Organize Your Thoughts

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Organize Your Thoughts

This lesson is courtesy of Progressive Insurance, one of our Partner Employers

This topic will take about 20 minutes

Many companies use a specific interview style called “Targeted Selection”. Even if they don’t, preparing for those will help you anyway. “Targeted Selection” questions typically start with, “Tell me about a time when you ...” These questions help the employer understand how you might act in the future, on the job.

Your answer may be best if you organize what you say. Think STAR: Situation/Task, Action, Result. Think of your answer as a short story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Situation/Task: What was the situation or task that caused you to act? Spend about 30 seconds setting the stage. Some people spend too long here, some too short. Practice with a partner to get this down well.

Action: What did you say or do in response to the situation or task? Be specific about your actions rather than what you should have done. Spend about two minutes on this section and include as many details as possible.

Results: What was the outcome of your actions? Spend about 15 seconds describing a measurable accomplishment or key learning.

Also, two tips for using the STAR format:

Practice: Practice in front of a mirror to help you develop examples that are strong and concise. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to prepare and practice—don’t wait until the day before your interview.

Listen: Questions are intentionally open-ended and it’s easy to get lost in your answer. Listen carefully to the question and take a few moments to think about real-life examples from your experiences. Feel free to ask the interviewer to repeat the question and/or jot down key words, if needed.

Complete at least 5 of these using the STAR format:

Describe a situation where you saw a problem and took action to correct it rather than waiting  for someone else to do it.

Describe a particularly complex project/problem that you worked on that had significant  importance to your career or the company.

Tell me about a team that you were on and your specific role on the team.

Give me an example of a time when you were disappointed in your performance. What was the  situation? What was the result?

Give me an example of a time when you provided superior customer service. What did you do?  What was the result?

Tell me about the last time you gave negative feedback to another person.

Describe a time when you had to influence another person to take action quickly.

Tell me about a time you did not perform up to your full potential.

Tell me about a time when you had to prioritize items that you had to accomplish. What was the  situation and what did you do?

Give me an example of a stressful situation you’ve experienced. How did you handle the  situation?

Tell me about a time when you had to work at a fast pace. How did you respond to the pace?

Tell me about a process improvement idea for which you needed the support of your peers or  manager to implement. How did you gain their support?

What is your biggest achievement at work? What steps did you take to meet your goal?

Occasionally we wish that we could change how we’ve interacted with someone at work. Tell me  about a recent interaction that you wish you would have handled differently.

Tell me about a tough problem you’ve had to deal with on the job, and how you were able to  solve that problem.

From time to time we have to deal with someone who wastes our time at work. Tell me about a  time this has happened to you.

Tell me about the most complex project from an analytical perspective you’ve worked on.

Provide me with an example of when you handled confidential information. What did you do?  What was the result?

We’ve all experienced times when workload becomes overwhelming. Tell me about a time when  this happened to you. How did you prioritize your work?