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How do you deal with unexpected challenges?
How do you deal with unexpected challenges?

Flexibility

How do you deal with unexpected challenges?
How do you deal with unexpected challenges?

Flexibility

“Life is anything but predictable.”

Dwayne Johnson

Flexibility competence can be demonstrated by discussing how you deal with unexpected situations and answering questions such as:

  • How do you handle an unexpected situation?
  • How do you deal with changes in your plans?
  • Do you find it easy to reorientate yourself when plans change?
  • Are you prepared the embrace new opportunities or challenges?
  • How do you prepare yourself for the unexpected?
  • How do you adapt to meet the needs of a situation or emergency?
  • How would you rate your ability to adapt to change?
  • Are you willing/eager/keen to learn new methods, procedures, or techniques?Can you share some examples?

Active listening
Active listening

Collaboration

Active listening
Active listening

Collaboration

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

Epictetus

Active listening is a prerequisite for effective collaboration. This can help avoid miscommunication and improves teamwork in the workplace. Here’s a couple of questions you might answer in order to demonstrate this skill:

  • Do you consider yourself good at actively listening to others? Why?
  • What do you think takes to be a good listener? Why?
  • Do you demonstrate concern and try to build trust when you communicate with another person? Do you think that’s important? Why?
  • Do you observe non-verbal cues when you talk to other people? Do you think it helps to understand people better? Why?
  • If you don’t fully understand something, do you ask other person to clarify or rephrase?
  • Why do you think that’s important?

Ability to prioritise
Ability to prioritise

Self-management

Ability to prioritise
Ability to prioritise

Self-management

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The ability to set your priorities straight is invaluable. We can guarantee you that your future employer is looking for team members that can identify the most important tasks and get to them immediately rather than focusing on tasks of lower importance. Do you think you’re great at prioritising tasks? If so, you should definitely mention that in your video CV. Here’s a couple of questions that might help you get started thinking about how to best demonstrate this skill in your video:

  • Tell us about a situation where you had too much to do. How did you go through all the tasks?
  • How do you prioritize goals? Do you have a method, a checklist?
  • Do you set yourself goals? Do you do so in your professional and in your personal life? You could talk more about a goal that you set yourself and how you achieved it.
  • Do you set S.M.A.R.T goals?

Don’ts
Don’ts

Review and dissemination

Don’ts
Don’ts

Review and dissemination

"Measure twice and cut once."

proverb

Don’ts

  1. Don't send out your video resume if you got feedback that it might be offensive
  2. if you're not happy with the outcome, the quality is not up to your standard (sometimes it might do more harm than good)
  3. Don't try to include everything you've done
  4. Don't just read out your resume
  5. Don't criticise your previous employer
  6. Don't get too personal

Empathy
Empathy

Self-management

Empathy
Empathy

Self-management

“The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.”

Plato

Claire Cain Miller from The New York Times draws attention to recent research which shows "that empathy makes people better managers and workers, and better family members and friends. But it’s bigger than just its personal effect. We’re all in this together, and researchers say that connection and compassion are crucial to a sustainable and humane future. ". The ability to understand and share the feelings of another is a sought-after skill in all work environments. How do you cultivate empathy? How can you show your prospective employer? Here’s a couple of prompts that might help you get started:

  • Would you consider yourself empathetic?
  • Do you find it easy to understand other people’s feelings, emotions and problems?
  • Do you actively seek to develop empathy? How?(volunteering, reading books …)

Self-motivation
Self-motivation

Self-management

Self-motivation
Self-motivation

Self-management

“You can have all the tools in the world but if you don't genuinely believe in yourself, it's useless.”

Ken Jeong

The ability to stay motivated, even if something goes wrong, is an important and sought-after skill. Here’s a couple of examples that might help you demonstrate this ability:

  • How do you stay motivated? What inspires you to keep going?
  • Do you set yourself SMART goals?
  • Do you practice positive self-talk?
  • Do you try to surround yourself with positive people?
  • How do you reward yourself?

Multitasking
Multitasking

Self-management

Multitasking
Multitasking

Self-management

“I like to juggle with one ball at a time. Then I put the ball down and do nothing for extended periods of time.”

Rowan Atkinson

Chances are that you will have to work on different projects simultaneously. If you’re able to effectively manage multiple assignments and ensure that all of them get the attention they deserve, you should consider mentioning this skill in your video CV. You could answer questions such as:

  • Are you able to prioritise? How?
  • How do you simultaneously work on different projects?
  • How do you adjust project schedules to maximize productivity?

Willingness to listen and understand different points of view
Willingness to listen and understand different points of view

Flexibility

Willingness to listen and understand different points of view
Willingness to listen and understand different points of view

Flexibility

“We all look at the same object in different ways.”

Kehinde Wiley

Listening and trying to understand different opinions and points of view are crucial to ensure effective teamwork. However, this requires a certain level of flexibility and willingness to compromise. Here’s a couple of prompts that might help you demonstrate this skill:

  • How do you keep an open mind in a workplace?
  • How do you take criticism?
  • Even if you disagree with your colleagues are you willing to (for instance) try out their suggestions?
  • Would you consider yourself tolerant? Why?
  • Do you consider yourself an fair-minded person? Why?
  • Are you curious to hear what other people think?