How to Answer "What's Your Greatest Personal Achievement?" In An Interview

How to Answer "What's Your Greatest Personal Achievement?" In An Interview

Learn more

Next page

Why Interviewers Ask This Question

It can be helpful to answer a question if you know why it's being asked in the first place. Recruiters and hiring managers ask this question because they want to hear real examples of your work.  More importantly, they want to learn about your successful projects, the details around them, and how you personally got to the finish line. With this 

Next page

Why Interviewers Ask This Question

question, they can learn aboutyour work ethic, work values, personality, and skills. Did you have to learn to code in order to launch that eCommerce website for your client?! Like we mentioned above, interviewers know that people like to share the high-level results—like increasing by X%—but with this question, they 

Next page

Why Interviewers Ask This Question

get to learn the who, what, why, how, when, and where.

Next page

What Not To Say

Before we talk about how to answer, here are a few things you might not want to say. Even if you are the greatest problem-solver to ever walk through the swinging office doors at your last organization, do not use this as an opportunity to disparage or neg your former coworkers or organization. If you did solve big problems, describe your 

Next page

What Not To Say

accomplishments, but leave any negativity behind. And don't share something you can't back up.  If you share that you landed a big client for the firm but then struggle to answer any follow-up questions it's going to cause confusion at best and make you look like you're lying at worst.

Next page

How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Personal Achievement?" 

Be Honest A difficult part of answering behavioral interview questions for many candidates is talking about oneself, on repeat. It can be extremely challenging to feel like you're boasting or bragging too much.  However, this is a situation—and an opportunity—for you to go for the gold. Be honest when describing your greatest 

Next page

How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Personal Achievement?" 

achievements—and in what steps you took. Take your credit and be proud. However, this advice also works the other way. Just like you shouldn't lie on your resume, don't stretch the truth in answering these types of questions. If you ever get caught in an embellishment mid-interview, it's uncomfortable, to say the least.

Next page

How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Personal Achievement?" 

Be Specific The interview can be a nerve-wracking experience. This question can be particularly difficult to answer when it's the first one—and you haven't quite shaken off your nerves. When you're more nervous, you tend to want to blurt out your answer and have it be finished. Avoid doing this by preparing your answer beforehand 

Next page

How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Personal Achievement?" 

(which is what we're doing right now!) When you choose your accomplishment, make sure to have two or three reasons as to why it was such an amazing feat.

Next page

How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Personal Achievement?" 

Be Relevant Make sure that your accomplishments are work-related or that they directly relate to the job for which you are interviewing. If you recently finished a degree that relates to the job—and you also completed an amazing thesis—talk about that. When preparing these interview answers, always run them 

Next page

How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Personal Achievement?" 

through relevancy filters. How does this answer relate to the job? How does this answer prove that I can do the job? How does this answer show that I am a creative candidate? How does this answer demonstrate my unique skill sets?

More

Read

10 New Job Fields for Women in 2022

10 Steps to a Resume That Will Get You Hired

10 Important Career Tips for Women

See More

See More

See More