What is your biggest accomplishment?

The “Biggest Accomplishment” question is up there with the “Biggest Weakness” question as one of the most commonly asked interview questions. One day I would love to answer it honestly—“getting home from work at 5.30pm, cooking a nutritious meal, feeding and bathing two children under the age of two and then having them both asleep in their respective beds by 7pm.” Every time it actually happens – I feel like a superstar!

But sadly, I don’t think Mr. Prospective Employer is actually that interested in my children’s nighttime routine. I also don’t think he is going to be particularly impressed by the challenges I have faced moving five times (three international) in five years, and I am certainly not going to mention any adaptability that might have come out of it as I want him to think I will be hanging around for a decent period of time. So what do I say?

I have found that when answering this question in an interview, one of the most effective ways to showcase the way that I work is to pick a personal story that the employer will remember long after I have left the interview room. I work as a Career Counselor, but rather than talking about a course that I developed or a project that I managed, I pick a case that I have worked on and talk about the impact I have made on one person.

For me, looking back over my career, one of the accomplishments that always comes to mind, is the work I did with a Military Spouse called Marilyn. She was a Financial Advisor who had completed college and then worked for over five years in Jamaica before marrying a U.S. Serviceman. Marilyn had an amazing work ethic. She had completed her Masters while staying home with three children and had taken any accounting and tax preparation work that she could get online. She wanted to work as much or more than any other Military Spouse I came into contact with through my work at the Fleet and Family Support Center but opportunities at this overseas base were limited and fiercely competed for. She had not been able to get an interview despite over a hundred separate applications.

I helped Marilyn work on her resume for over a week. I taught her how to analyze a position announcement and tailor her resume. We revisited some of the general wording she had in her resume and identified additional accomplishments that she could highlight. After a few weeks she began receiving interviews but never received a job offer. She had a thick Jamaican accent and I found myself struggling to understand some of her longer sentences. So we worked on interviewing—I worked with her on her answers to questions and then through interview practice we continued to work on her intonation, her speed of speech and her confidence in answering questions. The following week I had an unscheduled visitor at the Center. Marilyn had received another call for an interview and wanted my approval that the outfit she was wearing was appropriate. I was touched that she valued my opinion so much—I am far from a fashion expert. But she got the job and I was the first call she made after she found out. She was in tears because she was so happy and so grateful.

When I think about identifying my biggest accomplishment – I always think about Marilyn, because through my work I was able to impact the life of one person and her family in such a positive way.