Should you emphasize individual or team accomplishments at Job Interviews?

A few years back at one of the Recruitment Agencies I was employed at, we had a visit from one of our Clients (i.e. a Company whom we recruited for). Our Management Team was bringing in this Client as we were about to recruit on a new project they were about to begin and this Client wanted to spend some time sharing what they look for in their new potential hires, etc.

One of the things they mentioned really caught my attention: they said that the main thing they listen for when interviewing people were their individual accomplishments.

"If someone only describes what they did using 'we' I'm going to assume they didn't make a significant individual contribution and they were just riding off the success of the entire team they were a part of."

Hmm okay - I guess I really need to stress to Candidates I'm presenting to talk about their individual accomplishments and contributions when I'm helping them prepare for their Interviews.

But then - a few weeks later, we had a different Client visit us, also to share with us what they were looking for in their hires:

"If someone I'm interviewing is only talking about themselves and what they did as individuals, that tells me they're selfish and not team players. I want team players on my team!"

Huh?!? Well that advice was pretty much the total opposite of what the other Client told us!

Both these incidents during these 2 separate meetings made me realize that Hiring Managers themselves have different views on individual vs team achievements and what they are looking for in their ideal next hire (apart from skills/knowledge).

I'd heard from one Hiring Manager who stressed the importance of individual contributions as being the most important thing they wanted to know about. And I'd heard from the other Hiring Manager who had a clear preference for someone who stressed the importance of having a "team player".

So which should you emphasize at your Job Interviews?

1. Context matters: it could depend on the role. Some jobs have more of an emphasis on being an individual contributor. Other jobs have more of an emphasis on team/collective contributions. For example, for a Sales/Business Development Representative role, there is probably a large emphasis on individual contributions, KPI's and targets which need to be met and on which they are evaluated on (in most cases). Be sure to consider this when preparing to speak about this aspect of your background at Interviews.
2. Consider the Interviewer's stance: clearly the two Hiring Managers had a different philosophy regarding the importance of individual vs team contributions/achievements. If you're able to discern their views on this in advance - either through research, their social media posts sharing views on this, or through people you know internally at the Organization who know the Interviewer - you might be able to know in advance which you should emphasize more.
3. Play it safe. If in doubt - play it safe and talk about both with an equal level of importance. Don't just put emphasis on one over the other, talk about both. When running an Interviewer through a particular position talk about your accomplishments both as an individual and also as part of a collective/team effort. The Interviewer will typically ask further questions about the role which will reveal to you whether they are more interested in the individual or collective accomplishments.

Keep in mind - different Hiring Managers might have different views in regards to which is more important to them for you to talk about: individual or team achievements. In summary, 1) Context matters, 2) Consider the interviewer might have their own stance regarding which is important, and 3) Play it safe and talk about both types.

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Dean Kulaweera

IT Recruiter & Founder, Tech Recruiters 360. Dean is a Recruiter specialized in the recruitment of mid-level and senior-level IT Professionals primarily in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada, and has been a keynote or panelist speaker at over 40 events across North America speaking about the job search and recruitment. To contact Dean, email [email protected]