Answering the job interview question: “Tell me about a time when you have persuaded others to adopt your ideas.”
Persuading others to follow ideas that you personally and sincerely believe to be the right thing to do is a crucial skill for any job. Every office is filled with diverse workers trying to collaborate on projects, each believing their idea is the best. We need influencers to be able to move past the indecision and pick a good enough idea and persuade others to follow. That’s why this question is so important. By answering this question effectively, you can give the hiring manager confidence you will be able to make things happen and keep initiatives moving.
Variations of this question
“Tell me about a time you convinced others to adopt your ideas” · “Describe a leadership experience.” · “Share a time when you convinced your manager to do something you were passionate about.” · “Do you consider yourself a leader or a follower?”
What the hiring manager is looking for
The hiring manager is looking for someone who can solve problems and be passionate and articulate enough about a solution that they can influence people to action. They don’t want someone who can bully others and get their way, but rather someone who can think critically about problems and communicate their ideas well.
What your goal should be
Your goal is to share a story where you successfully influenced others on the right decision of a project or initiative. Your story should display positive behaviors of influence, such as using data and inspiring trust rather than fear. Your answer should also display your ability to think critically about a problem and come to a sound solution.
Preparing for this question
Start by reading the job description and listing skills and responsibilities that the hiring manager is looking for. Then think of stories where you have persuaded others. Of those, try to pick a story that would not only answer the persuasion question but also showcase a skill needed for the position you are interviewing for. Be sure the story you pick ends in success and it was clearly the right decision. Also, try to pick a recent story or otherwise it implies that you don’t persuade people frequently.
Answer Structure
Your answer should be no longer than 3 minutes and should contain the following elements:
- Start by stating the decision or idea that you influenced others to do in one sentence. This should take 10 seconds.
Example: “In my current role, I was able to build a team around a certain product feature and win our company hackathon.” - Then, tell the story using the S-T-A-R interview response method, by explaining the Situation, Task, Action and Result of your story. This step should take no longer than 2 minutes.
Example:
Situation- “Every year, our company puts on a yearly hackathon where people can put together a team and come up with a feature they believe could be impactful for the company.” (~15 seconds)
Task- “This past year, I came up with a feature we could add to our flagship product and one that could potentially bring in millions in incremental dollars for our company. All I needed to do is find the right team and build our idea for the hackathon.” (~15 seconds)
Action- “Since there are only a few developers at our company, I knew I had to have a really convincing pitch. I started by doing a ton of research about our current product, in particular, getting acquainted with our personas, understanding our active users, and learning how our customers use our product. I then picked out a segment of users who I guessed would benefit from my survey. From this segment, I picked twenty random customers to interview. Turns out that 18/20 customers were confident my feature would help them be more productive. After showing my research and quantifying the gains that we would bring into the company, it only took me 5 minutes to convince two developers to join!” (~60–90 seconds)
Result- “We also ended up convincing a Designer to join our team. Together we were able to design and build a fully functional prototype and give a really convincing presentation. Not only did we win first place, but we were also able to see our feature get implemented into the product. The best part is that we were right — it was able to bring in a ton of new money for our company.” (~30 seconds)
Extra tips
- Do not tell a story where you manipulated others into following your idea. Influencing is about getting others to see your perspective clear enough that they want to follow you.
- Though your answer should be work-related, this is a question where your answer could come from other experiences you may have had, such as service projects, school assignments, extra-curricular initiatives or side projects.
- Remember, the story you tell should be one where you have the right idea or decision. This is just as much of a matter of whether you are good at what you do or not.
- Check out our related articles: Answering the job interview question: “Describe a recent leadership experience.” and Using the S-T-A-R Interview Response Method.
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