A Strategy for ESL Learners to Create Powerful Answers for Challenging Interview Questions in English

You've submitted your CV or resume to the company who's hiring for a position you really desire. You made sure you did a good job making your CV or Resume matched the job description. The hiring manager has seen it and is impressed with your background and experience for the position. He or she wants to invite you for an interview. Congratulations! They filtered through many CVs and now they have shortlisted you as a potential candidate for the job role.

It's a difficult enough task to get to this stage. But it doesn't get any easier. They now want to see if you are going to fit in the company and that you can do the job effectively.

For sure you've probably been in this situation enough times doing the interview in your mother tongue. But doing the interview in English, you are likely going to feel more pressure than before.

In this article I'm going to discuss strategies you can use to help you prepare for answering challenging questions in interviews in English.

You are likely fully aware of the types of questions you will be asked during an interview. You will be asked about your background, information about previous projects you completed. They want to know how motivated you are for the job role. They will ask you situational questions, behavioural questions, and competency based questions.

In order to answer situational, behavioural, and competency based questions effectively, you will need to follow a particular answering strategy. The answering technique for these types of questions is to use the STAR(L) technique:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result
• (Learn)

In the Situation part, you describe the situation and set the scene for your answer: Who was involved, where were you, when did this situation happen, what was going on.

In the Task part, you explain what activities you were required to complete.

In the Action part you describe the actions you completed and demonstrating the skills you used. This is the most important part of the answer. You must do your best to make sure you tell your answer in first person: I created..... , I drafted....... , I scheduled........ . This part should cover 50-60% of your answer, between the Situation and Result sections of your answer.

In the Result part you describe what were the outcomes caused by your actions, and what were positive results. If possible, you want to present your results with tangible outcomes. For example, this can be financially, or as a percentage of the increased productivity.

In the Learn part you discuss what you learned from the experience. It is not necessary to include this in your initial answer. However, it is important to have it prepared, just in case they ask you what did you learn from the experience.

An example of how you would create a STAR(L) answer is shown below:

Question: Tell me about a significant decision that you faced and how you went about making it.

Situation: “During my employment at Elron, there was this piece of testing equipment that wasn’t working correctly. It was a fairly expensive piece of specialized equipment so it wasn’t clear whether it should be repaired or replaced. I worked with my supervisor to make an informed decision.”

Task(s): “I was responsible for working with the equipment manufacturer to get an estimate for the cost of repair, evaluating replacement options, and helping my supervisor make the final decision.”

Action(s): “I worked with my supervisor to brainstorm ideas and to determine what information was needed to make a good decision. I suggested for us to compare alternative equipment that was available on the market. My supervisor praised me for this. I then ran the equipment until it failed and documented the failure with pictures in a short report. I then shared this information with the equipment manufacturer and got an estimate for the costs of repairs. I also evaluated replacement options by identifying the important features of the system and collecting information on potential replacements from several vendors. Once I had all of the information, I organized it in an Excel spreadsheet and presented it to my supervisor.”

Result(s): “My supervisor was able to make an informed decision and he was happy with my work. We saved Elron hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of potential lost revenue.”

Learn: “I learned the importance of obtaining and analysing several options that are available to assist with selecting the best option to solve a problem. Whenever possible, do not limit yourself to one option for a potential solution.”

If you're having difficulties creating a STAR(L) answer for an interview question in English, including saying your answer fluently, here's the steps you can follow to make it easier:

• Write the answer down in your mother tongue. This step is only recommended for ESL learners who have a proficiency lower than upper intermediate.
• Write the answer down fully in English. Afterwards on a separate sheet, write only the key words used in your answer. An example of this is shown taking the Results section from the example answer shown above:

"My supervisor was able to make an informed decision and he was happy with my work. We saved Elron hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of lost revenue.”

supervisor informed decision happy saved hundreds of thousands

• Now practice using the key words as a prompt saying the answer, until you can say the answer fluently. Afterward, practice saying the answer without using the key words. Work on practicing each section of your answer separately. If required, start slowly, then build up your fluency after several practice runs. Once you are comfortable with saying all the STAR parts separately, say all the parts together.
• Finally focus on your eye contact while saying your answer. You want to learn to say your answer while giving eye contact for 70% of the time when you're answering the question. You can do this by focusing on an object as a focal point while practicing. A good example focal point, can be the built-in camera in your laptop.

The first few times you do this, it will be challenging. But afterwards, it does get easier. Then you will be able to create and say answers fluently for many different challenging interview questions in no time!

I go through the aspects shown above in my program. I go into further details to improve your interview skills. In addition, I cover technical electrical engineering vocabulary skills, job application skills, fluency and pronunciation skills, listening skills and more. This is included in my English Communication Skills Program for Electrical Engineers.

I provide tailored lessons in my program which will help you get the career progression you desire.

If you are interested you can book a free 30 minute strategy session with me. I can provide you with the next steps you need to take, in order to improve all of your English communication skills, including your interview skills.

Send me a message to get started improving your English communication skills today!

Simon Fletcher - MSc, BEng(Hons), TEFL - Simms Eng Consultancy

Coaching Dedicated Electrical Engineers improve their job performance and accelerating their career progression by advancing their English Communication Skills!