September 9, 2025 • 24 mins
When you walk into an interview, you know the tough ones are coming.
👉 How do you handle problems?
👉 How do you serve customers?
👉 How do you disagree?
👉 How do you influence?
👉 How do you lead?
👉 What are you passionate about?
These aren’t just “questions.”
They’re tests.
Each one is designed to uncover whether you can think critically, collaborate, lead, and actually thrive in their environment.
The trouble?
Most candidates stumble.
They ramble, give generic answers, or miss the chance to actually sell their value.
This week’s lesson is on exactly how to answer these six hardest questions.
You’ll learn:
âś… A step-by-step formula to keep your answers sharp and structured.
âś… Word-for-word examples you can model. LITERALLY!
âś… Why interviewers ask these questions and how to tailor your reply.
If you master these six, the rest of the interview will feel easy.
If you'd like to build a great career and lead a rewarding life, check out some of these other places where I share my teachings:
1. Check out the milewalk Academy, my coaching and training site, for freemiums and premiums.
2. I have hundreds of educational and inspirational videos on my YouTube Channel.
3. Grab any of my four books related to career development, interviewing, hiring, and goal setting. All can be found on my Amazon Author Page.
4. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter (X), TikTok, Threads, and Facebook.
5. Stay in touch with me in your email inbox by joining my newsletter here!
--Andy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Today we're going to talk about
interview coaching. And in particular,
we're going to talk about some of the I
don't want to call them nastiest
interview questions cuz they're not
really, but they're easy to mess up. And
let's let's let let's get right into
what today's all about. There are
questions that come at you in the
interview and they're around, you know,
problem solving or challenges,
(00:21):
disagreements, how you influence people,
how you serve people, how you lead
people, and what you're passionate
about. And I think these are some of the
most critical job interview questions to
get right. I'm not saying your interview
hinges on these. I think you probably
could lose your interview on these
questions. I think your interview hinges
(00:42):
on a few other uh areas, a few other
types of questions. And I'm going to
talk upfront for a couple of minutes
about those. But what I want to do today
is I want to give you an absolute total
bulletproof formula for you to be able
to answer these half a dozen questions
or any like this. And it won't matter
who you are or where you are in your
(01:03):
career. All of you, whether you're the
22-year-old emerging professional or
somebody who's nearing retirement, can
use this exact formula with the exact
details that I'm going to give you today
to absolutely smash these. Cool. Who's
stoked? Give me a hey in the chat if
you're here with me live. If you're
watching on the recording, give me a hey
in the comments. Okay, before I get into
(01:25):
that, let's go back to Dear Coach Andy's
anatomy of an interview. I I've drawn
this picture a few times. If you've
never seen it, this is interview anatomy
101. This is how most interviews are
conducted. Not always, but most, right?
You get in there and you introduce
yourself. Hey, tell me about yourself.
(01:46):
Hey, walk me through your resume. tell
me a little bit about you. Something
like that. There's usually the hello.
Then there's what I call a power story.
We're not going to go into power stories
today, but a power story in simplest
terms is your breadandut story.
Something you've done in your in your
work history throughout your career that
(02:07):
is virtually an exact match for what
they need you to do in the new job. And
by you telling it early in the
interviewing process and early in an
interview and and compressing it into as
few words as possible by checking off as
many skills as they want to hear you
have is really a great way to get their
attention early. Show them you are
(02:30):
exactly what they need and you are
usually describing a project that you'd
run. I have a lot more on this on my
channel. And the earlier you get that
out, the better you can set up the
interview because you're showing them I
have the experience you need. And if I
do something like this in your
environment, it's going to help
transform you forward to help you
achieve your goals. I've already helped
(02:51):
somebody else overcome very similar
problems that you have and you want to
show them how you're going to operate in
their environment. But then what usually
happens is you have what I call these
branch questions that come about. So as
you're telling your story about your
project or projects or analogous work
experience, they might ask you questions
(03:12):
like, well, what problems did you
encounter along the way? Tell me about
was there anything along the way where
you really had to influence somebody or
disagreed with somebody or or
encountered a situation you'd never seen
before, a total challenge. And so these
are like these little offshoot
questions. I call them branches because
I like the electrical engineering
(03:33):
analogy of power, right? And branches,
electrical branches. Or if you want tree
trunks and branches and leaves off the
tree, that's fine, too. But you end up
spending time with these types of
questions that are not typically
given to you out of the cold. Now,
sometimes you're in behavioral
(03:54):
interviewing uh style of sessions,
interviews, and then they they very
coldly ask you, well, tell me about a
problem you overcame.
And there's a method to the madness in
the way in which you want to do it. But
the formula I'm going to give you today
is going to cover that as well. And then
you you usually get to toward the end
ask some questions. So, I want to talk
(04:14):
about the stuff in red. I don't know if
you could really see that, but that's my
red marker that was almost out of ink.
Uh, but we're going to talk about these
branches today, these things that I've
highlighted for you and these questions
that I that I want you to be able to
answer. And it doesn't matter how you
get asked these questions or when you
get asked these questions. So, if you're
telling a story and they interrupt you
(04:35):
or intercept you and ask you, hey, I
want I want to dive deeper on that
particular step in the process. How did
you influence that committee? It could
be asked that way. Or they might just
say, tell me about a time you had to
influence somebody. The one thing before
we get into the tactics that I want you
to make sure that you think about is and
maybe take some notes along this
(04:55):
session, but I want you to to tell
stories that are germanine to the
employer that you're interviewing with.
