I just got rejected for an interview with customer call services in the financial industry. In the email it didn’t state anything specific and was very vague (it stated that I cannot contact for feedback), I failed the video recording interviews. Reflecting on my results, I think that I need help on my communication skills and showing confidence as well as answering behaviour questions correctly. I am very nervous at answering behavioural questions although I used the STAR methods.
Can someone suggest me ways to improve or how I can improve my communication and confidence skills, so that in future interviews I can land a job successfully. Thanks in advance!
Interviews Techniques Help
iceteacake on 14/05/2024 - 16:18
Comments
"I am very nervous at answering behavioural questions"
STAR is pretty dated, although a lot of HR departments do use it. The only real way to be successful in this situation is to practice your responses and know them by heart. Knowing the answer to a question before you're asked is the best way to build confidence and will result in more fluid answers.
If you don't feel confident using a friend to help you rehearse, start with a pet, or a mirror.
Start by writing down an answer to every question you are likely to be asked, then practice talking about that.
The key to fluid responses is to start by quickly acknowledging the question you are asked, give it a brief response and then continue to answer the question you actually wanted them to ask.
The first question is always some variation of tell me about yourself. Even if they don't ask this use the first question to tell them about yourself.
They will then ask why you what skills you can bring to the role and why you want to work there.
The answer to all of these questions is always the same regardless of the specific words they use to ask them.
It is not necessary to have actual experiences, which is a limitation of the STAR system. It makes it hard to answer things you can do but haven't actually had the chance to do yet. In this case the best answer is to answer from your personal life, or sport, or a community group - draw whatever analogy you need to.
There are plenty of websites with sample questions.
You do not need to have an answer to every question, just demonstrate enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Sometimes the best answer is just that you've never done that thing but you'd love the opportunity to learn.
If the question is generic, like "tell us about a time you used teamwork to solve a problem", just make something up if you have to. They will not check STAR style responses and they won't ever think of the question they asked you again after you have started working there, unless it's weirdly specific.
If you struggle with public speaking, see if there's a local Toastmasters you can join https://www.toastmasters.org/
I just got rejected for an interview with customer call services in the financial industry.
Would you not think they'd just be seeking people who could talk freely and not come across pre-rehearsed? After all, communication is the job, and if you're not good at that part of the job then wtf are you doing applying?!
There's only one way to talk freely and not come across as rehearsed, which is what I mentioned. The better you know your topic the more confident you will be, the more fluid you will present, and the easier you will find it to move off script, if need be. In the interim, sometimes you need to fake it until you make it.
Generally good advice but I'd be careful with this:
You do not need to have an answer to every question, just demonstrate enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Sometimes the best answer is just that you've never done that thing but you'd love the opportunity to learn.
Whenever I've heard a candidate say they don't know something or don't have experience in something "but I would love the opportunity to learn" it's usually been a cliched, massive red flag. Almost invariably from people with very low demonstrated motivation and it comes across as "I don't have a clue, have never bothered looking into it, and expect you to spoon feed me."
Actual examples of where someone has gone out of their way to learn something are much better- when I used to interview I'd ask about all sorts of fields to get a sense of how true it was about the wanting to learn thing.
Can you provide examples?
Were you part of a hiring team or HR?A decade ago. As a hiring manager, not HR. For tech roles. So I'd ask about what they found interesting in tech, job-related or personal interest. Then I'd ask about a favourite project that they had to figure out a load of stuff on… I didn't care if the answer involved building file storage systems or learning how to design and build RC cars at home. I'd then drill down about what the challenges were, what new stuff they learnt, what didn't work and how they'd ended up fixing it. What sort of testing they did to find problems.
I was looking for people with a genuine interest in tech and self learning. Loads of people in tech just do it because they've been told there are jobs, not because the care about the area at all. People who don't really do it for interest seem to have no technical projects or hobbies going on, and they would always throw out the "willing to learn" line.
My interview technique might not be broadly applicable though, I've had candidates tell me later that they'd never had that style of interview before. It was a deliberate step away from the more traditional style, as I knew other people in the team would do the standard "how do you do XYZ tech thing" in earlier rounds.
@rumblytangara: What you're describing is the way it should be done. Seriously, +1 internet's to you Sir.
Sadly, too many HR departments learned the STAR approach from googling, and honestly, couldn't care less about anything other than following "policy".
Thankfully, your approach is starting to gain more traction, while the STAR seems to be losing currency.
Two suggestions:
- apply for some jobs you don’t care about to get some extra experience in interviews.
- find a way to sit in on the hiring side of interviews, doesn’t have to be for the role you want, or even industry. The difference in my interview skills after I had been on the hiring end was night and day, because it all clicked and I understood what the panels wanted to hear.Apart from asking people who do hiring if you can sit in as a favour, there are plenty of places always seeking impartial people to sit in on interviews - you local school or hospital, for example.
apply for some jobs you don’t care about to get some extra experience in interviews.
This is one of the reason why I applied for this position; just so I can feel what it was like. What my inner feelings is telling me right now; is how I can be more confident and frame my answers correctly to the interviewer.
find a way to sit in on the hiring side of interviews.
I never thought of this and this makes a lot of sense as seeing it from another perspectives.
seeking impartial people to sit in on interviews.
