You landed an interview for the job of your dreams.  You spent hours preparing and show up nice and early.

You are nervous, which is to be expected because this is the job you having been going after for ages.

The interviews start off great, you are nailing it. 

Then it happens.

They ask you a question.  And you don’t know how to answer it.  You panic and mumble, “um I don’t know” or ramble through some long winded story hoping that it distracts them or maybe just somehow answers the question.

The rest of the interview isn’t much better, you can’t stop thinking about how you’ve blown it and so the rest of your answers are just as bad.
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Has this ever happened to you?

I’m sure it has because most of us have an interview story of when we just couldn’t think of an answer.

Mine is really silly.  I was interviewing for a recruiter job right out of school and the question was actually a really easy one:

“If I were to call your references what would they say?”

It really caught me off guard and I wasn’t too sure what to say. 

So I immediately starting speaking and saying all the wrong things like “I’m friends with all my references so they’ll say good things” to “well I’m not sure what my father would say, it isn’t easy working for your dad, chuckle chuckle”. 

By the look on her face I knew I screwed up.  Which totally derailed the rest of the interview.

Needless to say, I didn’t get the job!

Prepare yourself for this to happen, that way if it does then you can handle it calmly and confidently, meaning you can leave the interview knowing you gave it your all and still in contention for the role.

So what should you do?

Remain Calm
Take a deep breath.  Remind yourself that you’ve got this.  Stay calm and confident. 

Be Open
Tough questions are a part of the game, so be open with the interviewer that you are having a tough time.  Maybe with a:

“Great question, let me think about that for a moment” Or if you are really struggling “would it be okay to come back to this question?”

Get Out of Your Head
Don’t be afraid to verbalize your thought processes as you try to come up with an answer.  This especially works for process oriented or technical questions.

“I don’t have experience with that exact {fill in blank}, but this is how I would approach it” and share your thoughts aloud.

Showcase Your Abilities
If you are asked a knowledge or technical question and you don’t know the answer or even how you would go about answering the question. Pivot and showcase your abilities.

“I don’t have experience with that exact {fill in blank}, but that hasn’t stopped me in the past” and share a story about a time at work where you were thrown into something new and how you quickly picked it up, maybe you even became the team expert!

Ask for Clarification
This is especially helpful with a behavioural based question.  The interviewer will repeat the question, maybe even ask it in a different way making it easier for you to come up with an answer.  And even if it doesn’t help, it will buy you more time to collect yourself and think of something!

Be Persistent
So you couldn’t answer it, or your answer wasn’t what you hoped it could be.  That doesn’t mean all is lost.

Once you come to the end of your lackluster story, go into how you would go about finding out the right answer.  Show them you are not the type who sits back and expects things to come to you, you will go out there and find the solution.

Maybe during the interview a better answer comes to you, before you ask your questions ask if it is okay to revisit that question and share your new stronger answer with them.

After the interview you’ll send your thank you email, talk them through what you now know.  If it was a technical question – tell them how you researched and discovered the answer.  If it was a behavioural question, go through a quick 3 sentence story about it.

Bad answers happen.  And people who give bad answers still get hired.  Because the perfect interview is rare, so what matters most is how you handle it.  Don't let it ruin the rest of the interview.  

Having trouble with interviews in general?  I can help with that!  I help clients figure out what has been going wrong and we turn things around.  Invest in your success.

The first couple of months that I started my business, I was doing what a lot of people do when they start something new.  I was following lots of experts, reading their articles, using their free resources and trying to take their generalized advice and make it work for my specific circumstances.

I felt like I was putting together a puzzle but all the pieces didn’t really fit.  Which left me constantly questioning my work, tweaking it and all around just feeling lost and confused.

It wasn’t until I finally sucked it up and realized that I needed to INVEST in myself and my business that I felt confident and saw the growth I wanted.  I picked a coach that made sense for my business model and have never looked back.  I got the clarity I needed and was able to grow my business much faster than I had anticipated and have had more success like being featured in numerous articles, writing for my peers and even interviewed on Blog Talk Radio.

As someone who is super frugal and who wants to do it themselves, it was really hard to suck it up and make the investment. 
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I know I’m not alone in that, so I wanted to provide some great reasons why you should consider hiring a Coach (business, career or life).

​Reason 1: CLARIFY YOUR GOALS
There are a lot of voices out there telling us what we SHOULD want so it is really hard to cut through the noise to tap into our own motivations and figure out what we REALLY want.  A coach helps you get crystal clear on how you measure success and happiness and what that means for your future.

Reason 2: GET THERE FASTER
You know what you want, now you have to make it happen.  Having a coach to lean on, to cheer you on and to push you will help you get there faster.

Reason 3: PREPARE FOR THE WORST
Achieving a goal isn’t as easy as we'd like to believe.  It is a tough journey filled with lots of ups and downs.  A coach has seen it all, they have supported many on their journeys plus have usually been on a journey of their own.  That means that they know the lows you are about to face and can help prepare you for them.  On top of all that, they are there to support you during those tough times.

Reason 4: THE TOOLBOX
Coaches have a toolbox, full of strategies, perspectives, tips and tricks, making it easier to navigate your journey.

Reason 5: SUPPORT SYSTEM
A major key to success is having a strong support system, one that is there for you but one that is also there to keep you accountable.  Regular meetings with a coach keeps you on track.

Reason 6: SETS YOU UP FOR SUCCESS
We all have bad habits, ones that prevent you from making your dreams a reality.  A coach will help you figure out what those are and provide support and tips on replacing those habits with ones that support your path to success not destroy it.

Reason 7: SAVES YOU TIME
When you give up an hour a week to a coach you’ll actually gain time.  Allowing you more work/life balance or time to achieve those goals.  Coaches help you figure out time management and how to say “No” to yourself and others.

Reason 8: UNLOCK YOUR INNER WISDOM
When we clear away voices that aren’t ours, develop helpful habits and free up time, an amazing thing happens.  We unlock our own inner wisdom that will help guide us in our careers and lives.

Reason 9: BE THE BEST YOU
We hold ourselves back in so many ways.  A coach helps you live the life YOU want and help you face FEAR and to push you out of your comfort zone so that you can achieve those careers and lives that you are looking for.
 
I know that my clients have been helped in these ways as I have been through my own work with my coach.

Finding a coach that you connect with, trust and whose opinion you value is vital.  To see if I am that person for you, schedule a free Discover Your Career strategy call.

Listen in as I talk about the 2nd and 3rd interviews!

​2nd Interview – typically 1 of 3:

• There are a 3 main types:
  • Human Resources Interview
    • Purpose:  the organizational culture and behavioural fit
  • Hiring Manager Interview
    • Purpose: fit within their team, can you do the job and do you fit in with their future plans for the role/team.
  • Peer/Team Interview
    • Purpose: fit within the team, how collaborative are you, with a smidge of “are you competition”
• All are looking at your “fit”

 
3rd Interview – Business Group/Executive Interview

• How is this different?
• Purpose:
  • How you would support these individuals succeed.
  • Client group, how would you partner with them to drive success
  • Senior Exec, what you hope to achieve and how you will accomplish it.
• How To Frame Answers:
  • build upon your result portion of the answer.  Don’t just provide the outcome but also provide the future. 
• They may ask some quirky and personal questions.  They may spend it talking your ear off (just smile and nod).  The key is to roll with it and be authentic.