In this episode, I share a simple interview strategy to use during your next interview. The STAR Method is the best way to answer behavioral interview questions. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Before I dive into that I share some of my worse interview experiences. And what I learned from the.
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In this episode, I share a simple interview strategy to use during your next interview. The STAR Method is the best way to answer behavioral interview questions. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Before I dive into that I share some of my worse interview experiences. And what I learned from the.
EPISODE LINKS
Thank you for listening, please Subscribe and leave a Review, and Follow me via IG @ManifestYourCareer
Get Tips to Manifest 10x Faster Subscribe to my Newsletter Today!
Welcome to the manifest your career podcast. I'm your host Dr. Norma Reyes, a Latina career and life coach. With this podcast, I help successful women learn how to combine their intuition and logic so that they can manifest their dream career. By listening to my podcast, you'll learn how to go from feeling stuck and lost on what to do next to having the clarity, motivation and strategies to manifest the career of your dreams. Each episode, I'll teach you the skills, strategies and mindset you need girl to get in alignment with your career goals. Now, let's go ahead and get started. Hey, everyone, welcome back. This is Episode 15. And today, I will be giving you a simple interview strategy to use during your next interview. But before I dive into that, I want to share some of my worst interview experiences that I had. So as a first generation professional, meaning that my parents did not work any type of professional level job, they work labor type jobs, and really, you know, those types of jobs, you just go and you interview and you or even if you have an interview, you might just get the job just because you show up. And so, you know, I didn't have them to lean on. I didn't have any buddy within my circle, like my family, I didn't have friends. But I don't think I felt comfortable asking anybody for help. That is one thing that I've always just tried to figure everything out on my own. And it's challenging, you know, we grow up thinking that we just trust our family. And that's who we ask questions to. But when you can't ask them questions on something that aka you're supposed to know, then you fall into this space of feeling alone and not having the right answers to questions that you have, or you don't even know that you have. So as I was out of college, looking for my first job having no real direction on where I wanted to go, I had an idea that I wanted to work somewhere, but I really didn't, I really didn't have a clear idea or picture of where I wanted my career to go. And I do have a clarity guide for you guys. So if you haven't checked that out, check it out. Because it'll ask you questions to kind of help you stop feeling lost, like I did, is I know that I think back and I'm like, Yeah, I was clueless. And then there are still times that I feel that way. Just know that it's a feeling that comes and will come often when you feel like you're no longer going towards a goal or a direction that is in alignment with you, you may have heard that before in alignment. And an in alignment just means that it's just not working for you. It's not giving you that spark, and there's nothing wrong with your alignment, your purpose, what you're doing changes, right, it's not that you wasted any time is that you've already learned everything you need to learn from that particular role or that particular experience or season in your life. Okay, so now back to my terrible interview experiences. So one that really sticks out, and I'm so embarrassed that even happened, but I'm going to share it. So I had applied, I was applying to universities, I mean, I was applying to jobs that just kind of sparked my interest. So I came across this job opening and it was for the one of the local universities in San Antonio. And it was working in their small business department, I was thought that was an excellent way to learn about business and really just get to know the odds and ends and my dad has always done his side business. I thought maybe I could learn something and teach him something too. So I'm was very excited and really nervous for the interview. I really wanted that job I really did. And I thought everything was going really great until they asked me, What does integrity mean to you? I don't even remember what I answered. But I for the life of me could not remember what the word integrity meant. And instead of just saying that, instead of saying, I don't remember what integrity meant, or can you give me an example of what it means or can you use different word? I really wish I had done that because I probably would have got the job then. I have no idea what I said I just know that I did not show integrity for that question. And that's probably why I didn't get get hired and even thinking about it. I'm still here. It's like it's if anybody that knows me, integrity is so important to me. I value honesty. I do not like lying whatsoever. So the fact that I ended that really went against my beliefs. It's just embarrassing. I want to say that it's funny looking back, but it's just so embarrassing that I represented myself that way. But hey, you know what? It was a learning experience. It taught me that when I don't know the answer to a question, it is in my integrities, who just say, I don't have the answer to that? Or can you rephrase that? For me? I'm not really sure what the answer to that is, that would have been the more appropriate thing to say, versus just making up an answer. And really, that's what you want to do. You're going into professional setting, these people are professional just like you. And they're things that they don't know as well. No one expects you to know, everything. Now on to another interview experience that really wasn't on my end, terrible. It was more on the interviewer side. So I went to apply for a family specialist job. And it was working in the community. And the interviewer asked me why I had applied for the job. And I said, because, you know, I grew up in this community, I understand the community. And, you know, he made it clear that why would these parents Listen to me, I didn't have any kids. I was young, and