Page 42 - How To Answer Interview Questions (II)

Situation or Task (Set up the story—what happened? What was your goal?)
Action (What did you choose to do and why?)
Result (What happened as a result of your actions? Quantify this wherever possible.)

For example:
Situation –
“I was assigned X project. It was a complicated project with lots of moving
parts, and had to be completed in 90 days.”
Task or Action –
“I set a goal of getting the project done in 80 days so we’d have time to make
corrections or deal with problems that came up along the way. To keep things
running as efficiently as possible, I assigned parts of the project to 5 different
teams, with check-in meetings every week. I was able to coordinate their tasks
and minimize downtime.”
Result –
“Because of the way I set it up, we completed the project on time and 10% under
budget. Our Vice-President was so impressed, I received a company award and
presented my process at the next company meeting so that other managers could
learn from it and implement it, too.”

Your story should clearly demonstrate how you added value to the organization through your
actions.

Use numbers, dollars, or percentages to quantify this added value and add a lot of strength to your
answer.

Key to a Great Interview - Quantification

#$%

Describe your achievements in terms of numbers, dollars, and percentages. See how
quantification strengthens your answer:

"I brought in new clients" or
"Brought in 20 new clients in 3 months"
"I delivered product on time and under budget" or