In a recent article by The Muse, they addressed the importance of communication skills during the hiring process. Communication skills are more than the ability to speak clearly, being competent in written, nonverbal, and interpersonal communication are key to nailing the interview and landing your dream job!
There are a handful of good ways to answer interview questions to show your communications skills, however, the best method to use is the STAR method. The STAR method is an easy layout to describe a past experience and communicate all attributes of that experience effectively.
Situation: Describe the place and time of this experience, highlighting key details about the situation you were in.
Task: Explain your responsibilities and what needed to be done in order to successfully complete the task.
Action: Give details about exactly what you did and how you did it, this should be the bulk of your response.
Response: Share the outcome of the experience. Whether it was successful or not does not matter, the interviewer wants to know how you approached the problem and what you could have done differently looking back on it.
The article provides 17 examples of interview questions and sample answers that highlight communication skills. You can find these and more about how to show off your communication skills in the full article here. If you want some extra practice before the interview, make an appointment with the career services office for a mock interview.