Episode 102: How to answer strengths-based graduate job questions

July 24, 2020 Podcast

Hello and welcome to the 102nd episode of the Graduate Job Podcast, the UK’s number 1 careers podcast. And I’ve got a goodie for you today, I’m going to take you through the often-overlooked part of the interview process, strengths-based questions! Graduates are well versed with competency questions, and can give a STAR answer till the cows come home, but learning about and practising strengths-based questions are often overlooked, and that needs to change, and it will….today. In the show today I will walk you through what strengths-based questions are, and why you need to know how to answer them. We discuss why they have been growing in popularity and why that growth is only going to continue. We cover the types of questions you could face and also hints and tips for how you can answer them and also the interview itself. Its and all-round strengths-based interview masterclass. No matter where you are in your job search, if you have ever had a strength-based interview before, or never heard of them, this is an episode which you are not going to want to miss. Now the all the links and a full transcript from today can be found in the show notes at which you can find at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/strength

MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

  • What strengths-based questions are
  • Why they are important and why you need to know how to answer them
  • The reasons why strengths-based questions have been growing in popularity and why that growth is only going to continue.
  • The types of strengths-based questions you could face
  • Hints and tips for how you can answer them and what you can expect in the interview itself

SELECTED LINKS

Transcript- Episode 102- How to answer strengths-based graduate job questions

Announcer: Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, your home for weekly information and inspiration to help you get the graduate job of your dreams.

James Curran: Hello and welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, with your host James Curran. The Graduate Job Podcast is your home for all things related to helping you on your journey to finding that amazing job. Each episode I bring together the best minds in the industry, speaking to leading authors, graduate recruiters and career coaches who bring decades of experience into a byte size show. Put simply, this is the show I wish I had when I graduated.

Hello and welcome to the 102nd episode of the Graduate Job Podcast, the UK’s number 1 careers podcast. And I’ve got a goodie for you today, I’m going to take you through the often-overlooked part of the interview process, strengths-based questions! Graduates are well versed with competency questions and can give a STAR answer till the cows come home, but learning about and practising strengths-based questions are often overlooked, and that needs to change, and it will….today. In the show, I will walk you through what strengths-based questions are, and why you need to know how to answer them. We discuss why they have been growing in popularity and why that growth is only going to continue. We cover the types of questions you could face and also hints and tips for how you can answer them and also the interview itself. Its and all-round strengths-based interview masterclass. No matter where you are in your job search, if you have ever had a strength-based interview before, or never heard of them, this is an episode which you are not going to want to miss. Now the all the links and a full transcript from today can be found in the show notes at which you can find at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/strength

Now before we start let me tell you about the brilliant course I’m working on that goes live on Thursday the 27th August, ‘How to Get a Graduate Job’. This course is packed chock full of decades of experience into a step by step guide of everything you need to know, and everything you need to do to get a graduate job. There are videos, guides, handouts, cheat sheets, look, I walk you through every stage of the graduate application process so that you will be confident at each stage. I’ll be talking about the course a lot between now and go live, but to make sure you are ready and in the best possible position to apply for a graduate job I’ve created a free guide for you, ‘The 5 steps you must take before applying for graduate jobs’. The feedback from those who have downloaded it so far has been amazing, so get yourself a copy and see for yourself by going to https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/5steps. I’ll also keep you informed about the course so you can get it as soon as it goes live with special bonuses for the first people that sign up. So head to https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/ Ok on with the show

So, let’s get straight into Strengths-Based Questions. You might be thinking that you don’t need to know about them, but you would be wrong. The Institute of Student Employers in 2019 said that 50% of its graduate recruiter membership used strengths-based recruitment processes in some way, so you need to know what they are and how to answer them effectively. Companies such as Capgemini, Barclays, Nestle, EY, Standard Chartered, Aviva, and Jaguar Land Rover to name a few all use strengths-based questions, and if you are applying to a few firms in your graduate job search you will definitely come across them.

