A reader writes:
I followed your advice on resume and cover letter writing, and I’ve just been offered an interview for a job in my niche field. It’s definitely a stretch for me, and I fully expect for it to go to someone with a few more years experience. However, I’d like to make a good showing in the interview as I will definitely end up applying to this institution again at some point.
They’ve sent the interview questions ahead of time, which is great, but I can’t answer all of them. I can give examples of teamwork, of complicated projects, of working with the public — but I just haven’t been in a position to have examples for some of the questions. Specifically, these two: (1) Can you give an example of a particular project or activity where you have taken a leading role within a team? How did you support the other members of the team to fulfill their roles? (2) Can you tell us about a time when you introduced a new program of work or a new procedure which colleagues had some concerns about, and tell us how you got those colleagues on board? I just don’t have the seniority to have been doing these kinds of
things, so I’m drawing a blank on how to answer.I can’t just refuse to answer a question, can I? If I say that I don’t have any experience in this (key) area, that’s likely to be the end of my chances. Is there an acceptable alternative? Or do I accept that it’s a hole in my experience that I can’t patch, and just go in with the intention of gathering experience?
If you genuinely don’t have any experience to use in reply, ideally you’d try to come up with something as close as possible, even if it’s not exactly what they’re asking about. For example, for #1, is there something you can draw on that would allow you to say, essentially, “I haven’t formally led a team, but when I was working on XYZ last year, I did ABC to help the team get better results”? But if there’s really nothing even adjacent to what they’re asking about, it’s okay to acknowledge that and then talk about how you’d approach the scenario if it did come up. For example, for #2, that framing could be something like, “I haven’t been in a position where that’s happened yet, but watching others handle that, what I’ve seen be effective is X and that’s the approach I’d try to take.”
They may decide they need people who do have that type of experience, and that’s fine! You’re there to talk about whether the job is a good match or not, and this is part of that conversation. They could end up deciding that they think you’re strong enough in other areas that it doesn’t matter. Or they might not. But if your goal is to make a good showing in the interview regardless, this is the way to do it.
Hell, in the spirit of making sure this is the right match for both of you, you can even say at some point in the conversation, “I noticed you asked about X and Y and those are areas where I haven’t had experience yet. How essential is past experience in those areas to succeeding in the job?”