Interview Tips for Highlighting Your Greatest Moments

Interviewing, like the Olympics, is a competition. Typically, many people interview (compete) for only one open position (the gold medal). So, you need to impress during interviews to stand out from other candidates. One way to do that is by showcasing your greatest professional moments when you deliver answers. However, this can be easier said than done. If you’re the type of person who prefers to humbly speak about yourself (or not speak about yourself much at all), this can be uncomfortable. Of course, humility is an admirable quality, but it’s not always helpful in the interview room. Employers need to know what it looks like for you to be performing at your best in order to make a fully informed decision.

Mine your achievements

To find the best content for your interview answers, you’ll want to first recall your greatest accomplishments. If you’re a sports fan, think of this as your highlight reel. If you’re LeBron James, this is when you want to reflect on your NBA Championships, Most Valuable Player Awards, and Olympic gold medals. Maybe food and cooking are a more meaningful reference for you. If that’s the case, and if you’re David Chang, think of the interview room as your time to talk about how you won two Michelin stars, a few James Beard Awards, and starred in a Netflix food series. Of course, you might not have achieved the same as global celebrities, but you’ve done things employers will find valuable.

Your goal is to write down 10 accomplishments. If that idea sounds easy for you, then go ahead and begin writing until you reach 10 accomplishments. If that idea sounds difficult, you’re far from alone. Many people struggle to identify their accomplishments. If that’s case for you, there are several ways you can quickly dig up the great things you have done.

Review your resume

Your resume should be the first stop to refresh your memory of your greatest accomplishments. Your resume bullet points in your professional experience section should be accomplishment statements. If your resume still contains responsibility statements, you need to schedule time to revise it. Responsibility statements are bullet points that contain phrases like “managed supply chain for the Midwest region.” Below are what accomplishment statements could look like:

• Led a five-person team to complete a five-year business plan, develop prototypes, and present to investors, receiving $30k in capital within one year.
• Designed and executed an oral cancer diagnosis skills’ training project ($500k investment) for 100+ dentists, increasing the statewide early identification rate by 10% in one year.

Reflect on previous roles and internships

If you haven’t created accomplishment statements on your resume, you might wonder what to consider an accomplishment. If that’s the case, think about the following questions to help you draft ideas. Reviewing old project lists, skimming performance reviews, or even grabbing a coffee with an old colleague can be helpful as you jog your memory for professional accomplishments.

• What were the major projects you led or managed in your last role or internship? And the role/internship before that?
• Which events come to mind when you think of your previous role/internship?
• What did you need to do to make sure the projects or events were a success?
• What was the positive impact of the projects or events? Did the projects or events cause an increase in revenue or satisfaction? Did they reduce anything like time or money?
• If they didn’t directly cause a seemingly significant increase or decrease, how did they contribute to a larger goal?

Think about your nonprofessional accomplishments

Maybe you have a nonprofessional accomplishment that makes you proud, like winning a soccer championship or becoming the youngest person in your city’s orchestra. Maybe you created a successful YouTube channel, which won you a trip to New York to learn from YouTube experts. Those accomplishments are worth noting, especially if you don’t have a lot of work experience. Here are some examples if you don’t have much work experience:

• Initiated revisions of residence hall policies based on self-created survey assessing residents’ satisfaction and lifestyle needs, winning peer leader award.
• Managed 30 peers and coordinated with three staff members as stage manager of a university play lasting three months, resulting in sold-out shows and zero injuries.
• Discovered cost-saving opportunity while managing diversity club budget, allowing first-ever scholarship to global diversity conference.
• Wrote a short story that won third place in national competition that included 600 submissions. Achieved this while managing 19 credit hours and working part-time.

Re-think any missing skills

Identifying 10 accomplishments, as outlined above, is designed to help you explore beyond your first thoughts without becoming overwhelming. But sometimes even 10 accomplishments don’t hit all of the skills required for a certain role. If you’re missing a skill in your set of 10 accomplishments, think of a time when you did show that skill. Then identify what that skill helped you achieve. Sometimes you also need to shift your perspective to see how you’ve demonstrated that skill in the past.

Frequently, accomplishments are a matter of perspective. Some people struggle to see all of the things they’ve accomplished in their lives. Rarely is an accomplishment missing as much as it’s buried in negative perception.

For example, say your target organization likes all of its employees to “own projects,” but you feel like you can’t recall a time you’ve “owned a project.” You might think the only time you’ve ever owned a project was when you started an essay-editing business in undergrad. You might initially feel like your business was not as impressive as your freshman roommate who was making $100,000 as an Instagram influencer their freshman year of college. Don’t deceive yourself. Awards and big numbers are nice to have, but what’s most important is connecting your target employer’s desired skills to your previous experiences.

While you can always add an accomplishment to make sure you have all the skills covered, it's best to first look at other accomplishments from different perspectives. In most cases, you'll likely find that you already have what it takes to succeed.

This post was adapted from the new Vault Guide to Behavioral Interviews, 2024 Edition.