- Are you struggling to sell yourself in job interviews?
Maybe you've had multiple interviews,
but just no job offers.
Or maybe you've been interviewing for a while,
and the lack of progress is starting
to tear down your confidence.
If this sounds like you, tune in,
because this video will shed some light
on what you might be doing wrong in your interview
and how to answer the most difficult interview questions.
(gentle music)
And hey, if you want a knockout resume,
one that gets you in the door for more job interviews,
make sure you take a look at my free workshop,
the five-part formula to make your resume a success.
I'll place a link below this video.
If we've never met before, I'm Heather Austin
from professoraustin.com and the Career Club on Facebook.
And on this channel, I teach working professionals,
just like you, how to build your personal brand
so that you can land your dream job
and grow in a field you love.
So, if you're new to my channel,
make sure you hit the subscribe button down below
and hit the bell notification,
so you're notified when I publish a new video
or go live here on my channel.
Job interviews are no walk in the park,
especially if you're a job-seeker with a lot on the line.
This makes it easy to get tripped up
and let your nerves and anxiety
get the best of you during your job interview.
But the thing is there are ways to avoid
inadequate performance during your job interviews.
With a little bit of planning and preparation,
you can do things to really outshine the other candidates,
which is why I'm sharing with you how to navigate
the six most difficult interview questions,
so that you can land the job you really want
and thrive in your field.
And if you wanna see results like these people,
keep on watching.
LexieLou says, "Professor Heather Austin,
"turns out I was super stressed for nothing.
"I got the job."
Tomitra says, "Professor Heather Austin,
"and may I add that I got the job, thanks a bunch."
And Sue says, "Heather, I been following
"your videos as a tutor.
"I wanted to let you know I got the job."
So let's jump into the six most difficult questions
that you might be asked,
so that you're prepared and ready for your next interview.
The first tough interview question
that you're likely to get asked is,
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
This question will probably be the very first question
that you're asked in your interview.
And it sounds easy up front, but in actuality,
this question takes a little bit more planning
and preparation than some of the other questions
that I'm going to share with you today.
And because it's the most commonly-asked interview question
of all questions, you absolutely need to be prepared
for this question.
Your answer to this question needs
to be simple but effective.
You don't wanna go on about your personal life.
However, you do need to show your personality
and character when you're answering this question.
Your interviewer is trying to get a sense
of your confidence level and the passion that you have
for the position and the industry.
The best way to answer the question,
can you tell me a little bit about yourself,
is to start with where you are now in your career.
Then mention how you got to where you are.
And then, talk about why you're so passionate
about the position or the industry.
And to top it all off, you wanna add how the position aligns
with your goals and your aspirations.
So, how does the position match up
to where you wanna be in the future?
I want you to think of your answer to this question
as your 30-second pitch.
Now, I have two videos that will take you
even more in depth into this interview question.
The first one is how to answer the tell me about yourself
interview question, and then the second one
is how to develop your 30-second pitch.
I'm gonna link both of those videos below,
so that you can take a look at those
as soon as you're done with this one.
The second tough interview question
that you're likely to get asked
is any behavioral-type interview question.
An example of a behavioral interview question
is tell me about a time that you handled
a difficult situation.
Or give me an example of when you made a mistake
and how did you handle that mistake?
These questions are geared toward a specific situation,
hence the term behavioral- or situational-based questions.
Now, I wanna hear from you.
Gimme a yes in the comments below
if you've ever been given a behavioral
or situational question before in an interview.
Now, these questions are generally more effective
than some of the other interview questions
that I'm sharing with you today,
only because they allow you to go into greater detail
and show your skills and your abilities in action.
These questions actually help the interviewer
determine what some of your past
problem-solving experience has been.
They wanna get an idea for how you're going
to solve problems with the company
or in the position in the future.
These questions definitely take some thought,
but with some preparation, you can definitely make an impact
with how you answer the question.
The secret to doing well
with any behavioral interview question
is to answer it using a micro-story.
So, a micro-story is something that you've done in the past
or something that you've accomplished in the past.
So, think of some of the largest projects
that you've worked on
or some of the things that you are most proud of
that you want the interviewer to know.
Now, think back to the interview question
I mentioned earlier, the can you tell me
a little bit about yourself.
That question is going to be a macro-story.
So that is your entire career story in one answer,
where these micro-stories are going to help you
build upon that larger career story.
So, when you are asked a behavioral-based interview question
you can mention it in a story format
about what it is that you've done in the past
that you are most proud of
and that you want the interviewer to know you've done.
Now, let me explain how you're going to structure
these micro-stories.
You're going to use what we call the STAR method.
So, the STAR method allows you to develop
a clear, concise story around a specific situation.