just really demeaning to who I was. And 23, I really didn't even know how to respond to this man. And in case you're wondering, yes, he was an older white man. And the interview just got worse and worse. And I wish I could go back and just stand up and be like, you know what, I don't want to work for someone who doesn't see value in me and my cultural background and my experiences, you just assume that because I look young to you, that that's what these people are going to see. But these people want to see someone that connects with them and cares about them. It's not about age, it's not about color. But if it's between someone that grew up in the community and cares about them, and someone who just is a parent, then I'm gonna go with the person that cares about the community. And he really went further on to even ask like, well, how did you make it out? And you know, asked about my upbringing, and I really didn't know how to answer those questions besides candidly, but then, you know, I just left the interview, feeling interrogated and really just kind of like a subject of research and really like that my life is not just for you to scrutinize and be like, well, what made you different? And how did you get out, and at the time, I really didn't have any idea why. And now looking back at it, it's really that I just believe that I could, I had hoped that there was something better than where I was. And what I had to do was set goals for myself and believe that I could reach them. It's really that simple. It doesn't seem like it at the time. But it really is set goals for yourself and believe that you can reach them and continue to do what you need to do to reach them. And when you're not able to or you feel like you've failed, ask for help. Ask for help. Even if you aren't in a place where you're failing, ask for help. I wish that I had asked for more help. I saw the help available. But I really just felt like I wanted someone to just come and help me. I wanted someone to say like, Hey, you know, you're amazing. Let me help you. And while there might be people that think I'm amazing, they may also be thinking, well, she doesn't need my help. Or why would someone like her needing my help? Trust me, if you think I'm amazing, and you can help me somewhere, I am welcoming the help. And that is what I'm telling you that you need to do. Just put it out there, put your ideas out there of what it is that you are looking to do. And then you know, you'll see people come and be like, Oh, I can help you with that. Or I know someone that can help, right? That's kind of how you naturally network to, without it feeling superficial and this like pro quit. So anyway, now to a more recent interview that happened, that I feel I did really poorly in and that was I was interviewing for a leadership program. It's like one of those leadership pipeline programs that are to help you build your leadership skills and grow and move up professionally, in corporate world or anywhere really in civic duties as well. So I had applied to this program, and these leadership programs cost quite a bit of money, especially if you don't have the money one because money is tight or just because you know, spending $5,000 in a program that is purely just professional development can be very difficult for some I know for myself, that's a difficult decision to make. So I applied for the program and I was selected to Have an interview to get into the program, right? Because there's levels of things that you need to do. And so I went to the interview, they had emailed the questions that they would be asking me. And so I saw them. And I knew I didn't have the answer to one of them. But I got gotten so busy, that I didn't have a chance to find the answer to the question. And it was a very simple question like, which of the modules or sessions are you looking forward to? And I couldn't find the information. And I mean, I didn't really dig that deep. And I also didn't ask for help. I didn't ask, Hey, can you send me the list, I can't seem to find the list. And I really want to review them again, to see which one I'm looking forward to. That's probably what I should have done. I did it because I was busy with work and had other things going on as well. And then it came to the day that I had the interview. And so I showed up for the interview, I was doing really well, because I looked up stuff, I looked up stats as to why I should be selected as the person right. So some of the stats that I've found for that, and I'll share with you guys is that, you know, there's only like 10%, of Latinos and CEO rows and fortune 500 companies, and of those companies only, like five companies have an you know, you think about fortune 500 fortune 500. And there's only five people who are Latinos, and then you know, even less that are Latino women. And so I use that right, I start off really well. And then, you know, the dreaded question. And this time, I was honest, and I said, I'm sorry, I couldn't find the information, I apologize. But I still as a leader and a professional and knowing their time is valuable. I should have done a little more I allowed myself to make the excuse that I was busy, which I didn't say that then but I just said I couldn't find the information. Or what does that say? Right? I can find the information means I just don't find it, or I can ask for help. So these are things that you got to kind of think about when you're interviewing, you know, what are the answers that you're giving, saying about you that you don't realize that they're saying, right, at least me personally, and I still don't know, they're still in the selection process. So I'm not really sure what decision has been made. But you know, those are things that you need to consider when you are interviewing that being unprepared. You show up unprepared. And you know, then from there that goes that way. Alright, guys, so the next tip that I have for you guys, before I get into the more concrete strategy for you all is that going into glassdoor.com will really kind of help you find out what kind of interviews are being done at these companies what to expect them so there's other websites. But personally, I like glassdoor.com, because you can also look at salary and see what people are talking about the company now take everything with a grain of salt, because remember, the people that go in there may or may not be saying the complete truth, they may be skewed