Know Your Perspective

12 May 2021

How well do you know your own thinking on topics that may be interview questions?

Interviewers invariably have a range of topics that they use to frame interview questions.  A quick look at any Statement of Duties and Selection Criteria will reveal core topics such as leadership, team, communication, negotiation, customer service, policy, project management, strategic thinking, liaison, reporting...

A good preparation step prior to a job interview is to list the top 10 topics you think the interviewers may ask you questions about.  Then spend some time understanding what your own thinking is about these topics.

Your own thinking is not the academic definition, or what the 'right' answer is.  It is your understanding.  It is what you like about the topic.  Your thoughts about the possibilities and the limitations of the topic.  It is what you thing goes wrong with the topic.  It is your opinion on the topic.

For example, if a potential topic is time management investigate and write down some dot points that reflect your own thinking. For example perhaps you think:

• I believe that managing the small things lets me be more creative in coming up with new thinking about the big things I am doing.
• I like the quote "in the future a time machine will be built, but no one will have the time to use it".
• Without my daily routine I never get anything done.  It keeps me calm.
• Managing my energy first is more important to me than managing my time.
• The most valuable thing I know about time management is my ability to say 'no' kindly.

The points you make will not all be appropriate to say in a job interview, but that is not the point.  Explicitly knowing what you think about a topic will give you confidence that you won't be caught off guard.  You will gain strength from knowing your own perspective.

As always, wishing you a flourishing career.

Katherine