So, let me explain.
The S and the T stand for situation and task.
This is going to be the beginning of your story.
So, this is where you're going to talk about
the situation that happened and the tasks that you performed
because of that situation.
The A stands for action.
This is the middle of your story.
This is where you're going to describe the action steps
that you took to solve the particular problem.
And then, of course, the R stands for results.
This is where you're going to explain
the exact results that you achieved
from solving the problem.
Now, let me bring that all together for you
in a sample answer.
So, let's say that the interviewer asks you,
can you tell me about a time that you handled
a difficult situation?
Here's an example of how you could structure your answer.
"In my previous position as a business analyst,
"I had the privilege of working with a client
"that was gregarious, full of energy,
"and very eager to make things happen.
"The only problem is that the client
"didn't have a clear goal or a vision
"of what they really wanted.
"This led to frustration
"and a whole lot of misunderstanding."
so, in the introduction to this question,
we are explaining the situation and the task.
Let's look at how we will talk about
the action and the result.
"Using a technique called I'll know it when I see it,
"I was able to elicit, analyze, and document ideas
"the client hadn't considered before.
"After some powerful brainstorming sessions,
"we developed a solution that the client
"was over the moon with.
"In the end, we received three referrals
"from this one client."
So you'll notice that we rounded it off with the action
and then the result that we took
to solve that specific problem.
So again, this is a simple example of how you could answer
any behavioral-based interview question.
The third tough interview question
that you're likely to get asked
is, why do you wanna work here?
This question is asked because the interviewer
wants to get an idea of what your goals and intentions are.
So, before the interview, you really need to think
about why you wanna work for the company.
The key to doing well with this question
is to show that you understand the company and the position.
You don't wanna answer with some generic response
like I wanna work for this company
because I've always wanted to work here.
You wanna get in to more detail and explain to them
why you've always wanted to work there.
Is there a specific value?
Is there a specific mission or goal
that the company is on that is inspiring you
to wanna work for that company?
Or does the position allow you to utilize
some of your greatest strengths?
Is it a real passion of yours?
These are the things that you need to think about
and to mention when this question is asked.
Now, I wanna hear from you.
Have you ever stumbled over an interview question before?
I know I sure have.
What did you do to pick yourself back up
and keep going in your interview?
Let me know in the comments below this video.
The fourth tough interview question
that you're likely to get is,
why should we hire you?
This question sounds really similar to the previous question
why do you wanna work here.
However, your answer to this question's
going to be slightly different.
So, rather than focusing on the company now,
you're going to place the focus on yourself
and you're going to mention why you are so unique
from all the other candidates.
What special skills or unique talents do you possess
that perhaps no one else does?
Start by finding out what problems the company is facing.
You wanna thoroughly review the job posting
and find out why they are hiring for that position
in the first place.
Once you thoroughly understand their biggest pain points,
you can then explain or communicate in the interview
how your skills, your expertise, and your talents
can help them solve those problems.
The fifth tough interview question
that you're likely to get asked in your interview is,
what are your weaknesses?
Interviewers are asking this question
because they wanna get an idea of your self-awareness.
They wanna gauge your personality and your character.
The key to doing well with this question
is to pick a legitimate weakness,
and then, from there, talk about what you're doing
to overcome that weakness.
Now, the weakness that you choose to mention
in the interview should not directly relate to the position.
The interviewer wants to know if you're going to be
open and honest about this question.
And of course, if you wanna make an impact
in your interview, you wanna pick something
that really you struggle with,
but doesn't relate specifically to the job.
To make it easier on yourself,
pick something that is in the past,
but stay positive with your response.
The sixth tough interview question
that you're likely to get asked is,
what are your strengths?
The reason interviewers ask this question
is because they wanna know, do your strengths really align
with the position that they are hiring for?
This question also might sound easy,
but it's a little more complex than you think.
The key to doing well with this question
is to pick strengths that specifically align
with the position you are applying for.
For example, if you notice that the position
requires someone with astute analytical skills,
you need to mention that as one of your strengths.
On the other hand, let's say that the position
is looking for someone
with really fantastic project management skills,
here's a response that you could give.
"One of my strengths is the ability
"to organize and implement systems that are easy to follow."
And then, go in to some sort of story
that shows how you've been able
to accomplish just that.
And if you haven't yet seen my free resume training,
the five-part formula to make your resume a success,
I'll provide a link to the training below this video.
And to help you land even more interviews
and better job offers, take a look at the video
I made right here.
And if you like this video, be sure to hit
the thumbs up button down below.
Be sure to subscribe to this channel
for more videos like this.
And I will see you in the next video.
(gentle music)