Employer-ready candidates understand how to speak confidently about their technical and transferable skills in ways that sell their professional value to employers. View a more detailed interview prep guide in the Behavioral Interview Prep Guide.
Tell me about yourself.
Think about your past (previous experience and education), present (your current job and how it’s preparing you for this role), and future (why you want the job you’re interviewing for).
What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses as an educator?
For strengths, consider the required skills in the job posting and explain those that you have mastered. For weaknesses, honestly explain an area in need of development, and provide specific examples of actionable steps you’re taking to improve.
Why did you choose to pursue a career in organizational change and leadership?
Explain your motivations for going into organizational change and leadership, particularly your area of focus. While this question asks about your initial motivations, it’s best practice to incorporate what you’ve recently learned and why this path continues to be a great fit for you.
What do you see as the most important trends and issues shaping this industry?
This question is designed to investigate your perspective on organizational change and leadership and how it aligns with the values of the organization where you are interviewing. Explain how your career goals intersect with these values.
What is your methodology for creating change in organizations?
This question assesses the knowledge you’ve gained during your graduate program. Explain evidence-based practices from your coursework and, if possible, explain how you’ve applied them in practice. Your answer will always be stronger if you use a specific example using the STAR method.
What is your leadership style? Tell me about a time that you were proud of your leadership abilities.
“Tell me about a time…” indicates a behavioral interview question so use the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method to tell a narrative. Start with your overall style, and then focus on how you led a team or project successfully to completion.
Tell me about a time when your colleagues were resistant to change. What was the situation and how did the team adapt?
This question focuses on change management. How do you recognize resistance to change and how do you address the situation? Use a specific example that showcases your problem-solving abilities and leadership skills using the STAR method.
How do you show that you value diversity, equity, and inclusion in practice?
Explain your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and social justice. Pick a specific time or two when you put DEI at the forefront of your work. This question is very broad, but be sure to answer with a specific narrative (or two) that highlights your values and initiative to act using the STAR method.
How have you used data as the impetus to change a learning experience?
Data is key to the field of organizational change and leadership. This question investigates how you use data proactively. Walk the interviewer through your answer step-by-step using the STAR method and home in on the data you used, why you used that data, and how you plan to continue using data to assess and iterate the experience.
How do you keep others accountable? Explain a time when someone was not meeting expectations and you needed to keep them accountable. How did you handle the situation?
While this question asks about someone else’s behavior, remember that you are the one being interviewed. Explain the situation, but be sure to keep yourself at the center of the story. How were you involved, what did you do, and how does that connect to how you keep others accountable?
Pro Tip: Always keep your answers positive, demonstrate what you’ve learned, and tell a story using the STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, and Result) for behavioral questions so you can provide details about your accomplishments.