Just because you think it was a cool
disagreement and you won the argument or
whatever it is does not necessarily mean
that that example is going to help them
extrapolate into their environment how
you're going to operate with their types
(05:16):
of customers, their types of team
members, their types of challenges and
problems. So you always want to be
careful in your selection of the story
you tell. But I want to insulate you
from if you don't have a great story.
Regardless of when you get asked these
questions, I want to give you a formula
that any of you can use. You can
(05:36):
actually use the words I'm giving you
today for all six of these. For all six
of these. So, let's let's get rolling. I
am totally totally stoked about this.
Okay. All right. First one we're going
to first thing we're going to do is
we're going to talk about what I want
shooting through your head whenever you
get a question like this. Now, anybody
who's followed me or has hawkked my
(05:57):
YouTube channel and has discovered my
car technique, that's C A R, which is it
stands for context and then there's an
approach like your outline of how what
you're going to the story you're going
to tell. Then some of the specific acts
uh that you're that you did with each
step in your outline and then the
result, but you're also going to preview
the result in the context. Anyway, I'm
(06:19):
not going to go too too into detail, but
the reason I want to mention that is for
those of you that are very familiar with
that technique. You notice that I always
like you to talk in lists. It's easier
for the person who's receiving the
information to follow. You've given them
a map. If if you give them and you say
five steps, they know there's five
steps. If you say I'm in the first step,
they know where you are. You say I'm in
(06:39):
the second step, they know where you
are. And it's easier for them to pay
attention. It's easier for them to
follow your story. And that's really
really important when you're
interviewing. But so the first thing I
want you to do whenever you get asked
any of those six questions or anything
like it, I want you to think about these
two things I'm going to tell you. A one,
a two, a three. Anytime you get asked
(07:02):
any of these questions or any questions
like it, I do not want you to start by
telling them a story. I want you to tell
them your your your philosophy or your
approach or your outline or your steps.
And I don't just want you to state them.
I want you to walk them through it using
(07:22):
questions, not activities. All right?
This is really, really important. So,
whenever you're asked a question, the
first thing that I want to come out of
your mouth are numbers. The second thing
I want coming out of your mouth are
questions. and I'm going to show you
exactly what I mean and I'm going to
give you the exact numbers and the exact
questions here in a second. Okay, so
(07:43):
that's the first thing I want you to do.
Second thing is let's just take an
example. Let's take problems first.
Okay, we'll go in order of the cart.
When you're asked about how you overcame
a problem, how you troubleshoot
problems, how you overcame a challenge
or any question like that before you
give them the scenario and you say, "I
(08:05):
encountered this problem and it was blah
blah blah." You can say that right away.
But the next thing I want you to say is,
"And I handle that like I handle any
problems. I lead like I lead any teams.
I serve like I serve any customer.
Whatever it is, I want you to use the
any part. And then what I want you to do
(08:26):
is I want you to list off your formula
for solving a problem. I'm going to give
you the formula right now. So if you're
asked about a problem, you say, "Well, I
had this problem and I solved it the
same way I approach any problem." And
the reason you want to give them this
upfront is because this part of the
answer is what will win the actual
(08:48):
question. It's what's going to win the
interview. Because it doesn't matter
what problem you solved. They're hiring
you for your system. They're hiring you
for your mindset, your methodology, and
the way in which you approach anything.
Who's tracking? Do you see what I mean
here? I if if you dive right into a
scenario that they don't love and you
(09:08):
have not re literally
actually reverse engineered the steps
you've taken, they're not going to
understand that. They're just trying to
follow your story. But the first thing I
need you to do in advance of the
question is to reverse engineer the
steps. But I'm going to give them to
you. So you just need to copy the video
basically. So you say, "It's like I
(09:29):
handle any problem. First thing I do is
an assessment to get my arms around
what's happening. The second thing I do
is I don't try to solve the problem. I
want to go backwards and see if we got
away from anything that was working. Did
we get away from our routines? The third
thing I want to do is I want to look at
the current situation and I want to know
if any variables in the environment have
(09:51):
changed since we initially started. The
next thing is if it's a new scenario
that we've never encountered. Then what
I do once I have all that assessment
done and I understand what the situation
is, I'm looking for a solution that
makes the most economical sense in the
short term and then I'm also looking at
the long-term impacts that whatever
(10:12):
we're going to do is going to have. So I
need to consider not just the short term
and overcome the problem but I also need
to put a plan or a methodology in place
or a system that's going to carry us for
the long term. Okay. Then what you can
do, I've given you the outline this the
A part of my the first A part of my car
technique. Then what you can do is you
(10:34):
can walk them through your specific
problem. So when I did the assessment
and then you give it to them and then I
looked at to see if we got away from
anything that worked and I realized I
wasn't meditating every morning and so
my my brain was all scattered or
whatever it was. You get what I'm
saying, right? So this here is how you
would answer how'd you overcome that
(10:55):
problem or did you encounter a problem
or what was the problem or how do you
overcome challenges or tell me about a
challenge you overcame. I just gave you
the formula and then you're going to
fill in the steps with your story. Cool.
