Preparing your Application
Aaron
Senior Auditor
Ottawa
- Review the job posting to see if your background matches the requirements.
- Familiarize yourself with CMHC’s competencies.
- Think about your experiences that demonstrate the skills, knowledge and competencies required for the position.
- Customize your resumé to the required qualifications. Consider adding a section such as “Summary of Qualifications” or “Profile” that targets the position requirements.
- Use a bulleted style to make your resumé reader-friendly.
- Identify your accomplishments when preparing your resumé. Write a brief, customized cover letter (we recommend no more than two pages) that demonstrates how your background matches the qualifications.
- Be precise and relate your experience to the job opportunity; for example, include special assignments, projects or volunteer experiences that have enabled you to develop the competencies that are relevant to the position you are applying for.
- Emphasize your transferable skills. You can provide examples from areas other than work experiences that have helped you develop the required competencies; for example, students can discuss their role in a group project, their involvement on an organizing committee, etc.
Responding to Behaviour-Based Questions
Behaviour-based interview questions are aimed at soliciting detailed examples of specific events from your recent work experience, typically within the past five years. The following are some sample behaviour-based questions:
- “Tell us about a situation when you had to manage several projects with competing deadlines.”
- “Describe a situation when you had to analyze a complex issue and provide recommendations.”
- “Tell us about the most difficult work relationship you have encountered to date.”
When you respond to a behaviour-based question, your answer needs to include the following components: situation, action, result.
Situation: Describe the relevant situation or task in which you were involved.
Action: Describe the actions or behaviours that you took in order to address the situation or complete the task. Explain why you chose a particular course of action.
Result: Describe the results or outcome of the actions you took. You can include feedback received from a supervisor, client and/or co-workers as well as lessons learned.
Here are some tips to help you prepare for an interview:
- Study the job posting to have a clear understanding of what the position involves.
- Familiarize yourself with CMHC’s competencies.
- Review the behaviour-based questions that we provided to you in advance of your interview and think about previous experiences that relate to the question and the position.
- Select an example that is relevant to the position being filled. Prepare at least two examples for each question.
- If you have limited work experience or have been out of the workforce for a period of time, you may draw on examples from school projects, co-operative internships or volunteer work.
- Provide sufficient detail so that the interviewers may understand the circumstances surrounding the actions you took and the results produced by your actions.
- Pay attention to how your response is organized. Make it easy for the interviewers to understand the situation you are describing, the actions you took and the results you achieved.
- Use “I” to make it clear what actions you took in the situation you are describing; for example, say I implemented a process…, I recommended that…, I decided to…, etc.
- Write out your examples to help you organize your thoughts.
- Practise your responses with a trusted advisor.
- Avoid reading your responses during the interview.
- Be prepared to answer follow-up questions that the interviewers may ask.
