Watch another one of our job interview questions series. Here we tackle "What is your greatest accomplishment?" Check out our job interview questions 101 post: http://theinterviewguys.com/job-interview-questions-and-answers-101/?utm_source=AccompD&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=youtube
This interview question is a fantastic opportunity for you to show you are a perfect fit for the company. But as you'll see in the video there are a few tricks to answering this that will leave you head and shoulders above your competition.
You should definitely plan for this question since it is one of many typical interview questions and it really is a great opportunity for you to shine. Don't worry about boasting just be natural and pick a specific accomplishment that will connect with what the company or organization is looking for in this particular job position.
For more information take a look at the transcript from the video. (In it we also provide the example answer from the video)
JEFF
Hi, we're Jeff and Mike the Interview Guys and today we're going to teach you how to answer the question
"what is your greatest accomplishment?". Thanks for having me over Mike. So, anywhere for me to sit?
MIKE
Nope, just the one chair.
JEFF
Ummm, okay...i guess i'll just stand here then
MIKE
Okay great lets' get started. There is one overwhelming principal that you need to remember when answering this question, and that is that you need to relate your accomplishment to the position you're applying for.
JEFF
What does that mean? It means that you don't just want to choose an accomplishment randomly, you want to choose one that is relevant to the position and the company you are interviewing with.
MIKE
This falls in line with our "tailoring method", which says that you need to tailor your entire interview to the company you are interviewing with, beginning with your answers to each question.
JEFF
The best way to tailor the answer to this question is to start by researching the key qualities that the company is looking for in their perfect candidate.
MIKE
What are these qualities? Generally speaking, they are skills, strengths and abilities. Once you find out which qualities the company values, you need to add them to one of your past accomplishments, one that is relevant to the company you're interviewing with. Can you give us an example Jeff?
JEFF
Sure. I'd say something like,
"I'd say that my greatest accomplishment was mentoring my assistant to eventually become my replacement as general manager
at 123 Resources. The icing on the cake was this person using the systems I taught her to lead the organization to a 30% increase in revenue last year. One of the reasons
I am interested in working with XYZ Minerals is that I would like to continue my work as a mentor to young employees and I know that your organization encourages this."
MIKE
Good job Jeff. Do you see what he did in his answer? He included the strength "mentorship", which he discovered through
his research was of high importance to the company, and then included it in his answer.
MIKE
So that's how you answer the question "what is your greatest accomplishment". If you want to learn how to use this method to answer
other tough interview questions, you're in luck, because we've created a special report that will show you how to create perfect interview answers every time!