That's number one. All right. Second
thing, disagreements.
Disagreements. Can you tell me about a
(11:16):
time you disagreed with somebody? Yes.
There was this time my colleague and I,
we had a disagreement about the solution
we were going to put in place for the
customer and I handled that like I
handle any disagreement at work.
Generally, disagreements at work usually
focus on a solution the team or we're
(11:38):
trying to create. That's what most of
the disagreements come about. What are
the alternatives? Which one should we
choose? What's the best solution? So,
it's like I handle any disagreement.
First thing I do is I listen. Second
thing I do is I search to make sure
First thing I do is I listen to make
sure that I understand everything. Am I
do am I factoring in all the
information? The second thing I do is
(11:59):
once I get the information from the
other person who I'm disagreeing with, I
look to see is there a combination
solution based on what she thinks, based
on what I think, is there an even better
solution than hers or mine? And then in
the event there is, we implement that.
Otherwise, if there isn't, that's when I
will actually share my viewpoint and my
(12:20):
insight to and or and and persuade if
need be. So, we had this solution about
how we were going to go just recap it,
echo it, go right into your story and
then walk them through how you listened,
how you searched for a combination
solution and what happened. And the
winning disagreement story is something
that where you're disagreeing about a
(12:41):
solution that this new employer will
likely need and you came up with a combo
solution because what does that say? I'm
a great listener. I'm a great
troubleshooter and I'm an even better
teammate because I'm looking for the
best opportunity, the best goal, the
best solution, the best everything. I'm
(13:01):
a team first player, company first
player, and I will make my case if I
need to.
Makes sense. Makes sense. So that's the
disagreement. Who wouldn't want to hire
that person, right? It's like mis
congeniality. I would love to work with
that person. So that's how I would look
at disagreements. And then I separated
(13:24):
influence because I think influence
could be a disagreement element where
you actually have to convince somebody.
But I also think that there's a more a
constructive way to actually influence
people. So if you get asked the
question, tell me about a time where you
had to influence somebody or a team or
the management team or you're telling a
(13:45):
story and you said, hey, I pitched my my
overall approach to the board and I
needed to make sure that they signed off
on it. And if you get a question like,
well, how were you able to influence
them? You're going to say number of
steps. Here we go. So first thing I do
whenever I need to to to discuss
anything with anybody is I want to think
how they think. Take myself out of me,
(14:08):
put myself into them. What is it? How is
it that they would think? Then I want to
know I I literally consciously think
about well what are their concerns right
now? Are they concerned about the profit
margin? Are they concerned about the
customers? Are they concerned about the
employee happiness? Then how will they
benefit? So, not only how will the
company benefit, but how will this
(14:28):
particular individual benefit by
whatever it is I need to influence them
to do? Then what is it that they need to
know? Because they need information to
be able to draw a great conclusion and
I'm trying to influence them based on my
suggestion, recommendation, or whatever
that is. And then the fifth thing I do
in helping shape the way they interpret
(14:50):
and view what I'm trying to explain to
them is I always come up with a
juxtiposition or a different way of
looking at it so that I give them a
whole fresh perspective that they might
not have thought about. There's your
five steps. So whenever you're
influencing somebody, you can say, "So I
I I needed to influence this team like I
would influence virtually anybody I had
(15:11):
a discussion with. There's generally
five steps I take, right? Think how they
think. What are their concerns? How are
they going to benefit company and them
individually? Right? What do they need
to know? And then I share the
juxtaposition. Who's following so far?
Do you see how all of these how all of
these Oh, where am I? How all of these
(15:31):
basically have a similar similar
structure. You always, always want to
get in place what your methodology is
because now, no matter what the example
is, and I think you can see that now
that I've walked through three of these.
No matter what your example is, they're
still going to love it because they like
(15:51):
your approach. Cool. All right, I got to
take a swip of this swing of this peak
Nandaka.
All right, here we go. How do you serve?
Okay, this could be anybody. Serve
customers, serve teammates, serve
internal customers, serve your board.
Makes no difference. All right, you get
(16:12):
you get the idea. We're running, right?
Let's go right into it. Okay, so there's
what I don't know what's I think there's
five or six of my total here. Six steps
for serving. So, anytime I'm in service
mode, which is usually 100% of the time,
there's six steps I basically
consciously go through. First thing is I
want to have an empathetic mind. So I
(16:32):
take us a breather for a second. I want
to make sure I think like they think.
Anybody who calls the customer service
line is not happy. Something's broken,
right? Well, I'm in the middle of my
day. I want to make sure I get out of my
head and get into their head. Next thing
is I want to know what is it that they
need or want. But the next thing is I
want to fix that as fast as possible.