because they're upset about something and just things to think about. Alright, now to the method. So this is called the star method, S t a r. And so when you use this method for interviewing, it really is for behavioral type questions. And so what that means if you've never heard that before, it just means like, what will you do in this scenario type of questions, right? A lot of companies have moved away from Tell me about yourself, or what are three words to describe you. And some of them still may use that. But then they'll move into these harder questions that are known as behavioral interview questions. Really, they're wanting to see what your judgment would be like in certain situations. And this star method is the best way to answer these questions. So to give you guys a little bit more examples of what the interview questions would be, like, they'll start saying something along the lines of Tell me about a time when or what do you do when or have you ever described to us blah, blah, blah, give me an example of and so when you start hearing those, you know, you want to think okay, these are behavioral interview questions, this is a time that I would use the star method. So star stands for s situation. T is the task a is action and are his results. And you can go over those and you can find a lot of articles on it already. So situation is setting the scene. So you're going to answer the question, you're going to set the scene and Give the necessary details of the example. And so if I was asked, Can you tell us the time when you had to make a decision between going and completing a report or handling a more urgent situation, right? So I would give an example of a situation. So one time I was I had a deadline that was due by 4pm. But I had a crisis situation that came up at 330. And I had to focus my attention on the crisis situation. And since I knew I had a deadline coming up, I reached out to appear and asked them to help me with the crisis situation so that I could finish your report and come back to the crisis situation once I was done. Right. So you said in the scene saying what is going on t 's task, and that kind of already went into that, right. So it says, a task is describe what your responsibility was in the situation. And so I described it in that I said, Oh, I had a crisis situation and a deadline coming up and responsible for both, but I reached out to appear to help me with the crisis situation, then action is explaining exactly what steps you took to address it, which again, the actions that I took was reaching out to appear to help, right, and to still be able to do both, and come back and circle to the crisis situation, once the deadline information was done results share what the outcomes were of the actions, right, like, so what did I achieve, I was able to get both done, even though they both were urgent, and then I wasn't, you know, leaving anything behind. And I was able to make sure everything was done completely. So again, you know, the using the star method does take some practice. So you know, get some interview questions that you can find online, just to get yourself going, right, and you don't want to make these out. Because if you do, it will show right you know, be concise of you make this long convoluted story, they're going to forget what you were saying from the beginning. So make it short, make it applicable to the job. And always make sure that the examples that you're giving, then you're providing are related to the job that you are applying for. Because if you are giving a lot of examples about working with children, and the role is working with adults, then, you know, they're going to be like, well, that it's just a really great children experience. But whether you're looking for someone that works with adults, or if you work in marketing, and you're trying to get into finance, and all of your examples are on marketing type of language, right, you don't really talk too much about finance or things that kind of relate more to the financial sector than they might really like you but only see what you're presenting to make sure that the examples that you are giving are related to the job that you're applying to. And so really, that is the gist of the star method. If you guys want to hear more on me elaborating on the star method, or in interviews in general, let me know I'm going to link some resources in the show notes so that you guys can just see more information about the star method if you've never heard it before. And it does take a little bit of time to kind of get in practice of this. Now, I've been interviewing candidates for three years now doing these types of questions. So it's really easy for me to know what I'm looking for know when a person is able to answer the question effectively, versus someone who might just continue to ramble on because they've lost themselves in the story. But the real big gist of it is, you know, give an example, say what you did. And then what was the end result? Because at the end of it, that's a full wraparound, Ray, you want to wrap around the answer to the beginning of the question, whatever the question was, right? So if they ask you something along the lines of Tell me a time when you weren't able to meet a deadline? What did you do? Right? So and they might not even ask you, what did you do? And they just might say, Tell me an example of when you didn't meet a deadline. And that's when our brains are like, Well, what do you mean, right, so we kind of have to finish out that question. Okay. And what did I do? Oh, you know, we've all had that encounter. You know, we let our supervisor know we're running late, you know. So you can say that I knew that I was short on time I had, I was managing different deadlines. So I reached out to my supervisor, let them know that I was going to be about an hour late on the report. So they are aware, I let them know that I could send them what I had ahead of time and then I can finalize the report in about an hour after that. So that way you are giving a full example. being vague, is not good during these behavioral interview questions because when you're being vague, it's not really giving defined concrete examples and this is what this is looking for. Alright guys. Well that is it for today and I will see you on the next one. Thank you for listening to the manifest in your career podcast with me, your host Dr. Norma Reyes a Latina career and life coach.