Nail your next interview: What recruiters are listening for when they ask you a "tell me about a time" question.

I remember prepping for interviews, dreading the "tell me about a time question". Eagerly reflecting on my experiences, I'd ask myself which scenarios were worth sharing to ensure I was communicating my achievements and experiences effectively. At the time, I didn't fully understand what recruiters were looking for. I was just building my career... who knew it was interviewing itself that I'd end up falling in love with - not me, I was terrible at it! Well, after years of practice, passion, and some training, I'm officially an expert at this... just kidding! I conduct interviews every day, but I still need to prep, and I'm always honing my skills. I'd like to share some insight on why recruiters ask these types of questions and the best way to answer them as a guide for your upcoming interview. So without further ado, here's what recruiters are listening for when they ask you the infamous "tell me about a time" question.

The why: It's simple. We are assessing your communication, logic, motivations, tendencies, and preferences. It helps us evaluate your knowledge, ability, and skills. Behavioral interviewing questions are proven to successfully aid hiring managers with evaluating a candidate's future performance.

When answering a behavioral-based interview question, recruiters look for four pieces of information in the answer you provide them regarding the situation you are describing: situation, task, action, result.

Situation: Describe the situation you were in. Try to be specific, relevant, and make sure to give enough detail so that the recruiter can understand. As long as your experience is applicable, you can share experiences from work, volunteer opportunities, or school.

Task: Describe the task or goal. What were you working towards?

Action: Describe your contribution. What actions did you take? Walk them through each step. In this particular area, we are looking for specific actions you took, rather than actions taken as a team. Remember to use "I" vs "we".

Result: What was the result or impact of your actions? What did you learn? Be specific and make sure your answers contain multiple positive results. However, don't be afraid of sharing failures or negative results, this can show accountability and tenacity.

Always be truthful, concise, and confident.

Well, I hope you found this quick read to be helpful. I have some interviewing to get to!

Got something else on your mind you'd like me to cover? Comment below or shoot me a message.

Good luck out there!