So, what are they? While competency question look at what you can and have done, strength-based questions spin it around and instead focus on your natural skills and innate abilities. What you enjoy doing, and what you have a natural aptitude, interest and motivation for, what your innate strengths are. Hence the name.

So why are they used? What is wrong with the good old competency questions I hear your cry? Well, there are 3 reasons why they are used. The first reason comes from the interviewing company themselves, who strangely want to find people who have strengths in and enjoy the work they are doing.  Why do companies care about what you enjoy doing? Don’t they know that work isn’t there to be enjoyed? Well, these businesses with their constant desire for profit have realised that if you hire people who enjoy the type of work that they are doing, they are more productive, stay in the job longer and the company makes more money.

The theory goes that, when a candidate is using their strengths at work, they demonstrate a real sense of energy and engagement, will be in a state of ‘flow’ and lose a sense of time because they are engrossed in and enjoying the task, you learn information more quickly and you perform better at work.

Another reason for their use is that strengths-based questions are seen as a way to uncover a more Genuine version of the candidate one that is less rehearsed. One of the criticisms of competency questions is that the answers can often be seen as robotic, people practice and learn the STAR methodology and the answers can be delivered by rote and can come across as fake. In comparison, by asking strength-based questions, an interviewer can really get a feel for who the interviewee actually is, what personally motivates them, and what excites them. This allows for the personality of the interviewee to shine through. The interview will feel more personal, and candidates are usually happier to talk about themselves and show a more natural side to their personality. So, you get to be more honest, and the company gets to see a more authentic version of you. Everybody’s happy.

And the third reason for their use and perhaps their growing popularity is that they are seen as being more inclusive. For competency questions, it’s about thinking of stories to tell, examples from work experience, extracurricular studies, internships etc. But not everyone has these experience to call upon, and not everyone has work experience, especially in competitive fields like banking, law and accounting, so by not asking questions which are focussed towards experience you are being more inclusive. The argument is strengths-based interviews provide graduates from all socio-economic backgrounds with an equal opportunity to succeed, as extracurricular activities or internships might be easier for students from more advantaged backgrounds to obtain.

The upshot is, you can be a fresh-faced graduated with no work experience, and you could be up against someone with experiences coming out of there ears, but with strengths-based questions that doesn’t matter.

So, we’ve talked about what they are why they are used, lets look at some example questions to give you a flavour. Now I go into deep detail of the different types of questions in the How to Get a Graduate Job course, but it would make a dull episode to list them all here, so let me give you a flavour. They include.

  • What energises you?
  • What motivates you? 
  • When do you feel most inspired?
  • Tell me about an activity or task that comes easily to you.
  • Describe a situation in which you feel most like ‘yourself’.
  • What do you learn quickly?
  • What things give you energy?
  • What gets you out of bed in the morning?
  • What do you find is always left until last/or left undone on your to-do-list?
  • Do you find deadlines motivating or intimidating?
  • What did you find easiest at university?
  • Do you prefer to start tasks or to finish them?
  • Give me an example of a successful day at work?

So, as you can see these questions are very different to the standard competency questions of tell me about a time you worked as part of a team, or whatever it might be, and the answers you will give are very different to the standard example of a group work exercise at university where someone wasn’t pulling their weight. So, we have covered what they are, why they are used, and some of the questions you will be asked. Let’s go through to how to answer them.

Tip number 1, research the company. The first place to start is researching the company’s values again and to check the job description to see what qualities they’re looking for in their candidates. This hopefully shouldn’t be new to you and is one of the key steps I discuss in my guide to the 5 steps you must take before applying for graduate jobs. Head to https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/ to get your free copy.

If you follow the steps in my guide you will be well versed in what exactly they want from a candidate. Are they an American law firm where they want people who can work long hours and remain calm under intense pressure and stress, where you will be required for adversarial negotiations with clients, whilst balancing a huge workload? Or are you applying for a role as a teacher where the characteristics they want are about nurturing, listening, communication, caring etc? Different jobs will have different characteristics for what they are looking for from a candidate.

