Resources for Job Seekers
Before the interview:
- Research the position and the organization (mission, vision, values, strategic plan, City of Markham social media feeds including LinkedIn etc.)
- Ask for the Human Resources contact name and phone number in case of an emergency
- Develop examples of your work or volunteer experience that support the requirements of the job
- Advise the Human Resources contact person if you have a disability and need any special accommodations to participate in the interview
- Consider the questions you would like to ask during the interview
Arriving for the interview
- Arrive five to ten minutes early for your scheduled interview/test
During the interview
- Interviews are usually conducted by more than one person (a panel)
- Each panel member takes turns asking very specific job related and behavioural based interview questions. The behavioural question involves you giving an actual example to demonstrate your answer to the question. These questions usually start with “Tell us about a time when you…”. To prepare for this type of question, draw upon relevant experiences you have had in the work place, as a volunteer, at school or in any other relevant situation that demonstrate your skills for the competencies required for the job to which you are applying. Provide a specific example of how you handled a situation as opposed to saying what you would do. This helps the panel judge how you react in work related problems. Be prepared to say what you learned from the experience or what you would do differently.
- A widely used method for responding to behavioural interview questions is the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method. The STAR method is focused around using real-world examples to highlight your skills, abilities, and character traits. Rather than a simple yes or no question, behavioural questions are more open-ended and draw from your personal experiences.
- Your answers should be specific, detailed, thoughtful, succinct and well delivered
- Panel members will be taking notes during the interview
- You can ask for a question to be repeated or to provide an answer to a question later
- At the end of the interview, ask questions, make additional comments or ask when you will be notified of the interview results
- Thank the panel members for the interview opportunity
Some examples of behavioural questions may be:
- Describe a time you dealt with a conflict between coworkers and how you dealt with it.
- Share an example of a time you had to make a hard decision. What did you do?
- Tell me a time when you failed. What did you learn from this experience?
- Share an example of a time you used logic or data to recommend something.
The STAR method is a way to practice responding to these types of questions. It provides a clear-cut and easy to follow method to create a story with a conflict and resolution.
Situation
Start by providing the details and context surrounding the difficult situation you faced.
Clearly describe the problem, who was involved, what the consequences were, and any other relevant details.
For instance, “In my last job as a senior engineer, we were short-staffed and facing a large backlog of projects. Our clients were setting unrealistic deadlines that were causing my design team a lot of stress and decreasing morale.”
Task
Give information regarding your responsibility and role in the situation. What duties were you required to perform and how were they relevant to your situation?
For instance, “As the senior engineer on the project, it was my responsibility to manage my team’s time to meet deadlines, keep my team’s morale high, and communicate our progress to our clients.”
Action
With explicit detail, describe what steps you took towards managing the conflict. What actions did you take? How did you handle the task at hand? How did you coordinate with others?
For instance, “I instituted a formal process for creative requests that included timeline expectations to better coordinate our efforts. I also scheduled one-on-one meetings with my team members and clients to discuss project progress and maintain productivity.”
Result
What happened in the situation? What outcomes resulted from your actions? Try to quantify the results of your experience to demonstrate the effectiveness of your efforts.
As an example, “By providing a better channel for team cooperation, we were able to shift our priority list to complete all our projects. Further, our productivity increase allowed us to cut our average project time-length by 3 days.”