playing basketball without a net. No goal means no motivation. I decided to make a deal with my team member. If he could sustain an expected level of performance, I would let him work on some side projects giving him the ability to learn new skills and face a constant challenge.”

Step 4 (I show the result):

• “One thing to note is that this particular solution may not fit everyone, and this is why I stress that when people apply for management positions, they understand how people work, like what drives people to excellence. My solution for this team member was perfect. The performance increased and stayed at higher than expected level, and my team member has really shown excellence in the various new projects I got him involved in. You see, if you can truly understand people, and be willing to go the extra mile, then most of the work force problems are easily solved as I just showed you with this example.”

DONE.

It is important that when you describe the situation (step 1), you make it very clear so the interviewer knows exactly what is going on. You don’t want to explain your answer to someone who is confused over what the problem is. You should also always provide examples/proofs (choose the most recent ones) to support your answer.

Notice that I also throw in statements during my answer to DEMONSTRATE VALUE (such as the fact that I am a great motivator and manager, willing to go extra mile, I have had great mentors etc). This is done to take the guesswork away from the interviewer in determining whether or not I possess certain qualities.

Don’t you ever dare end your answer on an even slightly negative note. You need to always always end your answers on a positive note. It’s like a typical movie where the hero saves the day. Nobody likes crappy endings no matter what they tell you.

A few side notes worthy of mention are:

• Your opening and closing statements are very important. People will forget most of what you tell them
• Always provide proof with your answer
• Remember to throw in statements in your answer to demonstrate value
• Don’t sound like a robot. Make it a conversation and if you can get the interviewer to participate, then its even better.
• Smile, keep eye contact and sound excited (don’t over do the excitement)
• If needed, take acting classes (just joking, maybe not)

By now your interviewing skills should have taken a major leap. Obviously you can’t go from zero to hero by reading 4 articles, but it should help quite a bit. If you still feel that you are struggling, then the core problem you have is to do with your level of confidence. That itself has several sub components related to it.

Anyways, this is why I started this blog. I highly recommend that you subscribe to my blog and read what I write. It will take time, but I can promise you that you will see major improvements in how you operate around yourself and others.

Talk soon.