(16:56):
That's first order of business. But that
wouldn't be good enough because I want
to make sure that whatever I'm doing
from a customer service standpoint is
I'm addressing the issue of urgent need,
but I'm also once I fix that, I'm going
to go into a mode where I'm going to fix
the long-term solution, right? I don't
want it breaking again, but I need to
(17:16):
fix it now. Fix first, fix the problem
first, fix the process second. Then what
I do is whenever I serve, I want to know
is there anything I could do a little
bit better to a little bit better degree
of quality? And then the last thing I
think about is is there one extra step I
can take. So if somebody calls the
(17:36):
customer uh call center line and
something's broken, I want to make sure
I can fix it is I want to make sure I
understand that they're frustrated,
they're in trouble, they need something
urgently, right? You're walking them
through. I understand what they need. I
fix their issue. I see if I could take
it one step better to make sure this
doesn't happen for them again. And then
(17:58):
the last thing I do is I offer them a
free bonus or whatever. Is there one
extra step I could take? And that's my
formula because I think people really
enjoy being heard, being taken care of,
and being whatever. And then you can go
into whatever the scenario is. So that's
that's my service formula. And then the
next one is how do you lead? So whether
(18:21):
you're leading a person of one or you're
leading a team of five, what's your
leadership style? What's your philosophy
on leading? How did you lead your team?
How did you inspire your team? How did
you get your team to rise up to meet
that deadline? How what anything related
to that? There's a handful of steps that
you're going to take. Well, the first
thing I do anytime I'm leading is I make
sure that everybody on the team
(18:42):
understands the team's goal. Everybody
wants to be educated. We all need to
know what the highest level goal is.
what are we shooting for? But the second
thing is in order for them to
contribute, I need to make sure that
they have the processes and the tools.
Whether that's the communication
protocols, the governance or the
systems, what do they need? Second thing
is I want them to know how they
(19:03):
individually fit in what what they're
taking, what they're giving, why their
position is so vital. It needs to
matter. The next thing is I want to make
sure that they feel as though they're
making a contribution. And so I want to
be very explicit as to what they are
contributing to the final outcome and
the level of importance. I want to know
(19:23):
what their aspirations are. So as a
leader I can facilitate
making those aspirations happen because
it not only are they would you love to
have people who are all company players
but it also gets them extra charged if
you know you appreciate what they're
doing in the form of taking care of them
and facilitating facilitating their
(19:45):
goals and aspirations. Then I lead by
example. I don't ask them to do anything
that I'm not willing to do. I roll up my
sleeves if I need to. I stay late if I
need to. whatever it might be. And then
I have to offer real time support
because no matter what I give them,
however I communicate and whatever tools
and system I give them, something is
going to break or come up along the way
(20:06):
that they have not encountered and I
need to be there for them. So I had this
10person team. You get the idea, right?
There's your structure on the leadership
and I saved passion for last because
this is a tricky one. What are you
passionate about? Now, whatever you're
passionate about better be in alignment
with what the company is doing. And it
(20:28):
really and it and by the way, if you
came to me and you said, "Well, Andy,
I'm you know, I don't know anything
about, you know, influencer and
coaching, social media marketing, or you
know, I've never done that for an
influencer, but I'm passionate about
helping people improve their lives, and
there are many ways to do that. I'm
going to listen to you." Okay, that
(20:48):
you're close enough. But what you need
to say is you need to show them why
you're passionate about what you're
passionate about. If you just say,
"Well, geez, Annie, that sounds cool. I
I I I'm passionate about helping
people." That isn't going to that isn't
going to get you over the goal line.
It'll get you in the discussion. So,
here's my answer for passion. So, I'm
(21:10):
really passionate about this, but I I I
need to tell you why I'm passionate
about it. Because when I think about
passion, it needs to be meaningful with
me. and and there needs to be a purpose
to it. I need to be able to contribute
and contribute at a high level of value.
The other thing is it the passion itself
whatever I'm passionate about it needs
(21:32):
to serve somebody else because others
need to benefit from my passion because
the joy is actually in the act of the
doing or not in the or in the in the
service I provide them not in the act of
doing because if and I'm telling you
this off the script if your passion is
in the act of the doing you will never
(21:54):
make it ever, ever make it. You won't. I
don't care how much I love writing. I
will burn up and dry out. I don't care
how much I love talking and teaching to
you. I burn up and dry out. Do you know
what keeps me coming here every
Thursday? The fact that you benefit and
you're going to take these words and
you're going to go out and do something
with it. And I'm telling you that if you
are looking at what you think you're
(22:15):
passionate about, if it doesn't pass
this acid test, it's just a fleeting
fancy. And then I know I got off the
track there, but and I need to learn and
grow. And when these five things are in
place, I know my passion will remain.
And so whenever you're describing what
you're passionate about, you want to
explain why you're passionate about it.
(22:37):
And if you dial up these five, meaning
and purpose, contribution and value, the
ability to actually serve people who
actually majorly benefit from what
you're serving, and then you enjoy the
X. I have to do eight different things
to teach you just so that I keep my own
head on straight, right? That keeps me
(22:58):
going because I know that you need me
and then I'm learning and growing and I
teach better. I learn my subject matter
better because I keep teaching it. I've
never in the thousand and some odd
videos on YouTube have ever described
these six questions to teach you how to
say them in an interview this way. And
(23:20):
I've been doing this just this way for
10 years. So, so that's what I mean. And
I I saved this one for last, but just to
recap it. And just to recap the
approach, whenever you're given a
question like these these handful of
questions, remember they might come in
the beginning or they or they might come
(23:41):
in the wake of you telling stories. But
irrespective of that, you always want to
make sure you you can very quickly spit
out the scenario that's about to come.
