Answering the job interview question: “Give a time when you went above and beyond the requirements for a project.”

When managers give their direct employees an assignment, they usually give a set of expectations and hope the employee can deliver the desired outcome. If the employee is able to surpass the manager’s expectation, they will earn greater trust and receive more responsibility. By answering this question effectively, you can definitely win over any hiring manager and set yourself apart from other candidates. Let’s take you through the elements of a great answer.

Variations of this question

“Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond.” · “Are you a meets expectations or an exceeds expectations type of person?” · “Share a time you exceeded your manager’s expectations?”

What the hiring manager is looking for

Hiring managers ask the “above and beyond” question to gauge your passion, work ethic and proactivity. They want to see if you are the type of person who will settle and do only what they are asked to do, or if you will raise the bar and improve on the project expectations.

What your goal should be

Your goal is to share a story where you exceeded expectations on at least one requirement of a project. You want to convince the hiring manager that if they give you an assignment it will get done better than they expected. Your answer should show that you can improve requirements, work harder than others when needed, and innovate.

Preparing for this question

Start by reading the job description and listing out all the key responsibilities and expectations of the job. Then brainstorm stories from your career where you were given a specific task to do with clear instructions, but you did more than was required. Pick a story that aligns to the responsibilities and expectations you read in the job description and where you had a very successful outcome from your hard work.

Answer Structure

Your answer should be no longer than 2 minutes and should contain the following elements:

1. Tell the story using the S-T-A-R interview response method, by explaining the Situation, Task, Action and Result of your story.
   
   Example:
   Situation- “As a marketing intern for a nonprofit, I was asked to help with the yearly fundraising auction event.” (~15 seconds)
   Task- “My manager specifically asked me to call all the businesses that donated previously and try to get them to donate again.” (~15 seconds)
   Action- “The first thing I did was to clarify what the goal of my assignment was. After asking a few questions, it became apparent the goal was to just get as many products and services as we could to have a successful auction and raise at least $100k, which is what they usually make every year from this event. Instead of calling all the companies on my list, I decided to split them up into the size of business and value of products. I decided that I would call small companies and personally visit companies with expensive products or services. When visiting the large companies, I put together a great pitch and brought in visuals that would explain the nonprofit and why we needed to raise money. I even took some personal time on Saturdays to visit these companies.” (~60–90 seconds)
   Result- “My personal touch with these big retailers paid off. Not only did I get more companies to donate than ever before, but we were also able to raise $250k! This was much more than they had ever expected that I got recognized by the CEO herself and I was instantly offered a full-time position as soon as I got out of college.” (~30 seconds)

Extra tips

• Make sure to give an example where you were the person going above and beyond. If you were working as part of a team, emphasize the work you did and make sure you use the word “I” instead of “we” or the interviewer may assume the team was great and not you.
• If you don’t have enough work experience, don’t worry. This question can successfully be answered by experiences you had in school assignments, extra-curricular initiatives or side projects. Do try to pick a story that will emphasize skills you have that are relevant to the job though.
• Check out our related articles: Answering the Job Interview Question: “Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.” and Using the S-T-A-R Interview Response Method.

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