In today's episode I’m talking about interviews, interview prep and how to improve your interview skills. As an experience interviewer and hiring manager, I'll share my interview tips with you. I’ll also share a commonly known interview method, the STAR method, to be used during behavioral interview questions. And I’ll explain what behavioral interview questions are, so that you'll know hot to spot them.
EPISODE LINKS
Thank you for listening, please Subscribe and leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, and Follow me via IG @ManifestYourCareer
Visit my site for more information: https://manifestyourcareer.com/
Get Tips to Manifest 10x Faster Subscribe to my Newsletter Today!
In today's episode I’m talking about interviews, interview prep and how to improve your interview skills. As an experience interviewer and hiring manager, I'll share my interview tips with you. I’ll also share a commonly known interview method, the STAR method, to be used during behavioral interview questions. And I’ll explain what behavioral interview questions are, so that you'll know hot to spot them.
EPISODE LINKS
Thank you for listening, please Subscribe and leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, and Follow me via IG @ManifestYourCareer
Visit my site for more information: https://manifestyourcareer.com/
Get Tips to Manifest 10x Faster Subscribe to my Newsletter Today!
Are you feeling stuck, lost or confused about what to do next in your career? Then the manifest your career podcast is just right for you. I'm your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a career mindset coach. I help successful Latinos who are battling self doubt, self sabotage and impostor syndrome. I teach my clients how to combine their intuition, skills and knowledge so that they can manifest their dream career. It's time you start listening to your inner wisdom and guidance. tune in each week to the manifest your career podcast, and learn how to align your mindset to your career goals. Keep listening, and together will manifest your dream career. Hey, everyone, welcome back. This is episode 51. And today I am talking about interviews, interview prep, and how to improve your interview skills. And I'll also share a commonly known interview strategy method. It's called the STAR method, s. T. A are free to use during behavioral interview questions, and I'll explain what behavioral interview questions are. So interviewing is one of those things that we get both excited, but also dread, right? Like you're excited, yes, I got selected for an interview. And then you remember that you don't really want to be that spot, right? Like you want to be there. But then, you know, it can make you anxious, maybe you've had some past bad experiences, maybe with the interviewer maybe with some of the questions maybe not being prepared, or whatever else may have happened during a past interview? Well, this will help you prep for that and make you feel much more confident on the whole interview process and put the control back in your hands. Interviews, it's important to note that interviews are like the third or fourth step in a job search process. The first step is the job search. And maybe there's like a pre step to that as well, right, the idea of beginning to look for a job, then the exploration. Second is applying. And then the next step is the employers reviewing your application your resume, and then they either call you or email you to schedule for an interview. So take that in for a bit. Interviewing is not the first or second step in the job process. It's more like the third or the fourth step. So how is it not the first step? It's not because the job search starts with the decision, a decision from you. The next step is for you to explore and be intentional to the positions that you apply to don't spend days applying to jobs. Because what will happen is that you'll get a call back from a job, you're not even going to remember what you applied to. And you're most likely going to be attracting a low frequency job. Think about your dream job as high frequency. But if you are applying and operating on a lower frequency due to spreading your energy applying to all these different jobs, because either you want to get out of where you are, or you just are bored, and you just apply to anything that looks remotely interesting. Without really losing any more exploration, then that's the energy that you'll be getting back. So be intentional. Take time to think about the position the company and how this particular role would help you to your next step. Not just the next step of getting that job. But the step after that many of us don't have a career vision that goes beyond your next role. But in order to be successful, you need to be looking beyond the next step. You have to be looking at your career vision, how does this one step fit into the bigger picture? So once you look at that, then you would start applying and then you would start looking to see right and then you could get an interview. So now you're interviewing after you apply and you're selected. It's important that you remember you have been selected this company, this employer is having the opportunity to interview you not The other way around, they have seen your skills and have thought this person fits what we're looking for. Remember that you've already made it past the first screening about qualifications, you have been selected, right? That's what the interview emails usually say, right? You've been selected for an interview, you have been selected, you've been screened through many more other applications. And you have been one of the ones that has been selected. Now, this doesn't mean that this is the job for you, you still have to go through the interview process to see if it's a right fit for you, and your employer. See if that's actually in alignment with you and your career vision, it's important that you use your interview time to really get a feel for the company, the role, and if it's a good fit for you know, think back to your last position, maybe a position that you didn't necessarily enjoy doing. But you took it was it because it felt right. Or because there was some other underlying ego anxiousness going on and you wanted that position, and it made sense, there's a difference between something making sense and it feeling right. So make sure that you are using your inner guidance when making an accepting a new job positions. But let's go ahead and get back to interview prep. So here are some things you can do. When you're selected for an interview, what you need to do next. Step one is looking for the