You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
You're listening to the second in a two-part series on talking about accomplishments.
This is one of an ongoing sequence of podcasts on job interviews.
The theme for this episode and the last is Provide Examples.
In the first part we looked at a bad and good version of a recent university graduate talking about his academic successes.
We studied how to use our accomplishments to demonstrate skills and characteristics that will be attractive to our potential employer.
In this episode, we examine another good response to the question about previous experience.
We'll be looking at someone with a little more job experience.
Yala Santos is an HR specialist who is working in a manufacturing company.
She now has an opportunity to interview for an HR manager position in a business unit of a fast-moving consumer goods company, Fun Beverages International.
Let's listen to how Yala deals with talking about her greatest achievement.
Ordinarily, When responding to the question about your most significant accomplishment, it's very important that you prepare to tell a story that is organized and articulate.
That means the story should be well structured and flow smoothly.
Though there are many ways to make your presentation, YALA uses the same general format that I like to follow.
1.
You'll probably need to set up the story by providing some context.
Where were you?
What was the situation?
What was at stake?
That is, what did you stand to lose or gain?
Two, recount your role in the situation.
How were you involved?
Three discuss what you did, including any analysis or problem-solving, any process you set up and any obstacles you had to overcome.
4.
Reveal the outcome and what made you proud.
Whereas Alex gave us a good example of how someone with limited job experience might deal with the greatest achievement question, Yala shows us how someone with a more traditional employment record might address this query.
As you listen, try to answer the following questions.
What was the project Yala was working on?
What was her role in it?
What did she do?
What was the outcome?
Great Yala, that covers previous experience.
Now, could you tell me a little about what you consider to be your most significant achievement?
Hmm, let's see.
At the beginning of last year, global headquarters decided to harmonize the assessment and evaluation process for all business units worldwide into one global performance management system.
Uh-huh.
So, like a single integrated system.
Exactly.
It's part of a global effort to provide a single interlinked database for human resources.
Sounds like a challenging project.
Yes, indeed.
Especially because we only had 10 months to get it off the ground.
Really?
Yeah, 10 months from planning to launch.
My manager called a meeting and we immediately formed a task force.
I was placed in charge of localization and documentation and I played a key role by analyzing and solving a number of problems.
Uh-huh.
What type of problems?
Well, for example, I anticipated that sales and marketing would need to know all the key performance indicators in advance, because training on the new system wouldn't begin until after they had already completed their planning process for 2008.
Sounds like a pretty major issue.
Yes, and obviously a seamless transition with sales was very important for our BU's bottom line.
So I collaborated with the sales division to develop sample evaluations for all sales and marketing functions.
Then I coordinated with them to develop a series of pre-launch trainings to get everyone up to speed.
Did it work?
Yes, I'm proud to say it did.
We boosted productivity by at least 10% because of our actions.
It was hard work, but we got extremely positive feedback throughout the whole process.
And despite a few hitches, things went pretty smoothly.
Great.
Sounds like a success.
Yes, I think my role in this project demonstrates a number of important personal qualities.
Being poised under deadline pressure, being proactive and having long-range vision, practicing a flexible approach and definitely being a good team player, because so much of it required coordinating and mediating between different departments.
Yala has done a good job of telling an articulate, organized story.
Let's look at it piece by piece.
How does she begin?
First, she sets the context.
Hmm, let's see.
At the beginning of last year, global headquarters decided to harmonize the assessment and evaluation process for all business units worldwide into one global performance management system.
Uh-huh.
So, like a single integrated system.
Exactly.
It's part of a global effort to provide a single interlinked database for human resources.
YALA's company has harmonized the employee assessment and evaluation process all across the world.
Here.
Harmonize means that they have made sure all business units, that is, all parts of the company, are using the same system.
From the HR perspective, notice how the interviewer uses the clarifying technique of echoing YOLA.
So, like a single integrated system.
Such echoing both confirms that the interviewer has understood YOLA and encourages her to keep talking.
Let's look at some more phrases for setting the context of your accomplishments.
Our company had been undergoing restructuring, so employees needed to adapt to new ways of doing things.
Towards the end of 2007, we got a big new customer and started receiving huge orders.
All through 2006, a series of budget cuts really put our department under financial pressure.
Setting the context generally involves giving a time frame and introducing the background to a problem.
In the first example phrase we listened to, notice the use of the past perfect continuous tense.
Had been undergoing restructuring to set the background.
Coupled with the past tense, needed to adapt to pose the problem.
Getting back to Yellow's story, how does it continue?
After having given the background, she now recounts the situation and her role in it.
My manager called a meeting and we immediately formed a task force.
I was placed in charge of localization and documentation and I played a key role by analyzing and solving a number of problems.
Uh-huh.
What type of problems?
In this part of her story, Yala focuses specifically on her role in the project.
She was in charge of localization, that is, of adapting the global system to local circumstances.
This generally involves translation and dealing with cultural issues.
In addition, she took care of documentation, that is, she oversaw the writing of training and user manuals.
Now listen to some further phrases that we can use for discussing our role in a project.
Upper management decided that corporate culture was a key to surviving the changes, so a committee was set up to create a training plan.
I was put in charge of getting employee feedback on company values.
Our existing supply chain couldn't really handle the size of the orders, so the key challenge was to strengthen our logistics system and fast.
