Today, I want to talk you about the accomplishment question. So, if you’ve been on a few interviews before, you probably figured out that employers are asking you about your accomplishments. And if you’re like most people, you probably don’t even know how to answer that question; you don’t know where to start. And that’s what I want to dive into in this video.
So, if that’s a topic you want to hear more about, go ahead and like this video and we’ll dive right in.
So, the accomplishment question is designed to get you to express things that you have achieved before. They may as well just ask you, “What are your achievements?” They want to know the kinds of things that you have done that you proud of in your past jobs.
But the trick here is they want to know about it in a way that’s related to what they’re doing. So, let’s say, for example, you’re an accomplished salesperson and you know how to sell copy machines and you’re very good at it and you’re the best that there is. But maybe you’re interviewing for a job in accounts receivable.
Well, if you’re in accounts receivable and they ask you, “So, Don, what are some of your accomplishments?” and you say, “Well, I’m a really great copier salesman.” They’d be like, “Yeah. So? What’s that have to do with accounts payable or accounts receivable?”
So, I’m using some extreme examples to make my point here; copier salesman interviewing for accounts payable or receivable. But the point is I want you to think about what your accomplishments are that are related to the position; to what they’re looking for because those are the kinds of accomplishments that they want to hear.
I mean, sure; maybe you’re a proud parent, maybe you sent your kids off to college; whatever it is. Those aren’t the kind of accomplishments they want to hear. Those are your personal life achievement accomplishments and they are great. Maybe you graduated with an honors degree or a doctorate or whatever it is; very notable achievement.
What they want to hear is what you have done in your past job that’s great and outstanding that’s related to what they’re looking for. Makes sense?
So, the best way to find out what type of accomplishment you should use to talk about in your interview is to get that job description and read it over very carefully and find out what’s most important to them; what are they looking for, what kind of people are they looking for, what do they want this person to have done or what kind of experience do they want to have, what kind of education?
Take all those factors and then think about your past experiences and how they relate to what they are looking for in this job description. And then start thinking about some of the things that you have done; some of your more notable accomplishments that are aligned with the requirements for this job.
Now, I urge you not to think of every possible accomplishment that you have done. Just pick two or three that are relevant to what they’re looking for. This will make it easier for you to talk about. Because if you think about all your accomplishments over the last 10 or 20 years, I mean, your head’s just going to explode. It’s too much information.
So, you need to narrow and focus that information. And the best way to do that is to get out a pen and paper and just write out, in detail; very specifically, some of the things that you’ve worked on, some of the things that you’re proud of, some of the things that you have achieved. And then focus those and shape those to what they’re looking for.
Because what you want to be is relevant to what they’re looking for when they’re looking to hire somebody to do a certain job that has certain experience. So, you want to express yourself as closely as possible; you want to mirror what they’re looking for so that you can show them, “Hey, I’ve done these kinds of things in my past job, but I’ve done them really well. Here’s how I could do those things for you.” And that’s how you want to build your accomplishments statements. That’s the trick to it.
Most people, when they get in there, if they say anything at all, they might give them an unrelated accomplishment; accomplishment from a different job from and a different time that has nothing to do with this position at all. And as great as that all the other accomplishment might be, the employer doesn’t care because it’s not what they’re looking for; it’s not what they’re interested in.
They’re looking for somebody who has experience, who has achieved things in their certain area.
And the easiest way to answer an accomplishment question is to use the STAR Behavioral Method. Just talk about a Situation, talk about a Task and then talk about the Action that you took and talk about the Result.
So, that could be something as simple as, “We were faced with a problem. This is what we did to solve it. And this is the result.” That could be an accomplishment; that could be solving a problem; it can be an accomplishment or it could be something greater.
Let’s say you are in sales and you’re interviewing for a sales position. Talk about one of your biggest sales. Talk about a customer that you were trying to land that you had a really hard time. Talk about all the things that you did, all the nurturing that you did and the relationship and the rapport building that you had to do. And then what you had to get them through to get them on board with you. And then what the result was. what that sale was or what your year in numbers were. It’s not that hard.
Now, I tell you; when it’s a little bit harder is for college students. Because they come out of college and they go on the first job interview and the employers is saying, “What are your accomplishments?” And the college kid is like, “Well, I don’t know. I don’t have any. I just graduated college and I don’t work yet.”
In those kinds of cases, you really don’t want to say, “No.” So, go back to your college years, even though your college years might not be related, an accomplishment from those years might not be related to the job, at least, it’s something.
So, if you have nothing else to talk about; no one accomplishment, say, “Well, I don’t have something specific in that area, but here’s one of the things that I’m proud of from my college years. These are some of the things I did; I was captain of the football team” or “I was the president of our fraternity”; whatever it is.
Meet them halfway. Give them something close. Never just shrug your shoulders and say, “I don’t have the accomplishments” because you do. I know you do. I mean, you’re here. You’re here today. You’re watching me in this video, so I know you’re the kind of person that has done great things. All you have to do is just get it out of here and have it come out here and express yourself. You have done great things. I know you have. All right, my friend. That’s all I have for you today.
Oh, one more thing. Before you next grab a copy of The Complete Interview Answer Guide. Because this guide is going to give you a solid overview of all the questions you can expect to get on any interview.
And it covers the accomplishment question, it covers, “Tell me about yourself.” “Why do you want to work here?” “Why should we hire you?” and 140 other questions.
And this is going to be just your blueprint (your roadmap) to landing your next job. It’s going to show you all the kinds of questions that you can expect to get on an interview and it’s going to give you simple answers for how to answer those.
And this book comes a hard copy, just like this. It’s available in e-book form; you can just download it right away and read it on your phone, your computer, whatever. It’s also available in audio and video. So, if you’d like to learn by watching videos or listening to audio tracks, I have that option for you too.
It’s the only book in the world, I believe, that’s available in hardcopy, audio, video and e-book. It’s been around for over 10 years. It’s actually used by employers too. They will buy this book and use it as their guide to interview and hire candidates.
So, go to jobinterviewstools.com before your next interview. Grab a copy of this book, download it or the hard copy; whatever it is. It’s going to help you go farther in the process. It’s going to show you what you can expect on your next interview and it’s going to teach you how to answer all these different types of questions. All right, my friend. Good luck on your next interview.
If you like this video, go ahead and “Like” it and subscribe to my channel and I’ll see you in the next video. Take care. Bye now.