job being intentional, not applying to a whole variety of jobs, you know, selecting a handful that really align with you. Alright, you get selected for a new interview, research more about the company? What made you want to apply there? How do you see that position fitting your long term career path? Next, write down some questions, questions that will help you see if this company and this position or the role are fitting into your long term career plan into your career vision. Right questions, I will help you answer. Yeah, this would help me this company would help me get to my 510 year plan. Next, if you are having a virtual interview, make sure your tech is working properly. I don't know how many times I've had candidates that I interview, who wait till the interview date to figure out their tech, they they're late. They're shuffling the lighting is not right. And I mean, I'm not saying that it needs to be in a perfect space, just make sure that we can see your face, there's plenty of light that you set, if it's on an on a phone, that you set it in a good position where it's not going to fall, I've had that where they're constantly having to adjust the phone because they didn't plan on getting a phone stand or something. Get a phone stone, go to the dollar store and get a phone stand, please. Next, you know if you have to meet in your car that happens. There's nothing wrong with interviewing in your car, but be prepared to have the lighting. Go somewhere. If you if you're in your car park somewhere where you're not going to be distracted by whatever's going outside that there's not going to be too much noise. What's important is that you have good lighting that you're able to hear the interviewers and the interviewer are able to hear you. The next thing is if you are in person, map your route out a 15 minute buffer, arrive 10 to 15 minutes early. You know, let's say you get to the parking lot 30 minutes before that gives you 15 minutes to just be chilling in your car, listening to some music that pumps you up affirmations, something to get you in a high vibration. And then about 15 minutes from the time of the interview walk in. You don't really want to get there ahead of that because it throws everybody off, right? You're not impressing anyone by being there an hour to 30 minutes early. It's actually being unimpressive. Because you're saying that one I don't know you don't have anything else going on that you you're at an interview for an hour early. Plus, you don't know what else they got going on. And that disrupts whatever they're doing. Maybe there's other candidates, right, maybe that might even affect your juju, you're seeing a whole line of other candidates coming in for interviews. So five to 10 minutes before the interview, checking in with the reception, whoever you need to speak with. Perfect good amount of time. All right now during the interview, take your time to process the question. Make sure you actually understand What they're asking you? And if you're not sure. Ask, ask them to repeat the question. Ask them to explain the question. It's better that you ask them to clarify the question, then you answering a question incorrectly because you didn't understand it. So ask them to clarify if you need to. You can answer your interview question using the STAR method. And then if you need to see their faces, you need to figure out are they looking like, Oh, that's a great answer, or are they looking like, I don't know what this person just told me. Use those clues, right? Don't zone out in just barely being there be completely present, and do a facial scan of those people that are interviewing? Are they interested in what you're saying? Are they distracted? If you answer a question, and they are puzzled, that either means you didn't answer the question, or they didn't really know what you said. So perhaps take that time to say, you know, can you repeat the question? I want to make sure I actually answered what you asked me, you know, that it may feel it may feel like something that you don't want to do, but it will give you a better outcome than just moving forward to the next question. With seeing their faces looking puzzled. You can prepare for interview questions by reviewing common questions. Go online, do a Google search of common interview questions. And then write down examples you'd like to share a news during the interview. So when they ask you a question, tell us about a project that you lead. You have a list there, right? You want to prepare yourself with what you've done. I know you've done amazing things. But if you are asked on the spot, and you're not prepared with an answer, you're going to forget all those great things you've done in the past. All right, now, let's move to using the STAR method S T A R. So the STAR method is a structure manner of responding to behavioral based interview questions. By discussing the specific situation, that's as task, that's t, action, and result of the situation you are describing. So S stands for Situation, you will describe the situation that you were in, or the task you needed to accomplish. You then describe a specific event or situation, you don't want to give a general life description of what you've done in the past, but give an actual situation that occurred give you enough detail. So the interviewer understands the situation can be from a previous job, a volunteer experience, or anything else that's relevant. And keep it short, you don't want to go into this long story. Next is T for Task. What goal were you working toward? Right? Sometimes we give a great scenario, but we don't actually give a clear goal with or tasks that we were working on. So make sure that's clear. And then A is for action, you would describe the actions you took to address the situation with an appropriate amount of detail. And remember to keep the focus on you, what specific steps did you take? What was your particular contribution? Be careful that you don't describe it what the team did or that the group? You know, use the words I? I did XYZ, right? What actions did you take? Finally, are is for result. Describe the outcome of your actions. And don't be shy about taking credit for things you did you know what happened? How did the situation and what did you accomplish? Did you accomplish the task? Make sure that your answer contains multiple positive results? And because you know, it most likely did a lot of times it's just difficult to really say that and it really takes practice. So I will have a link in my show notes that will give you guys a PDF of the STAR method and more explanation and then some