Improve Your Interview Skills: Tips from Heather Huhman and Karen Burns

Heather Huhman and Karen Burns wrote two fantastic blog posts on improving your interview skills. Here are my favorite interview tips from their two blog articles:

Be a standout interviewee by telling a good story.  

Karen writes, “Humans are hard-wired to love stories. You know, the kind with a beginning, middle, and end. Your interview will have more impact and be more memorable if you talk about yourself and your qualifications in story format.”

Be accomplishment-oriented with your interview answers.  

Heather quotes Sherry Mirshahi , president of Interview Roadmap, “Candidates should use the SAR method—Situation, Action, Result—to answer all interview questions. Career professionals have different names and acronyms for this but essentially the idea is the same. Explain the situation or problem that you or your past employer experienced. Provide a short, but clear explanation of the actions you took to solve the issue. End your answer by telling your interviewer what the results were in the end.”

Explain what you can do for the employer.  

Another quote from Mirshahi, “When practicing for your interviews, create a list of several key attributes that your prospective employer is known for in their industry, and align yourself with one or two of these attributes in your answers. For instance, if an employer asks about your strengths, and you learn that they are known for providing fast service, you might state at the end of your response: ‘I know that your company places a high value on providing service that is quick, so as you can see, I share that same philosophy.”