Strength Based Interview Coaching
Strength Based Interview Coaching is now used across many organisations in both the private and public sector and increasingly so in the Financial Services, FinTech and Information Technology Sectors. Strength based interviews are used to complement competency-based interviews and require different preparation and practice.
How Do You Define What Are Your Strengths?
A personal strength is very different to a skill or competency which is learned, it will motivate, energise and drive you, encouraging you to perform at your very best. A strength is therefore a quality which comes naturally and should feel authentic. Weaknesses often leave us drained. The philosophy behind a strength based interview approach is that there is much more to be gained by building on and further developing a candidate’s existing strengths than simply depending on learned skills
Strength Based Interview Questions
Generally speaking, a strength based interview is very different from a competency based interview. Strength based questions usually focus on what you enjoy and do not enjoy, the interview pace will be faster with multiple follow-up questions to dig deeper and fully explore your answers. You will however still need to qualify or quantify your answer with specific evidence in a more natural style than simply giving just one detailed example. The interviewer/s will put much more emphasis on assessing your enthusiasm and expression with your body language and by the tone of voice.
Questions usually start with ‘what’ and ‘how’ rather than ‘can you tell me about a time’
Here are a few strength based interview questions:
- How do your friends describe you?
- What does a good day look like for you?
- Are you a “half full” or “half empty glass” kind of person?
- What’s the last thing left on your to do list?
- When are you performing your best?
- What does a high performance team look like for you?
It is absolutely essential to practice for a strength based interview
Strength based interviews are much easier for candidates who have good self-awareness, understand their own strengths and are natural at story-telling. If you are able to relax, be more engaging and show the best of yourself in an interview, you are more likely to enjoy and excel at strength based interviews. Unfortunately, many candidates are nervous before and during the interview, which can prevent them from being able to display the energetic and positive body language and tone of voice needed to succeed in strength based interviews.
Mock Interview Coaching Session
Depending on the specific role and your interview experience, we would recommend one or two coaching sessions, consisting of a preparation session and a mock interview.
We will you coach to:
- Identify the strengths the role requires from the job specification and value proposition and culture of the organisation; we will share insight with you into the likely focus and agenda of your strength based interview and whether you offer a good fit
- Know and understand your own strengths and the difference between your authentic natural strengths and learnt strengths
- Identify the experiences which you can draw on in an interview to qualify or quantify your answers
- Practice answering a wide variety of challenging strength based questions at a fast pace with probing follow-up questions
- Use your body language and voice tonality to look and sound positive, confident and energetic.
Why do organisations use Strength Based questions?
There are three main reasons why interviewers are increasingly adopting strength based questions:
- They are much more likely to find candidates offering a natural fit for the role.
- Candidates are more likely to have greater potential for success and engagement.
- Candidates are less likely to be able to prepare for specific strength based questions and will need to rely on more spontaneous answers, thus revealing their true self and motivation.
Coaching options
One-to-one coaching is available in London, or online through Skype, Google Hangout, Zoom or FaceTime.