‘Can you tell me a time when you've shown leadership skills?’
University of Glasgow Careers, Employability & Opportunity
How to answer this question on applications, at interviews and in assessment centres
By Fiona Stubbs, Careers Manager
When interviewing, you may be asked about your leadership skills, even as a graduate. You may be asked something like, ‘Do you have any leadership experience?’ or ‘Should there be a leader in a team?’
You may think that you need to have been a manager to have leadership experience, but this isn’t the case. It’s about having the skills of a leader.
For example, you may have been asked to take the lead in running a group project or presentation. Through this experience, you may have developed and/or applied skills associated with leadership such as responsibility, confidence, team working, strong communication skills, emotional intelligence, influencing and building relationships.
Often, questions about your leadership skills are simply used to assess your future potential to be a leader.
In any case, how do you prepare for these types of questions?
Consider what leadership means to you
There is no one way to be a leader, and it’s important for you to consider what it means to you and show self-awareness. Before filling in a form or preparing for an interview, start by thinking of any experience of both being a leader and working for a manager. What did you or they do that worked well? What skills did each of you show?
Think of a story
Once you know what leadership means to you, think of a time when you put it into practice. Use the STAR technique to craft your example into a clear story and practise out loud before the interview.
When sharing this story on an application or in an interview, use the word ‘I’ rather than ‘we’ and use powerful authoritative language (eg ‘I delegated’, ‘I organised’). A good answer also considers the impact that your actions have on others, such as motivating them to achieve a goal.
You should also reflect on what you learnt from the experience and how it may help you in the future.
Don’t say this at the interview
The easiest way to mess up an answer is to say that you don’t have any leadership experience. Everyone has demonstrated leadership skills. Explain how you think leadership is about demonstrating good skills. Then, share a story about when you’ve showed these skills. But remember, this is hard to improvise in the moment, so try to prepare in advance.
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Apply your skills at an assessment centre
If you’re invited to an assessment centre and have a group exercise, consider your actions in front of interview assessors. Use this opportunity to demonstrate your leadership skills.
A good leader listens to their team’s viewpoints rather than telling people what to do, so apply your active listening skills.
In addition, don’t try to take over as it can come across as pushy and arrogant. Instead, try to direct the team in more subtle ways, such as asking, ‘Does anyone have thoughts on how we should approach this?’ If someone does try to take over in a group exercise, challenge this in a calm manner, perhaps by suggesting that not everyone has yet given their input.
How can you develop your leadership skills?
One way to develop your leadership skills is to get involved in a group activity. Look for opportunities like:
There are endless possibilities.
Another option is to take on a mentoring role as this will develop the relationship-building aspect of being a leader. This could be coaching a sports team or other community group (eg Scouts) or being a home tutor for school children. During the school holidays, you could take up a TEFL role or work at an American summer camp. In fact, any role working with children is valuable leadership experience.
There are smaller ways to develop your leadership skills as well, such as volunteering for extra duties in a part-time job, leading a group of your peers for an academic project or simply identifying a problem on campus and working to solve it.
You got this!
No matter where or how you develop your leadership skills, it’s crucial that you share your experiences when applying to jobs. Remember to reflect on your experience, structure your answer and practise, and you will rock this!
Resources?
SRC clubs and societies directory: One way to develop your leadership skills and get other valuable experience is by joining a club or society (and potentially, serving on the committee).?
SRC volunteering opportunities: Volunteering is another way to gain leadership experience while supporting a community.?