Interviewer: "Yes, I hear all of that. But what did YOU do?"
This is your moment to explain how consequential you were on the last job, or throughout your career.
The test, of course, is what footprints in the sand did you leave behind? But for your efforts, imagination, leadership, first responses, etc, something of consequence would not have happened, or might not have happened. What was that?
Not all invention
Managers are particularly susceptible to the "But what did YOU do?" question. Just keeping things moving may be of consequence, but often, when looking back, it's hard to find the value-add in routine managerial tasks.
Sometimes being consequential yourself is motivating, inspiring, encouraging, and enabling others; sometimes being consequential is providing for the "welfare" of others by providing jobs, careers, environments, and relationships.
Add value
At the end of the day, you yourself have a lot to says about your own job content. Unsurprisingly, you can grab for the ring more often than you think. I think the test is always about adding value:
- If you didn't make the customer more successful, why should they pay?
- If you didn't make the customer more successful, they may not be able to pay.
- If you didn't make the customer more successful, what did you do instead?
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