behavioral interview questions for you to look at. And so behavioral interview questions are questions that are really asking for a situation for you to explain, they're not questions like, What are your strengths? That's not a behavioral interview question. They're not questions like, give us a brief description of your job history, right? Like, that's not a behavioral question, a behavioral question is actually looking for how do you handle certain situations? So an example of one is? Can you describe a situation where you were able to persuade someone successfully? To see things in your view? Right? Like, that's an example of a question. So remember, you want to use the STAR method to help you prepare to make short descriptions of situations, give you enough details, make sure that there's a beginning, a middle and an end to it. Be sure that you give the results and that they reflect positively or favorable, even if the actual total result wasn't a good situation, make sure that whatever you are talking about yourself that it was a positive on your side. You know, be honest, don't embellish any part don't omit any parts of the story, the interviewer will find out if your story is built on a weak foundation. So make sure that you have the stories that are actual stories, when that you went through, and then your part in it. The next thing is during your interview, expecially, if you're in a zoom interview, is that you make eye contact, I have had a lot of candidates who are looking away who are moving, visiting, making very little eye contact, making little eye contact while the interviewer is asking questions, making little eye contact when answering the questions, you know, so make time to practice looking at your camera. Because that will give the view that you are making eye contact. If you don't, and you're moving around and you're looking away, it just doesn't give off a confident presence of caution person, it's a little bit easier. But still the same tips because I have definitely seen candidates who are fidgety, who are looking elsewhere, who are not making eye contact. And this isn't like stare into the eyes of a person. This is the natural, you know, natural body language that feels right to you. And the next thing is make a list of questions that will help you clarify, if this company is for you remember that it's about them, this company, the position fitting into your goals, not the other way around. This is how we get lost on our career journey. When we take positions or opportunities as the one there is no the one position, role or company. That's why it's called a career journey. It's a journey. And it's up to you to take control of it. And you do this by asking the company clarifying questions so that you can really know if that role position company is for you. And if it aligns with your career vision beyond this step. So after the interview, to attend, you know, celebrate yourself that not only did you make it past the selection process, you got an interview and you completed it. Those are all successes, the result of getting the job or not will mostly be on is it a good fit? Does the universe say this? Is it for you? And if it's not, no, there's a reason for you to have had this job interview. Perhaps it was practice, perhaps it was to really get you clarity on what your next step needed to be. Maybe you went in thinking this is the one and you need to take a step back and realize, oh, wait, that's not exactly where I want to go. So celebrate the success of being selected completing your interview, and the result is separate from that right the result is separate from you. The result is separate from your career journey. Don't force anything, it will not lead to the results you want. Right? Think of it as a relationship. Both parties should feel good about the decision. If you're in a relationship and you're trying to force the person to choose you and be with you what kind of results would that be? So after that, after the interview, you know Send a thank you email to everyone, including the recruiter, the HR person, you'll an authentic Thank you. Oh, thank you for this time, I appreciate it. I look forward to hearing from you guys. Let's keep it short and simple. And, of course authentic. Don't go copy paste anything right from your perspective from your heart. You can also reach out to people via LinkedIn, and thank them for the interview there as well. When you can also reach out to other people in the company and ask them what they think of you know the role. Ask them what they think about the company. So, everyone, these are just a few things that you can do to prepare, there are so many more that you can do. That's why it's important that when you are looking at the jobs that you want to apply to that you select the ones that are most aligned with you. Because when you're applying to everything, and then you start to think of this episode, right, this interview, prep process, it can seem very, very heavy. But if you're only applying to those positions that feel most aligned with you, you'll be very excited. It will be exciting to learn about the company, that may be your next step that will help you get to that larger career vision that you have for yourself. And when you go to the interview, you will feel more energetically aligned. Even if you get the job or not. There will be a higher vibration to your energy. So remember, anything that feels heavy depletes you cause you stress and anxiety are not it. So, start off small, don't overwhelm yourself. Review this episode, pick what sounds right to you what you want to use. And what's most important is that you have fun. This should be fun, it's an adventure, it's a journey. But if it's not fun to be looking for a job or if it's not fun to be going to interviews, do some deep self reflection. Take a break from it. And really center yourself. Because a job search should be fun and exciting. You are literally choosing your next chapter, your next adventure. So make sure that you're choosing with your heart and not your mind or your ego because they're going to use logic and fear. While logic is important when you're following work processes but when you're making a career decision, you need to be using your heart and your intuition. That's all I have for today. Remember the links to everything I talked about will be in the show notes. Thank you. I'll see you on the next one.
Unknown:Thank you for listening to the manifest your career podcast with me your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a career and mindset coach. Learn more today on manifest your career.com