How would you respond? Do you respond with a career/work related achievement or go with a lifetime personal achievement? I shot a 69 one time that I am pretty damn proud of, but I don’t think that would go over very well…very open ended question.
I have several stories of personal achievements where I also draw upon other themes such as conflict resolution, overcoming great adversity, etc. I advise my clients do to the same. I also recommend to respond stories that can connect with interviewers on an emotional level. I think either knowingly or unknowingly, the purpose of that question is to demonstrate three things about the interviewee: (1) Respondent has a coherent sense of what “achievement” means to them, and is willing to overcome adverse conditions and demonstrate great work ethic to attain that achievement; (2) The achievement is aligned with what the respondent is personally or professionally passionate about; (3) The effectiveness of the story also is a reflection of how persuasive and influential the respondent can be – these are also traits of leadership that people look for, beyond the more “tactical” skill sets like spreadsheets or financial analysis A professional-related example is not necessary, and oftentimes this question occurs at a point in the interview where the interviewer already has a good sense of what your work background is like.
Good question, I am always asking myself what’s my greatest achievement. Do you have specific examples Numi we can use as guidance ?
Yeah I probably would avoid the number 69 in an interview…awkward. I would say you broke 70.
Yeah, this seems like a really hard question to answer. If your achievement is not sufficiently impressive, you look will like a loser. If your achievement is too impressive, the interviewer will feel jealous and resentful towards you. A safe answer would be something along the lines of “2 chicks at one time”.
ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A safe answer would be something along the lines > of “2 chicks at one time”. And you think this won’t cause jealousy and resentment?
JonnyKay Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ohai Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > A safe answer would be something along the > lines > > of “2 chicks at one time”. > > > And you think this won’t cause jealousy and > resentment? or warrant a slap-in-the-face if it’s a woman interviewer
This is a question I feel conflicted about, in my personal life I have overcome very very significant adversity. It is something that many people would find inspiring, including my current employer who suggested I become a motivational speaker. However, at the same time there is a significant social stigma against people with my history so bringing it up in a job interview can be hit or miss. Therefore, I try to avoid references to my unique life history and instead say something like passing level 2 which was a f’n walk in the park compared to what I had/continue to deal with.
It’s a lazy interview question I think. How do you measure and compare wildly different aspects of your life? And like someone said, my idea of an achievment may be someone else’s idea of par for the course (to continue the golfing analogy). I think you simply say nothing, bend down and take off your shoe and chuck at the interviewer and see if he/she has Bush-like relfexes.
mo34 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Good question, I am always asking myself what’s my > greatest achievement. > > Do you have specific examples Numi we can use as > guidance ? Examples should come from your own life. The key is not necessarily in what you say, but how you say it and the likelihood that you can draw out an emotional or affectative response from your interviewer. Think about it another way – when someone tells YOU a story and draws a reaction from you, what is it that makes that story effective? Try to replicate the same in a 1-1.5 minute response and that will serve as a good answer to this question. To newsuper’s point, it’s true that one’s definition of achievement is different from another, and this is precisely WHY it’s important to highlight exactly what it is about the achievement that made things meaningful. But that’s also why it’s a difficult question. HBS has had this as one of their essay questions for a number of years and very frequently, applicants make the mistake of spending a great deal of time explaining the context of the achievement without actually discussing why it was actually meaningful to them.
Mo was being sarcastic…methinks at least.
You’re probably right, but anybody who isn’t aware of his posting history might not know that
In any case, just trying to be helpful because this is definitely a common interview question that people should be prepared for (whether it’s jobs, b-school, etc.)