Ways to Demonstrate Leadership During an Interview

Ways to Demonstrate Leadership During an Interview

Tech employers obviously want to hire professionals with strong technical capabilities, especially relevant abilities and experience. However, they also look for candidates with a strong mix of soft skills, especially leadership or managerial acumen. This approach makes sense, as many businesses prefer to find managers from within as opposed to outside the organization.

The job interview provides a great opportunity to highlight your leadership chops to a potential employer. Check out these tips and advice on the best ways to demonstrate these attributes during an interview. In the end, these insights give you a great chance of landing a great long-term technology position.

How Can You Show Leadership During an Interview?

Review your Leadership Experience Before the Interview

Before any interview, you need to spend time reviewing your résumé, especially your professional history. Take note of any leadership experiences throughout your career, so you answer clearly and confidently when prompted. If you never had a managerial role, highlight any mentorship and/or team lead experience throughout your career. Having this material at the forefront of your mind helps you expound upon it during an interview.

Take Advantage of Open-Ended Questions to Highlight your Leadership Acumen

Many interviewers use open-ended questions to vet a candidate’s verbal communication ability. These types of questions also provide a great opportunity to truly highlight your leadership skills. Use storytelling to describe how you mentored new coworkers or lead a team of developers on an important project. Great leaders boast strong communication skills, so engaging the interviewer in this manner boosts your chances of an offer.

Use facts and figures when describing the tangible impacts of your previous leadership experience. Open-ended questions effectively give you the floor during an interview, so provide verbal case studies highlighting your relevant expertise.

Show Off your Empathic Nature

The best modern leaders truly care about the employees working under them. In fact, empathy and strong people skills remain important attributes for anyone in management. When in storytelling mode during the interview, be sure to show off your empathy for coworkers. The mentorship experience described earlier definitely highlights your caring and empathic nature.

Highlight Your Desire to Move into Management

The interview gives you a great opportunity to go into more detail about the contents of your résumé. For example, if you regularly take professional development courses, especially in leadership topics, highlight this information. Going back to school for an advanced degree – especially an MBA – also illustrates your hopes for a management role.

Ready to Find a Career in IT?

If you are interested in a tech management position, connect with the experts at Technology Partners. As one of the top IT staffing agencies in St. Louis, we can help take your career to a higher level. Contact us at your earliest convenience!