Fuel for Launch – Your Achievements


 

 

You got to power up your interview with Rocket Fuel-Your achievements.

 

At the same time, you should remember to do it eloquently and not bore the interviewer with your narcissistic victory dance!

 

Have you met with people who go on and on about themselves and their stories, their achievements and their charity/social work and work achievements and hobbies and their vacations …..? You got the gist … right?

 

They just won’t stop. And God, you want them to stop.

 

They make the whole conversation about themselves. They take the center stage in the universe and tell you about how the entire world revolves around them.

 

You hate that conversation. You probably don’t want to interact with that person again.

 

Now, let’s bring your focus to the Job Interview.

 

What do you do now?

 

The Job Interview is primarily designed so that YOU can tell the interviewer all about YOURSELF, Right?

 

Doesn’t the interview serve as the conversation where the Interviewer is talking all about his/her achievements and impressing the interviewer on how good they are, how exemplary their achievements are, and how fantastic a performer they are??

 

YES! but a Resounding NO too.

 

Because the CONTEXT is everything!

 

The Interviewer is interested in knowing about you BUT it is in the context of the job and the role at hand in the specific organization.

Remember, the interview is a match-making exercise. The interviewer is establishing a MATCH between YOU and the ROLE and the TEAM/ORGANIZATION.

 

So your achievement and your stories have to be TOLD in CONTEXT which serves the above objective.

 

If you achieved something big, the context of the achievement is equally crucial for the interviewer to know whether that achievement means anything for them and their organization.

 

As harsh as it may sound, your fantastic achievement may mean little to them if the context is not right.

 

Me being an author of a best-seller short story collection is of no use for the supply chain executive role I am being interviewed for.

Me being a successful Life and Business coach holds no meaning or significance when I am interviewing for a Rocket Launch countdown specialist role at a space agency.

 

Me being an experienced interview coach specializing in senior leadership roles will be meaningless when I am being interviewed to serve as a swimming instructor.

 

I can be mighty proud of my credibility as well as my expertise AND I can have some really huge achievements tied to my role as a Life Coach, Business Coach, and Job Interview Coach, but those stories need to be kept aside when being interviewed for roles that need a different skill set.

 

I can mention the above as part of my introduction but they are not my ROCKET FUEL.

 

So … what will be the ROCKET FUEL?

 

The Rocket Fuel is a delicate marriage of your achievements and the job being interviewed.

 

So here are the questions for today:

 

Q1. What have been your biggest achievements at work in the last 1000 days (3 years)?

 

Q2. What have been your biggest achievements at work beyond the 3 years in the past?

 

Q3. What are the qualities, capabilities, and skill sets that are required for the job role you are targeting?

 

Once you have answered the questions and got a list for all the 3 questions, you need to set out to write your ‘stories’. The stories that tell the tale of the achievement … while highlighting the inputs from Q3. Write your story and then edit it to a manageable length where you don’t bore the interviewer.

 

You don’t make a story for each input from Q3. You write the story and see which all inputs from Q3 get covered. There will be overlaps. Each story will highlight different aspects of your skill set.

 

That’s great.

 

Go ahead. Be the HERO of your life.

 

Write your stories of success. Be Humble.

 

Give credit where it is due. Don’t take undue credit either.

 

You are the Super Hero of your life movie, but don’t forget the entire supporting cast either.

 

#kmcc #takecharge #layoffs #coaching #jobinterview

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This is the 7th article in the ‘Job Interview Coaching’ series that I am doing.

 

I will be writing regularly on this subject (hopefully 4-5 times a week this month of Feb’2023). You can follow me to ensure you don’t miss out.

 

Introduction - https://bit.ly/CJI00 - the inspiration behind the series

1st Article - https://bit.ly/CJI01 - Learned Helplessness and Job Search is like dating

2nd Article - https://bit.ly/CJI002 - Bears and Teddy Bears of Life

3rd Article - https://bit.ly/CJI003 - Career is a Box of Chocolates and You have a choice

4th Article - https://bit.ly/CJI004 - Don’t let too much time be a problem

5th Article - https://bit.ly/CJI005 - Match-making happens in heaven and the Interview Room

6th Article - https://bit.ly/CJI006 - Job Interviews are Story-Telling Sessions

 

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