But 5 seconds, that's it max. And then
you say, and there's basically three
factors. And you're telling them in the
form of a question. What is it that I
ask myself in order to ensure that I'm
(24:04):
able to do that effectively? What
questions am I going to ask myself about
the problems? What questions am I going
to ask myself about how I serve somebody
or disagree or influence or or or
anything that you describe? Cool. All
right. I said I was going to get that
done in 25 minutes and I did. I hope you
enjoyed that. If you're here with me
(24:25):
live, we're going to be going to the
chat. If you're watching this on a
recording, I will see you next
Today we're going to talk about
interview coaching. And in particular,
we're going to talk about some of the I
don't want to call them nastiest
interview questions cuz they're not
really, but they're easy to mess up. And
let's let's let let's get right into
what today's all about. There are
questions that come at you in the
interview and they're around, you know,
problem solving or challenges,
(00:21):
disagreements, how you influence people,
how you serve people, how you lead
people, and what you're passionate
about. And I think these are some of the
most critical job interview questions to
get right. I'm not saying your interview
hinges on these. I think you probably
could lose your interview on these
questions. I think your interview hinges
(00:42):
on a few other uh areas, a few other
types of questions. And I'm going to
talk upfront for a couple of minutes
about those. But what I want to do today
is I want to give you an absolute total
bulletproof formula for you to be able
to answer these half a dozen questions
or any like this. And it won't matter
who you are or where you are in your
(01:03):
career. All of you, whether you're the
22-year-old emerging professional or
somebody who's nearing retirement, can
use this exact formula with the exact
details that I'm going to give you today
to absolutely smash these. Cool. Who's
stoked? Give me a hey in the chat if
you're here with me live. If you're
watching on the recording, give me a hey
in the comments. Okay, before I get into
(01:25):
that, let's go back to Dear Coach Andy's
anatomy of an interview. I I've drawn
this picture a few times. If you've
never seen it, this is interview anatomy
101. This is how most interviews are
conducted. Not always, but most, right?
You get in there and you introduce
yourself. Hey, tell me about yourself.
(01:46):
Hey, walk me through your resume. tell
me a little bit about you. Something
like that. There's usually the hello.
Then there's what I call a power story.
We're not going to go into power stories
today, but a power story in simplest
terms is your breadandut story.
Something you've done in your in your
work history throughout your career that
(02:07):
is virtually an exact match for what
they need you to do in the new job. And
by you telling it early in the
interviewing process and early in an
interview and and compressing it into as
few words as possible by checking off as
many skills as they want to hear you
have is really a great way to get their
attention early. Show them you are
(02:30):
exactly what they need and you are
usually describing a project that you'd
run. I have a lot more on this on my
channel. And the earlier you get that
out, the better you can set up the
interview because you're showing them I
have the experience you need. And if I
do something like this in your
environment, it's going to help
transform you forward to help you
achieve your goals. I've already helped
(02:51):
somebody else overcome very similar
problems that you have and you want to
show them how you're going to operate in
their environment. But then what usually
happens is you have what I call these
branch questions that come about. So as
you're telling your story about your
project or projects or analogous work
experience, they might ask you questions
(03:12):
like, well, what problems did you
encounter along the way? Tell me about
was there anything along the way where
you really had to influence somebody or
disagreed with somebody or or
encountered a situation you'd never seen
before, a total challenge. And so these
are like these little offshoot
questions. I call them branches because
I like the electrical engineering
(03:33):
analogy of power, right? And branches,
electrical branches. Or if you want tree
trunks and branches and leaves off the
tree, that's fine, too. But you end up
spending time with these types of
questions that are not typically
given to you out of the cold. Now,
sometimes you're in behavioral
(03:54):
interviewing uh style of sessions,
interviews, and then they they very
coldly ask you, well, tell me about a
problem you overcame.
And there's a method to the madness in
the way in which you want to do it. But
the formula I'm going to give you today
is going to cover that as well. And then
you you usually get to toward the end
ask some questions. So, I want to talk
(04:14):
about the stuff in red. I don't know if
you could really see that, but that's my
red marker that was almost out of ink.
Uh, but we're going to talk about these
branches today, these things that I've
highlighted for you and these questions
that I that I want you to be able to
answer. And it doesn't matter how you
get asked these questions or when you
get asked these questions. So, if you're
telling a story and they interrupt you
(04:35):
or intercept you and ask you, hey, I
want I want to dive deeper on that
particular step in the process. How did
you influence that committee? It could
be asked that way. Or they might just
say, tell me about a time you had to
influence somebody. The one thing before
we get into the tactics that I want you
to make sure that you think about is and
maybe take some notes along this
(04:55):
session, but I want you to to tell
stories that are germanine to the
employer that you're interviewing with.
Just because you think it was a cool
disagreement and you won the argument or
whatever it is does not necessarily mean
that that example is going to help them
extrapolate into their environment how
you're going to operate with their types
(05:16):
of customers, their types of team
members, their types of challenges and
problems. So you always want to be
careful in your selection of the story
you tell. But I want to insulate you
from if you don't have a great story.
