How to Avoid Clichés in Interviews

“Tell me about yourself.”

“Well, I grew up in Boston, went to school at Boston College, HUGE fan of the Red Sox. Really going to miss "Big Papi” and oh,  I’m a hard worker, motivated, detail-oriented, and a team player who is a real people person.”

Let’s see, did we get it all in there?

Overcoming Clichés

My cliché would be “If I had a dollar for every time I heard one of those phrases, I’d be rich.”

The goal in an interview is to set yourself apart – in a positive manner– from the rest. Over-used phrases become monotonous to the interviewer. They may even be a red-flag because you can’t articulate specifics about your experience.

There are two ways to overcome this:

• Have a Strong Opening
• Demonstrate Your Descriptive Words and Phrases

Strong Openings

“Tell me about yourself.”

This is a common starting point for interviews so be laser-focused on the task at hand – getting the job for which you are interviewing.

Talk briefly (maybe two minutes) about 3 main areas:

• Overview: Give a brief version of your career history. Be clear, concise, and to the point.
• Specific accomplishment: Give a summary of a specific achievement to spark the interviewer’s interest.
• Tie it up with a pretty red bow – End with a conclusive sentences(s) about what you want to achieve next in your career but make sure it’s relevant to this position.

Example:

Overview: “I am an eight-year sales veteran with a focus on financial software systems.”

Specific accomplishment: “In my current role, I’ve been able to land two new clients this past year that will add an additional 1M in yearly sales revenue. This is particularly important because no prior salesperson has been able to persuade them to come onboard and use our system. I was able to close the deal within the first three months of meeting them.

Tie it up nicely: For the next step in my career, I would like to move away from direct sales and become the corporate sales trainer. I’ve been very successful in my career and I have several techniques that I can teach to other salespeople. I know this will have a tremendous impact on the company bottom line.

That will pull your interviewer in much more than telling them that you’re from Boston. Their mind is already churning because they are thinking about how you can help them increase their sales.

Demonstrate the Descriptive Words

The problem with using these clichéd descriptive words is that they are rarely followed by concrete explanations.

So you say that you are proactive. That’s great. Everyone says the same thing.

For every buzzword or cliché you believe describes you, think about examples that prove it. If you think you are a hard worker then come up with a couple of key examples that demonstrate this.

The easiest way to do this is to read the position description duties carefully and think back to similar experiences that match those duties.

Many interviewers believe that past behavior will predict future performance so you need to demonstrate your past achievements by giving concrete examples of “how you get it done.”

Using the STAR method is an easy way to help you frame your answers in a way that shows results.

The STAR method is a structured way of responding to interview questions by discussing the specifics of the situation.

It stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result

 Here’s what I mean:

Question: “Tell me about a time when you were proactive.”

 Situation: Describe the specific situation and be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand the full scenario.

Example: In my last position as program coordinator for my university, I had responsibility for securing speakers for our meetings, advertising the programs to the local community and to students, and evaluating the effectiveness of the program.

Task: What goal were you working toward?

Previous attendance at meetings had decreased dramatically due to a decline in the overall student population. The university was concerned and wanted to increase attendance by at least 15% compared to the prior year.

Action: What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution?

I developed a survey using social media to determine the members’ interests and ideas for possible speakers and topics. Then I randomly selected members for a focus group interview to gain further insight into their desires.

Result: What was the end result?

Because of the information I gathered from the surveys and interviews, I was able to select speakers based upon what the members wanted. Under my leadership, attendance increased 25% over the previous year – exceeding their desire of 15%.

Show the skills that make you the most qualified for the job. Let your unique talent earn you that job!