Employee morale really went downhill, so my role was to devise innovative ways to increase team spirit.
In this part of our success story, we'll often use such constructions, as I was put in charge of, or the key challenge was to, or my role was to.
Make sure to answer the questions, what was the situation and how did you fit in?
Getting back to the dialogue after recounting her role in the situation, Yala's next step is to discuss what she did.
This includes any obstacles she overcame, problems she analyzed and solved, and processes she set up.
Listen.
Well, for example, I anticipated that sales and marketing would need to know all the key performance indicators in advance, because training on the new system wouldn't begin until after they had already completed their planning process for 2008.
In this section, Yala uses a strong verb for describing foresight, that is, analyzing and predicting problems.
She anticipated a problem with the launch of the new system, namely that sales and marketing would not have time to set up targets for the new year.
HR would not start giving training in using the new key performance indicators until after the sales force had already prepared their goals for the next year.
Sounds like a pretty major issue.
Yes, and obviously a seamless transition with sales was very important for our BU's bottom line.
So I collaborated with the sales division to develop sample evaluations for all sales and marketing functions.
Then I coordinated with them to develop a series of pre-launch trainings to get everyone up to speed.
To solve this problem, Yala performed several key management communication functions.
She collaborated with the sales division and coordinated with them to develop pre-launch training.
Thus she avoided the problem and ensured a seamless transition, that is, a smooth passage, into using the new performance management system.
Making sure that sales had no problems with the new system was of course important to the bottom line or profit of the company.
Anticipate, collaborate, and coordinate are all great, vivid verbs for describing job success.
Let's hear a few more phrases that contain excellent verbs for showing analytical management and communication skills.
I headed up a team of six to tackle the problem.
First, we spent three months carefully evaluating the issue.
I improved the process, consolidating several steps.
We prioritized company team building through a series of internal promotions and activities.
I organized a committee and delegated key tasks.
After discussing how she solved the problem, Yala moves on to the fourth and final step of her story.
She reveals the outcome and what made her proud.
Did it work?
Yes, I'm proud to say it did.
We boosted productivity by at least 10% because of our actions.
It was hard work, but we got extremely positive feedback throughout the whole process.
And despite a few hitches, things went pretty smoothly.
Great.
Sounds like a success.
Yala's efforts were successful.
Despite a few hitches, that is, minor problems, things went pretty smoothly.
Notice how she quantifies her success.
Her role in the project helped boost productivity by 10%.
Using numbers makes your accomplishment vivid and strong.
Let's now listen to a few more examples of positive outcomes.
As a result of my efforts, we measured a productivity increase of 5 in my department, which translated into savings to the company of 56000.
The new system was successful, and I'm happy to say that our hard work really paid off.
Not only have surveys shown a great increase in employee satisfaction, but we can all feel the difference.
It was a very rewarding experience, both professionally and personally.
How does the dialogue finish?
In the final section of her response, Yala uses the type of language that we studied in Part 1 of this series to discuss how her work reflects positively on her character.
She names several positive professional qualities that her performance in that project demonstrates.
Yes, I think my role in this project demonstrates a number of important personal qualities.
Being poised under deadline pressure, being proactive and having long-range vision, practicing a flexible approach and definitely being a good team player, because so much of it required coordinating and mediating between different departments.
She says she is poised under deadline pressure and proactive.
She has long-range vision and practices a flexible approach.
Finally, she is definitely a good team player and able to coordinate and mediate communication.
Before we finish, let's review what we've learned in this episode and the last.
We'll practice joining the strong vivid verbs we studied for describing job successes in this episode with the great phrases we learned for demonstrating personal qualities in Part 1.
You'll hear a series of cues that consist of a job accomplishment and one or two professional attributes and skills.
Use each cue to construct a sentence relating the accomplishment with the attribute.
For example, if you hear coordinate task force meetings sensitive to the needs of other people, you can say my coordination of task force meetings really demonstrates my sensitivity to the needs of other people.
Let's begin.
Innovate a new database solution.
Enterprising and energetic.
Coordinate a team effort to increase sales.
Determine problem solver.
Collaborated with IT to solve the problem.
Long range vision, good team player.
How did you do?
Let's listen to some example answers, bearing in mind that there are many possible correct responses.
Innovate a new database solution.
Enterprising and energetic.
The innovative approach I took to designing the database demonstrates my enterprising and energetic spirit.
Coordinate a team effort to increase sales.
Determine problem solver.
Answer.
Coordinating this team effort to increase sales shows that I am a determined problem solver.
Collaborated with IT to solve the problem.
Long range vision.
Good team player answer.
I collaborated with IT to solve the problem.
I think this demonstrates that I have long-range vision and am a good team player.
That concludes this two-part series on talking about your accomplishments with the theme provide examples.
In part one, we studied giving examples of desirable personal characteristics.
In this episode we've looked at a variety of useful language for describing management and communication skills.
Also, we learned a four-step process for telling an organized, articulate story that effectively demonstrates a significant achievement.
Let's review that structure.
One, set up the story by providing some context.
Two, recount your role in the situation.
Three discuss what you did, including any analysis or problem solving, any process you set up and obstacles you had to overcome.
Four, reveal the outcome and what made you proud.
Thanks for listening.