Regardless of when you get asked these
questions, I want to give you a formula
that any of you can use. You can
(05:36):
actually use the words I'm giving you
today for all six of these. For all six
of these. So, let's let's get rolling. I
am totally totally stoked about this.
Okay. All right. First one we're going
to first thing we're going to do is
we're going to talk about what I want
shooting through your head whenever you
get a question like this. Now, anybody
who's followed me or has hawkked my
(05:57):
YouTube channel and has discovered my
car technique, that's C A R, which is it
stands for context and then there's an
approach like your outline of how what
you're going to the story you're going
to tell. Then some of the specific acts
uh that you're that you did with each
step in your outline and then the
result, but you're also going to preview
the result in the context. Anyway, I'm
(06:19):
not going to go too too into detail, but
the reason I want to mention that is for
those of you that are very familiar with
that technique. You notice that I always
like you to talk in lists. It's easier
for the person who's receiving the
information to follow. You've given them
a map. If if you give them and you say
five steps, they know there's five
steps. If you say I'm in the first step,
they know where you are. You say I'm in
(06:39):
the second step, they know where you
are. And it's easier for them to pay
attention. It's easier for them to
follow your story. And that's really
really important when you're
interviewing. But so the first thing I
want you to do whenever you get asked
any of those six questions or anything
like it, I want you to think about these
two things I'm going to tell you. A one,
a two, a three. Anytime you get asked
(07:02):
any of these questions or any questions
like it, I do not want you to start by
telling them a story. I want you to tell
them your your your philosophy or your
approach or your outline or your steps.
And I don't just want you to state them.
I want you to walk them through it using
(07:22):
questions, not activities. All right?
This is really, really important. So,
whenever you're asked a question, the
first thing that I want to come out of
your mouth are numbers. The second thing
I want coming out of your mouth are
questions. and I'm going to show you
exactly what I mean and I'm going to
give you the exact numbers and the exact
questions here in a second. Okay, so
(07:43):
that's the first thing I want you to do.
Second thing is let's just take an
example. Let's take problems first.
Okay, we'll go in order of the cart.
When you're asked about how you overcame
a problem, how you troubleshoot
problems, how you overcame a challenge
or any question like that before you
give them the scenario and you say, "I
(08:05):
encountered this problem and it was blah
blah blah." You can say that right away.
But the next thing I want you to say is,
"And I handle that like I handle any
problems. I lead like I lead any teams.
I serve like I serve any customer.
Whatever it is, I want you to use the
any part. And then what I want you to do
(08:26):
is I want you to list off your formula
for solving a problem. I'm going to give
you the formula right now. So if you're
asked about a problem, you say, "Well, I
had this problem and I solved it the
same way I approach any problem." And
the reason you want to give them this
upfront is because this part of the
answer is what will win the actual
(08:48):
question. It's what's going to win the
interview. Because it doesn't matter
what problem you solved. They're hiring
you for your system. They're hiring you
for your mindset, your methodology, and
the way in which you approach anything.
Who's tracking? Do you see what I mean
here? I if if you dive right into a
scenario that they don't love and you
(09:08):
have not re literally
actually reverse engineered the steps
you've taken, they're not going to
understand that. They're just trying to
follow your story. But the first thing I
need you to do in advance of the
question is to reverse engineer the
steps. But I'm going to give them to
you. So you just need to copy the video
basically. So you say, "It's like I
(09:29):
handle any problem. First thing I do is
an assessment to get my arms around
what's happening. The second thing I do
is I don't try to solve the problem. I
want to go backwards and see if we got
away from anything that was working. Did
we get away from our routines? The third
thing I want to do is I want to look at
the current situation and I want to know
if any variables in the environment have
(09:51):
changed since we initially started. The
next thing is if it's a new scenario
that we've never encountered. Then what
I do once I have all that assessment
done and I understand what the situation
is, I'm looking for a solution that
makes the most economical sense in the
short term and then I'm also looking at
the long-term impacts that whatever
(10:12):
we're going to do is going to have. So I
need to consider not just the short term
and overcome the problem but I also need
to put a plan or a methodology in place
or a system that's going to carry us for
the long term. Okay. Then what you can
do, I've given you the outline this the
A part of my the first A part of my car
technique. Then what you can do is you
(10:34):
can walk them through your specific
problem. So when I did the assessment
and then you give it to them and then I
looked at to see if we got away from
anything that worked and I realized I
wasn't meditating every morning and so
my my brain was all scattered or
whatever it was. You get what I'm
saying, right? So this here is how you
would answer how'd you overcome that
(10:55):
problem or did you encounter a problem
or what was the problem or how do you
overcome challenges or tell me about a
challenge you overcame. I just gave you
the formula and then you're going to
fill in the steps with your story. Cool.
That's number one. All right. Second
thing, disagreements.
Disagreements. Can you tell me about a
(11:16):
time you disagreed with somebody? Yes.
There was this time my colleague and I,
we had a disagreement about the solution
we were going to put in place for the
customer and I handled that like I
handle any disagreement at work.
Generally, disagreements at work usually
focus on a solution the team or we're
(11:38):
trying to create. That's what most of
the disagreements come about. What are
the alternatives? Which one should we
choose? What's the best solution? So,
it's like I handle any disagreement.
