| Topic Name: |
Job Search |
| Message Name: |
How to answer the leadership question |
| Date Posted: |
09/23/2003 |
| Message: |
I really hope that someone out there can help me, because how to answer this question has been hunting me forever and makes me scared of interviews.
I'm a senior in college and I noticed that every company screams that they want leadership experience. But I don't have that. I was never president of a student organization on campus. Therefore, how should I answer this question?
These are my reasons for not having leadership:
- I will get my college degree within 3 years and also with a double major. This just meant that I took a bigger course load and didn??t have as much spare time to go to club activities as most other students who take 4 years to finish.
- My high school in Switzerland was very small (only 250 students). We didn??t have any student organizations at all. So when I got to my university in the USA, I attended some club meetings, but was intimidated by the experience of American students who had so much student organization experience from their high schools.
- I tried to get involved with the finance club, but they don??t have too many meetings. And the meetings they had were scheduled on an evening and a time when I had a class. I didn??t want to skip class ??just?? to go to a club meeting. Academics still seems more important to me. Sadly the second semester their meeting day changed, but so did my classes, and once again, they picked the only day of the week when I had a late class. This continued during my college career, always they had meetings when there was another important academic event that I had to go to.
- And last but not least: I??m just not the type for student organizations. I feel much happier going to an event with one friend, or having a good conversation with one person. The whole social thing just doesn??t appeal to me. I don??t like the typical college thing of ??going out to party and getting drunk?? on the weekends. I??m a very independent person who likes to travel and discover the world, and isn??t solely focused on this small student organization on campus.
I realize that I lack real leadership experience, but I think my university helped to give me some skills that leaders need:
First of all, my university really emphasizes group work. In every class, I had to do several group projects. Therefore I gained a lot of teamwork experience. Second, we had to take a public speaking class. This class helped me a lot. I used to be scared of talking in front of people, but now I like giving speeches and I also had good to great grades on the speeches I gave in that class. Right now I??m also taking a management class, and I like it a lot.
Could you please see if I could use any of these as explanation during a job interview, or is there another smart way to handle the leadership question when I don't have leadership experience?
I would appreciate your help very much!
Barbara Walti
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