Demonstrating your Skills and Achievements
Once you have a clear idea about the education, skills and abilities required to fulfil the position, you are ready to construct a case that highlights your capacity to meet those requirements.
In evaluating the match between employer, job and applicant, interviewers usually rely on the premise that past behaviour is a good predictor of future behaviour. As a result, you will need to give practical examples of achievements and actions in certain situations to show that you fulfil the requirements of the position.
The most effective way to describe your achievements and past behaviours is to use the STAR approach: outline the Situation in which you demonstrated the skills; the Task which you had to undertake/complete; the Approach or Action that you took; and the Result or outcome of the action.
The checklist below is a good starting point for preparing examples of your achievements or past behaviours:
What you’ve done …
- subjects studied at university
- voluntary and part-time employment
- sports
- community involvement
- interests
- experiences such as travel
- specialist skills (e.g. language)
How you have …
- solved problems
- shown initiative
- dealt with difficult people or situations
- negotiated an outcome
- demonstrated excellent customer service
- contributed to a team
- overcome an obstacle
- achieved your goals
 Activity |
|---|
Identify a practical example of past behaviour where you have: 1. Solved a problem. For each example, write a short paragraph describing the situation or context in which you demonstrated that behaviour, the action that you took, as well as the outcome that was achieved. |