First thing I do is I listen. Second
thing I do is I search to make sure
First thing I do is I listen to make
sure that I understand everything. Am I
do am I factoring in all the
information? The second thing I do is
(11:59):
once I get the information from the
other person who I'm disagreeing with, I
look to see is there a combination
solution based on what she thinks, based
on what I think, is there an even better
solution than hers or mine? And then in
the event there is, we implement that.
Otherwise, if there isn't, that's when I
will actually share my viewpoint and my
(12:20):
insight to and or and and persuade if
need be. So, we had this solution about
how we were going to go just recap it,
echo it, go right into your story and
then walk them through how you listened,
how you searched for a combination
solution and what happened. And the
winning disagreement story is something
that where you're disagreeing about a
(12:41):
solution that this new employer will
likely need and you came up with a combo
solution because what does that say? I'm
a great listener. I'm a great
troubleshooter and I'm an even better
teammate because I'm looking for the
best opportunity, the best goal, the
best solution, the best everything. I'm
(13:01):
a team first player, company first
player, and I will make my case if I
need to.
Makes sense. Makes sense. So that's the
disagreement. Who wouldn't want to hire
that person, right? It's like mis
congeniality. I would love to work with
that person. So that's how I would look
at disagreements. And then I separated
(13:24):
influence because I think influence
could be a disagreement element where
you actually have to convince somebody.
But I also think that there's a more a
constructive way to actually influence
people. So if you get asked the
question, tell me about a time where you
had to influence somebody or a team or
the management team or you're telling a
(13:45):
story and you said, hey, I pitched my my
overall approach to the board and I
needed to make sure that they signed off
on it. And if you get a question like,
well, how were you able to influence
them? You're going to say number of
steps. Here we go. So first thing I do
whenever I need to to to discuss
anything with anybody is I want to think
how they think. Take myself out of me,
(14:08):
put myself into them. What is it? How is
it that they would think? Then I want to
know I I literally consciously think
about well what are their concerns right
now? Are they concerned about the profit
margin? Are they concerned about the
customers? Are they concerned about the
employee happiness? Then how will they
benefit? So, not only how will the
company benefit, but how will this
(14:28):
particular individual benefit by
whatever it is I need to influence them
to do? Then what is it that they need to
know? Because they need information to
be able to draw a great conclusion and
I'm trying to influence them based on my
suggestion, recommendation, or whatever
that is. And then the fifth thing I do
in helping shape the way they interpret
(14:50):
and view what I'm trying to explain to
them is I always come up with a
juxtiposition or a different way of
looking at it so that I give them a
whole fresh perspective that they might
not have thought about. There's your
five steps. So whenever you're
influencing somebody, you can say, "So I
I I needed to influence this team like I
would influence virtually anybody I had
(15:11):
a discussion with. There's generally
five steps I take, right? Think how they
think. What are their concerns? How are
they going to benefit company and them
individually? Right? What do they need
to know? And then I share the
juxtaposition. Who's following so far?
Do you see how all of these how all of
these Oh, where am I? How all of these
(15:31):
basically have a similar similar
structure. You always, always want to
get in place what your methodology is
because now, no matter what the example
is, and I think you can see that now
that I've walked through three of these.
No matter what your example is, they're
still going to love it because they like
(15:51):
your approach. Cool. All right, I got to
take a swip of this swing of this peak
Nandaka.
All right, here we go. How do you serve?
Okay, this could be anybody. Serve
customers, serve teammates, serve
internal customers, serve your board.
Makes no difference. All right, you get
(16:12):
you get the idea. We're running, right?
Let's go right into it. Okay, so there's
what I don't know what's I think there's
five or six of my total here. Six steps
for serving. So, anytime I'm in service
mode, which is usually 100% of the time,
there's six steps I basically
consciously go through. First thing is I
want to have an empathetic mind. So I
(16:32):
take us a breather for a second. I want
to make sure I think like they think.
Anybody who calls the customer service
line is not happy. Something's broken,
right? Well, I'm in the middle of my
day. I want to make sure I get out of my
head and get into their head. Next thing
is I want to know what is it that they
need or want. But the next thing is I
want to fix that as fast as possible.
(16:56):
That's first order of business. But that
wouldn't be good enough because I want
to make sure that whatever I'm doing
from a customer service standpoint is
I'm addressing the issue of urgent need,
but I'm also once I fix that, I'm going
to go into a mode where I'm going to fix
the long-term solution, right? I don't
want it breaking again, but I need to
(17:16):
fix it now. Fix first, fix the problem
first, fix the process second. Then what
I do is whenever I serve, I want to know
is there anything I could do a little
bit better to a little bit better degree
of quality? And then the last thing I
think about is is there one extra step I
can take. So if somebody calls the
(17:36):
customer uh call center line and
something's broken, I want to make sure
I can fix it is I want to make sure I
understand that they're frustrated,
they're in trouble, they need something
urgently, right? You're walking them
through. I understand what they need. I
fix their issue. I see if I could take
it one step better to make sure this
doesn't happen for them again. And then
(17:58):
the last thing I do is I offer them a
free bonus or whatever. Is there one
extra step I could take? And that's my
formula because I think people really
enjoy being heard, being taken care of,
and being whatever. And then you can go
into whatever the scenario is. So that's
that's my service formula. And then the
next one is how do you lead? So whether
(18:21):
you're leading a person of one or you're
leading a team of five, what's your
leadership style? What's your philosophy
on leading? How did you lead your team?
