Answering What Is Your Leadership Style in an Interview - Algrim.co

Answering What Is Your Leadership Style in an Interview - Algrim.co If you’re preparing to interview for a management position, you might be getting prepared to get asked, “What is your leadership style?” This is a tough question to answer. We’re going to go through all the information you need to know in order to prepare yourself with not only answering this question but having knowledge about the various leadership styles you can choose to display. Let’s go ahead and get started. Who Gets Asked This Interview Question This interview question comes up for those who are interviewing for leadership or management positions. It can even come up for those who are interviewing as a Project Manager or Product Manager. Anyone who is accountable for a team and ensuring that a team gets their work done accurately and on time, will get answered this question. Related: 6 Underutilized Leadership Skills For The Workplace Or Resume What The Interviewer Wants To Know The interviewer wants to know that you’ve had experience leading a team. This means that if you can include a short introduction regarding your prior leadership experiences before giving your leadership answer, you’re going to exceed the interviewers expectations. Ideally, you can communicate to the interviewer that your leadership experience is part of your experience being a manager. That you know how to influence and motivate people to do their work. What Makes Up A Good Answer The ability to answer this question is quite simple. The first part is knowing what type of leader you are. And having the working history to be able to back it up. Something that relates to your resume. The second is the ability to communicate that leadership style and why it’s valuable or why it works for you. There’s various types of leadership styles, so when the interviewer asks for you to describe yours, it can be unique. The two qualities that make up a great answer are: Your ability to know your leadership style Your ability to communicate how it is leadership Related: Answering “What Are Your Leadership Examples?” In A Job Interview The Various Types Of Leadership There’s a lot of different types of leadership. And it’s optional if you want to include these styles in your answer. These are for the formal business management styles of leadership. Democratic Leadership Autocratic Leadership Laissez-Faire Leadership Strategic Leadership Transformational Leadership Transactional Leadership Coach-Style Leadership Bureaucratic Leadership For the purposes of this article and answering your interview question, we’re only going to focus on 3 of them here: transformational, transactional and coach-style. The Various Methods Of Leading From the above list we know the styles of leadership. But what about the methods of leadership? The difference is that leadership styles have a process associated to them. The methods of leadership are regarding your approach. For example, do you spend time trying to lead. Or do you let people make mistakes and then correct them afterwards? There’s a difference in those two approaches. The first is active, the second is passive. Here are the three methods you should be aware of: Passive Active Hybrid If you choose to use the fact that you are a hybrid, then you should explain that you the way you lead depends on what’s required of the job at that moment. Which is a great answer! Leading Through Accountability (Transactional vs. Transformational) The best ways to describe your leadership are through transactional and transformational leadership. These are the two easiest to remember. Transactional leadership is when you are providing someone a list of tasks and asking them to accomplish those tasks. This would be the perfect type of leadership style for those who are applying for Project Management positions. Transformational leadership is when you are providing groups of people insights in order to better achieve their work. For example, describing a challenge and ideal outcome to a team. This is the best style of leadership for those who are applying for VP positions or senior management positions. 2 Example Answers To “Describe Your Leadership Style” Below are a few example answers to “describe your leadership style” using the information that we’ve gathered from the guide. Example one I find myself having a hybrid method of leadership, both passive and active. Taking each instance of what’s required to motivate the team, uniquely. Ultimately, I am always trying to lead through transformational leadership. Helping to inform our team and align their motivations to produce ideal outcomes. This is how I’ve found myself leading in the past and doing so with good results. Example two Leadership for me is a an active method. I want to be proactive about how I can help to inform our team members. Though I recognize the difference between transformation and transactional leadership, I find that transactional leadership is best for a Project Manager because my goal is to be diligent in what the project requires and making sure each task is done on time and with the business requirements in mind.

Why you should travel before getting a grad job - Debut

Why you should travel before getting a grad job - Debut Once university is finished, social media becomes clogged with one thing: travel photos. Pictures of people backpacking in Thailand, surfing down-under and inter-railing across Europe. Travel is one of the most popular activities for undergrads once the university year is finished with. Taking the plunge yourself, however, is another matter. It can be scary to commit both time and money to something that is primarily for your enjoyment especially if graduation is looming, and your mind is clogged with nothing but the thought of what career path you’re going to take. Ive been in the exact same position and had the same worries, but I’m here to tell you why you should get booking that trip before you start work, rather than delaying it. You have more free time No matter how busy you may think your are as a student, you have the luxury of term breaks. As much as we’d like it to be, extended summer holidays simply arent a thing once you enter the working world (unless of course you’re a teacher, but we’ll ignore that point for now). With no time constraints, you can choose whatever length of an adventure that you want. You want to take a few months seeing the world? Do it. However, if you’re not sure about booking something so long, try out a shorter break. You’d be surprised how much you can do in the space of a few weeks. I myself went through Trek America, which allowed me to road trip across the northern route of the USA from NYC to Cali in the space of just 21 days. This was perfect for me, because I got an action-packed few weeks, but I still had enough time to come back in time for graduation and to apply for jobs. plus it was a lot nicer on my bank balance than a six-month excursion! No commitments to tie you down It’s not just time that you lose once you start working full-time, there are other things to consider. You may move cities for a new job. That means that if you travel whilst renting, you’d be paying for a property you’re not actually living in. Plus it can be scary to take a large amount of time off of work. There’s nothing worse than coming back off a break and watching that email count tick upand upand up. Sometimes when you’re away, you may also be tempted to check in with colleagues and wonder how the office is possibly coping without you. But, if you’re still living at home and don’t have a job (and therefore no missed emails) to worry over, then this won’t be an issue. You can go and explore knowing that study time is over, and the only thing you have to think about is where your travels will be leading you. And an extra piece of advice? Don’t do Skype interviews for grad jobs whilst you’re travelling and meant to be enjoying yourself. Especially if you have a bad internet connection at a campsite, and an eight hour time difference to contend with. Not that I did that or anything It can be a career advantage Whilst yes, your Insta feed will be the bomb by the time the trip is over, this isn’t the only thing travelling is good for. The experiences you have will be so unique that you can draw upon them in interviews. For example, if you’re travelling by yourself, this shows how independent you are. You’re navigating a foreign country and organising your travel to and from home. This is a lot of responsibility, and you can certainly relate to it! If you have any quirky stories from travelling, then these are a great conversation starter to show off your personality. Many times I’ve mentioned my unforgettable trip to the Spam Museum in Minnesota and all the facts and merchandise that’s available there. (Highly recommend a visit, 10/10.) Meet like-minded people As I mentioned at the beginning, travel is most popular with students and young people, and many companies market directly to this audience.   One way to reduce the cost of travelling is to look into group trips. Not only is it kinder on the wallet, but it’s also a lot more socialable than backpacking solo. Plus, you may very likely be placed with other young people who you’ll have a lot in common with. Drawing on my own trip, I can attest to this. During my Trek America adventure I bonded with the greatest bunch of travel buddies, and we went through a lot together. From freaking out over giant spiders in our camping tents, to saving some civilians who fell into a river during our white-water rafting session. I could tell you more, but then this would end up being a dissertation. We’ve all stayed in touch, and will in fact be meeting up very soon! If you’re looking for people who are similar both in terms of age and interests, then going travelling as a student is definitely a must. So if you’re still teetering on that decision on whether to travel now or later on life, we say don’t wait. Go see the world, whilst there’s nothing here to keep you tethered! Download Debut  and  connect with us on  Facebook,  Twitter  and  LinkedIn  for more careers insights.