How to Present Your Work Experience at an Interview

After the standard small talk about how you found the office, how the traffic is, and if you’d like coffee or water, the interviewer will likely ask you about your previous work experience.

The interviewer picks up your application or résumé and begins asking you questions about your previous work experience as you try to appear more at ease than you actually are.

Now is the time to elaborate on the quantitative results listed on your resume. If you’ve raised quarterly sales by 20% or reduced spending in your department by 10%, you’re well on your way. Since the interview invitation indicates that the hiring manager was impressed by your resume, any additional information you can provide about the steps you took to accomplish the listed successes will be greatly appreciated.

Most of us, alas, have jobs with less immediately tangible payoffs. Working in production, customer service, or retail makes it challenging to attribute individual efforts to overall business success. In this situation, it is important to emphasize any achievements or management accolades that attest to your qualifications.

A promotion is significant even if it is only to team leader or to oversee a personal project.Give examples to demonstrate why your former employer had faith in you to take on additional duties.

Given the rarity of promotions, please detail any instances in which you were singled out for praise. From a handwritten note from a grateful customer to being named employee of the month, there is something for everyone.Please elaborate on any compliments you may have received from higher-ups.

Although every candidate for a job presents themselves as a high achiever, many of us work competently for years without being promoted or even noticed. In this day and age, employers are aware of this. In fact, they may be leery of an overachiever who would chafe at the lack of promotion chances if the role is routine and there is no possibility for advancement. A candidate from “The Apprentice” asking for a job in a factory would be met with more than a healthy dose of skepticism.

If you’re a reliable worker (or even just average), you should highlight your best qualities. This is the opportunity to highlight your punctuality and reliability, qualities that are highly valued by employers. If it’s true that you never seem to be in the office at the right time and are always late, it’s important to highlight other aspects of your personality, such as your ability to work in a team or your outstanding relationships with coworkers. Those gossip sessions at the break room water cooler or the three beers after work with your cronies, griping about the management monkeys you have to tolerate, will finally reflect well on you.

It’s unnecessary to emphasize your steadiness in the workplace if you’ve been with the same company for a long time; the interviewer will already know this. Instead, you should focus on responding to the questions he isn’t asking himself, namely, his concern that you are rigid in your beliefs. Promote your openness to change and eagerness to pick up new techniques. Explain what you did to adjust to new roles and responsibilities if you were transferred to a different department or given a new title throughout your long employment.

If you’ve held a number of different positions for varying lengths of time, it’s important to highlight the lessons you’ve gained from each and how you hope to use those lessons to forge a sustainable career path moving forward. Explain that you want to find a firm where you can settle in for the long run.

Finding the bright side of your professional past can take some introspection and effort, but it’s always there. Don’t be hesitant to highlight your best qualities, even if you’re worried that your previous work experience won’t impress.