How did you inspire your team? How did
you get your team to rise up to meet
that deadline? How what anything related
to that? There's a handful of steps that
you're going to take. Well, the first
thing I do anytime I'm leading is I make
sure that everybody on the team
(18:42):
understands the team's goal. Everybody
wants to be educated. We all need to
know what the highest level goal is.
what are we shooting for? But the second
thing is in order for them to
contribute, I need to make sure that
they have the processes and the tools.
Whether that's the communication
protocols, the governance or the
systems, what do they need? Second thing
is I want them to know how they
(19:03):
individually fit in what what they're
taking, what they're giving, why their
position is so vital. It needs to
matter. The next thing is I want to make
sure that they feel as though they're
making a contribution. And so I want to
be very explicit as to what they are
contributing to the final outcome and
the level of importance. I want to know
(19:23):
what their aspirations are. So as a
leader I can facilitate
making those aspirations happen because
it not only are they would you love to
have people who are all company players
but it also gets them extra charged if
you know you appreciate what they're
doing in the form of taking care of them
and facilitating facilitating their
(19:45):
goals and aspirations. Then I lead by
example. I don't ask them to do anything
that I'm not willing to do. I roll up my
sleeves if I need to. I stay late if I
need to. whatever it might be. And then
I have to offer real time support
because no matter what I give them,
however I communicate and whatever tools
and system I give them, something is
going to break or come up along the way
(20:06):
that they have not encountered and I
need to be there for them. So I had this
10person team. You get the idea, right?
There's your structure on the leadership
and I saved passion for last because
this is a tricky one. What are you
passionate about? Now, whatever you're
passionate about better be in alignment
with what the company is doing. And it
(20:28):
really and it and by the way, if you
came to me and you said, "Well, Andy,
I'm you know, I don't know anything
about, you know, influencer and
coaching, social media marketing, or you
know, I've never done that for an
influencer, but I'm passionate about
helping people improve their lives, and
there are many ways to do that. I'm
going to listen to you." Okay, that
(20:48):
you're close enough. But what you need
to say is you need to show them why
you're passionate about what you're
passionate about. If you just say,
"Well, geez, Annie, that sounds cool. I
I I I'm passionate about helping
people." That isn't going to that isn't
going to get you over the goal line.
It'll get you in the discussion. So,
here's my answer for passion. So, I'm
(21:10):
really passionate about this, but I I I
need to tell you why I'm passionate
about it. Because when I think about
passion, it needs to be meaningful with
me. and and there needs to be a purpose
to it. I need to be able to contribute
and contribute at a high level of value.
The other thing is it the passion itself
whatever I'm passionate about it needs
(21:32):
to serve somebody else because others
need to benefit from my passion because
the joy is actually in the act of the
doing or not in the or in the in the
service I provide them not in the act of
doing because if and I'm telling you
this off the script if your passion is
in the act of the doing you will never
(21:54):
make it ever, ever make it. You won't. I
don't care how much I love writing. I
will burn up and dry out. I don't care
how much I love talking and teaching to
you. I burn up and dry out. Do you know
what keeps me coming here every
Thursday? The fact that you benefit and
you're going to take these words and
you're going to go out and do something
with it. And I'm telling you that if you
are looking at what you think you're
(22:15):
passionate about, if it doesn't pass
this acid test, it's just a fleeting
fancy. And then I know I got off the
track there, but and I need to learn and
grow. And when these five things are in
place, I know my passion will remain.
And so whenever you're describing what
you're passionate about, you want to
explain why you're passionate about it.
(22:37):
And if you dial up these five, meaning
and purpose, contribution and value, the
ability to actually serve people who
actually majorly benefit from what
you're serving, and then you enjoy the
X. I have to do eight different things
to teach you just so that I keep my own
head on straight, right? That keeps me
(22:58):
going because I know that you need me
and then I'm learning and growing and I
teach better. I learn my subject matter
better because I keep teaching it. I've
never in the thousand and some odd
videos on YouTube have ever described
these six questions to teach you how to
say them in an interview this way. And
(23:20):
I've been doing this just this way for
10 years. So, so that's what I mean. And
I I saved this one for last, but just to
recap it. And just to recap the
approach, whenever you're given a
question like these these handful of
questions, remember they might come in
the beginning or they or they might come
(23:41):
in the wake of you telling stories. But
irrespective of that, you always want to
make sure you you can very quickly spit
out the scenario that's about to come.
But 5 seconds, that's it max. And then
you say, and there's basically three
factors. And you're telling them in the
form of a question. What is it that I
ask myself in order to ensure that I'm
(24:04):
able to do that effectively? What
questions am I going to ask myself about
the problems? What questions am I going
to ask myself about how I serve somebody
or disagree or influence or or or
anything that you describe? Cool. All
right. I said I was going to get that
done in 25 minutes and I did. I hope you
enjoyed that. If you're here with me
(24:25):
live, we're going to be going to the
chat. If you're watching this on a
recording, I will see you next
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