Are there any voluntary places where I can go and see this apart from schools and hospitals. In the hospital it is not random and it is structured differently to other organisations.
apply for some jobs you don’t care about
That might backfire though if they end up getting the job…
You could then just spend your time posting.
This happened to me once. Worked there for 6 months while finishing uni. Turned out to be an alright job.
Even if they don't ask this use the first question to tell them about yourself.
They will then ask why you what skills you can bring to the role and why you want to work there.
This may seem generic, but how can I make it sound relevant to the job etc and make it authentic? For example if they say why this company ABC, you can just look up the company values etc but it doesn’t sound authentic enough for me (like it wouldn’t stand out in my perspective). I can just say “ I strive to be impactful in my job, when customers sees results then I am satisfied knowing that I did something meaningful”.. but to me, anyone could say that.
If you struggle with public speaking, see if there's a local Toastmasters you can join https://www.toastmasters.org/
I’ve heard of this organization and I am considering to join some sessions.
I do sometimes think that maybe it’s due to my personality where I am not extroverted enough or not charismatic. :/
It is okay to sound generic. Mostly they're just looking for personality and someone they can work with, particularly at the entry level. Everyone is in the same boat. All it takes is for you to look a bit better than all of the other stunned mullets coming before and after you.
Just say that you like the company because it you've seen it in the media, it seems like it would be a nice place to work, that you're expecting that there will be lots of opportunities to learn new skills and further your career, and that you're looking forward to being able to contribute to their team. Ultimately, they just want you to compliment them and to demonstrate that you actually want to work there, specifically, and that you aren't just applying for the first job that came up after a keyword search on Seek.
Not every question needs to be a 500 word essay. With questions like this it is okay to move on fairly quickly so that you can get back to demonstrating why you're a great candidate for their job.
I’ve got a feedback once, where they told me that I am not “proactive” enough. It sounds really vague as to how you can judge a person not being “proactive” by just 20 minutes of talking on the phone. :/
Proactive is just jargon for "taking initiative". Employers want to hire people who are willing to fix problems, not pass them up the line or sideways for someone else to fix.
Basically, your answers need to demonstrate that you are willing to do things that need doing without being asked.
Ideally this is something extra beyond the strict parameters of your position description, such as organizing the work Christmas party, helping people around the office fix their email signatures, or managing some crisis or other for a colleague who's called in sick.
If you don't have prior work experience, you'd just use an example such as stepping in to coach a team because the real coach had a last minute family crisis.
You should be dropping at least three or four examples such as this into a 20 minute interview, even if you're not asked specifically.
Talk about yourself in relevance to the job via whatever works. Surely you’ve talked to people before or helped people solve a problem. Important thing is to put it in your own words and practice it. Do you use “strive” in your every day language?
But generic is generally good. It’s not always about standing out, having practiced makes you sound articulate and prepared, knowing the company values means you’ve done your homework.
strive
No I don’t but when I type I can articulate my responses better than when I talk nervously.company values
That’s also an issue, where I don’t know how to relate that to me (my current position or my personal matters) to make it interesting. How can you relate some financial company values; for example “loyalty/ethical” etc to you specifically if this is a common human value. This may sound abrupt, but I don’t know how I can be creative to correlate a company’s value to something that’s inherent in me; without it sounding generic and common.
You could try Toastmasters. It's not free, but is affordable, and people swear by it. I went to one once and it seemed a bit culty to me. Some of the people talking, some regulars, really sounded very nervous. But I suppose the point is it's a supportive environment, and maybe they would struggle to communicate at all without it. Everyone is there for the same reason, to learn and practice talking more effectively.
Speaking in front of a large crowd about random topics you're not really invested in is nowhere near the same dynamic as speaking to one/two people in a more intimate setting where the personal stakes to yourself are much higher.
Toastmasters are wanky, pretend TED talks for people who would never be invited to present a TED talk that also double as corporate networking events.
It's basically like being in a highschool debating team for adults; you're trying to sound authoritative on a subject you learned overnight without actually being authoritative and mostly just talking for the sake of it.That's of limited usefulness in an interview where you not only need to present yourself as being authoritative but also actually be authoritative on a technical level, and that kind of confident authority mostly comes from lived-in career experience.
The best practice for people who aren't confident in interviews is simply doing tons of interviews, ideally for roles you don't care for before you go and apply for a position you really want.
I've found that the more that you can convince yourself that you don't care (whether you get the job or not), the easier things become.
This!
That!
These things have worked for me in the past:
- first off remember the people interviewing you are human and have been on the other side before and know that people are nervous
- have some prompts/dot points on paper to help with your responses (if its a face to face interview confirm before beginning if its ok to have it)
- practice answering questions prior to the interview and have a number of examples you can use
- make sure you have read the position description and selection criteria
- if you are halfway through answering a question and you realise you are off track or stuffed up your response. Stop. Ask if you can start your response againGood luck!
Ask if you can do some mock interviews with a friend, family member or colleague (though there are some obvious complications there) especially one who has experience in hiring. You both play your parts, and pause at various intervals (or at the end) to discuss.
Unfortunately the best way to get better at job interviews is to do loads of job interviews (and get useful feedback).
Also, don't ever be afraid to ask "did that answer your question?" or "can you repeat the question?". I've had interviews where they ask a two-part question and by the time I've addressed the first part I can't remember what else they were asking about.
Go speed dating