Carl Bradford

Interview questions that begin with, “give me an example of….” or “tell me about a time when…..” are commonly used especially with behavioral interviewing methods.

Candidates frequently flub their answers – even very senior candidates – but it doesn’t have to be that way.

There is a great way to add punch to your interview answers and create more interest to the interviewer.  This will help strengthen your candidacy as well as positively separate you from your competitors.

How to get started

You start by having a communication strategy…and putting key phrases into your stories.

To appreciate a communication strategy, consider the “platform” of a presidential candidate. It anticipates questions on issues and formulates statements to guide the candidate’s answers. Now, when employer’s recruit, they have a concept in mind. I provide extensive training on this concept in our Members Only Section by explaining how you can can connect with the “message playing inside the recruiter’s head.”  In the final analysis, they hire you for the skills and abilities that certain key descriptive phrases imply.

To expand your marketability, you must develop stories that incorporate those phrases to create maximum interest. Without stories, most people will forget what you say in a matter of minutes. We all remember good stories.

To ensure your points are memorable, I recommend using a method for creating interesting stories. SOAR is an acronym that stands for Situation, Opportunities, Actions and Results. It offers a process for describing your past experience.

You may also have heard of the STAR process (Situation, Task, Action and Results).  It’s the same principle and you can use either, but in this blog post I’ll use SOAR.

The SOAR process… and how it works

Situations. Describe a job by outlining the situation when you began, making it interesting.
Opportunities. Then describe the opportunities the job presented. For example, “When I joined the firm, sales had been declining for three years. I saw the opportunity to target new areas.”
Actions. Next, move to actions taken by you and others (the team). We believe that these actions are the most important part of the SOAR process, and a great place for the descriptive phrases.
Results. Then relate what results occurred. For the “R” in SOAR, try to quantify the results. For example, you cut costs by S100,000 or 20%. In many administrative situ-ations, you can measure results using statements like “I did it in half the time” or “The system I developed was adopted throughout the company” or “I won an award.”

Indicate positive things you did to help your organizations. Describe how you helped your management team meet their goals, and also the results they achieved. You can also show how you demonstrated a skill or a personal quality.

Create stories that demonstrate benefits you can bring. If you successfully managed the integration of two teams fol¬lowing a merger, and the new business gained market share and/or costs were reduced-by all means say so. Wherever possible, quantify with dollar amounts, percentages, etc.

Here’s some examples of SOAR stories

Situation / Opportunity: When I joined MBC Sales, the company had lost nearly $7.5 million on a new product release. I recognized an opportunity to utillize my Procter & Gamble experience in marketing.
Action: With the help of the Y & R agency, I relaunched the brand, created a new television advertising campaign, and re-focused all marketing efforts.
Result: Within a year, we turned an $8 million loss to a $4 million gain-30% of the firm’s profits.

Situation / Opportunity: The company recruited 5,000 people a year but never had a sales training program.
Action: I created the firm’s first national sales training course. With a staff of 20, we introduced it in 57 markets throughout the US.
Result: For the first time, the company was able to bring in recruits who began produced sales within four weeks. In the following year, sales by newcomers accounted for $3,000,000.

Think of key accomplishment, i.e. the things you’re most proud of.  Do this for each job and put it in writing using the SOAR format and then internalize it so you can deliver it naturally during an interview.

Get even more impact

For even greater impact, include these accomplishments in your resume so they will naturally come up during your interview.  I recommend a Power Accomplishment Resume Format which is presented in the eLearning CBT modules.