The interview answer hiring managers actually want

The hiring manager doesn't care about your good result. They care about something else. This is the Art of the Interview where I teach you how to approach interviews so that you can get a job offer and get that bag. Today, we're talking about behavior based questions. We all know the STAR method to answer behavior based questions because everyone uses them. Situation, Task, Action, Result. It's okay, but it's not memorable. So the way you're going to differentiate yourself is adding a fifth step. That fifth step is REFLECT. Reflect your answer after your result. You might worry it's going to make your answer longer. It's actually meant to stop yourself from getting too much in the weeds about your result. Because having a good or bad your situation, actually matters less than your self awareness on what you learned from that scenario. A common example is when someone asks you, "Tell me about a time you had conflict with a coworker." You go through your standard STAR, great conflict resolved, happy ending. But then you add a reflection like, "Looking back, I should've had the conversation sooner before it built up. I learned that having early conversations saves everyone time, as well as help me prioritize the project sooner." That last sentence is way more impactful and memorable than the result of the scenario. It's the difference between a real versus polished answer. It tells the hiring manager that you're self aware and coachable. Things that they cannot train. The traditional STAR method will qualify you, but adding a reflection will make you memorable. More Art of the Interview next week 🙏