The SHE formula
The SHE formula, means be succinct, honest and engaging.
Resist the urge to give a detailed account of the last two decades of your career. The interviewer is looking for an answer that shows them you’re qualified and can respond to an unstructured question.
Focus on Yourself, Not Your Team
Interviews are fundamentally an individual assessment. Unfortunately, when you listen to many candidates (especially those in leadership roles), their answers are about “we’; “us’; and “the team:’ The interviewer walks away having little idea what the candidate’s actual impact was and might conclude that the candidate did little.
Pay attention to your answers. Listen for how much you say “we” versus “I”: Assume that every question is about your role, and speak to that.
Structured answers to behavioral questions
There are two common ways to think about structuring responses to a behavioral question: nugget first and STAR (or SAR). These techniques can be used separately or together.
Nugget First means starting your response with a “nugget” that succinctly describes what your response will be about.
The STAR or SAR method is an interview technique that gives you a straightforward format you can use to tell a story by laying out the Situation, Task, Action, and Result.
- STAR: Situation -> Task -> Action -> Result
- SAR: Situation -> Action -> Result (even simpler)