Demonstrating Know-How: Excellence and Results

Questions about your work experience and technical skills are crucial for the employer to determine if you are a good fit for the position.

It is not enough to say that you can perform the tasks; you must demonstrate that you execute them with excellence and success.

Importance of going beyond listing duties: Talk about accomplishments.

When talking about your experience, avoid simply reciting the duties listed on your resume or job description.

Senior employers, in particular, need to know if you are able to perform the job with absolute excellence and deliver results.

Your focus should be on accomplishments, results and impact. Demonstrate that your actions have had a positive effect on your team, department or the organization.

Use data and quantify results whenever possible.

Abstraction is your enemy in an interview. To give credibility and weight to your accomplishments, use hard facts and figures to quantify the impact of your actions.

Instead of saying "I increased sales," say "I established plans that increased sales by 20 percent.

Have details such as key figures, budgets handled or the number of people involved in the project ready, as the interviewer may ask about them.

Apply the STAR technique to structure these examples.

To ensure that your achievement stories are clear, complete and compelling, use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) technique to structure them.

S and T: Provide context and define the challenge.

A (Action): Detail what exactly you did; this is the component that demonstrates your skill.

R (Result): Closes the story with the quantified impact of your actions.

An event where the candidate covers all four of these components is considered a complete STAR, which gives you a solid foundation to validate your skills.

Summary

Questions about your work exper