Finding out the strengths that a company holds valuable is crucial, one is to double-check that actually, this company is going to be a good fit for. And secondly, so you know what they are looking for so you can let those qualities shine through in the interview. If you know that teamwork is there number one strength that they are looking for, you will know to turn up just how much you enjoy teamwork in the interview. Yes in strengths-based questions it is important, to be honest, but if you can know the strengths they are looking for in candidates, why would you not play up your aptitude for them a little bit.

The second thing you need to do is to think carefully about yourself and your strengths. Again, this is one of the steps we cover in detail in my free 5 step guide, so definitely get to https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/ if you haven’t done so. One thing I recommend is to buy yourself a copy of Strengthfinder 2.0. Links in the show notes. This book kicked off the movement to strength-based questions and will help you to understand where your strengths lie. And specifically, where your 5 core strengths are. Armed with the 5 strengths from Strengthsfinder 2.0 think in more detail about where they lie so you can talk about them confidently.

Ask yourself;

  • What do I do well?
  • When do I feel most like myself at work?
  • When am I at my best?
  • What don’t I enjoy doing?
  • Do I like to start things or finish things and why?

You need to start getting into the strengths-based way of thinking so that talking about them during the interview is second nature.

As part of the self-evaluation process talk to friends and family and ask them the above questions. Often, others can have a clearer picture of your greatest strengths and weaknesses, than you can. People can easily overlook skills that come naturally to them, so it helps to have an outside person looking in to help them.

And the third tip I give today is to practice. Some people contend that you can’t practise strengths-based questions, but I disagree. From analysing the job spec and the characteristics that the firm is looking for, you will have an excellent view of what strengths they are going to be asking you. Are you going to get the exact questions that they will ask you on the day? No. But you will get the broad idea, and more important you will know the strengths you do have, and the tasks you enjoy most. Having these in your head will mean that instead of being on the spot frantically trying to think what to say, you will have mental capacity freed up to give a great answer full of your personality.

So, let’s look at some general hints and tips to help with strengths-based interviews to help you perform well on the day. The first tip is that there are no right answers. Although recruiter will be looking for people who match their strengths, it’s a cliché but it’s true, with these types of questions there are no right or wrong answers. If you get asked if you like starting a task or finishing it, be honest. If you absolutely hate finishing a task and are all about creativity and starting things and coming up with new ideas, then be honest and say that. For example, it’s equally valid and interesting to say find it energising to start a project because you like to be involved from the beginning to help shape the project, or that you get a real sense of satisfaction when something finishes because you’ve been involved in completing something successfully. Since there are no right or wrong answers, be yourself, don’t try and be something you are not.

The second tip to keep in mind and which is different from competency interviews is that with strengths-based interviews you get a lot more questions. Strengths-based interviews tend to be much faster paced with more questions asked. Don’t be surprised at this, it’s perfectly normal, and also expect repetition in the type of questions to check to see if you are being consistent.

Finally, the third tip…is enjoy it. Feedback from my coaching clients is that they find strength-based interviews to be much more enjoyable than competency ones. This interview style is more two way and the interviewer genuinely wants to get to know you to understand whether you have the energy and motivation to do the job and fit into their company. You aren’t under as much pressure to be regurgitating STAR based answers like with competency interviews. Be yourself, the best version of yourself and enjoy it.

So, there you go, an introduction to Strengths-based questions and interviews and what you can expect. If you want to take this to the next level then check out my upcoming course on How to Get a Graduate Job, going live on the 27th of August. I have an entire video on Strengths-based interviews and questions and we really deep dive into the topic, with everything you need to know and do. If you want to take your preparation to get a graduate job to the next level and ensure that you want to stand out from the crowd, head to https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/ and get my free guide to the 5 steps you must be taking before you start applying for graduate jobs. As always I’m here for any questions, feedback or comments, drop me a note at hello@graduatejobpodcast.com. Join me next week when I have Capgemini on the show talking about their graduate schemes. I hope you enjoyed the show today, but more importantly, I hope you use it and apply it. See you next week.