Example answers for: ‘Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership skills’
Artwork by: Alexandra Shevchenko
- What are leadership skills?
- Why do interviewers ask about leadership skills?
- How might they ask you this type of question?
- Tips on how to answer ‘Describe a time you demonstrated leadership’
- Examples of answers that demonstrate your excellent leadership skills
- Key takeaways
You may have excellent leadership skills. But how do you answer an interviewer that says, ‘Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership skills?’ It sounds like a simple question, but it is not always easy to give a great answer. We’ll give you some tips and examples on how to best answer the question.
No matter what type or level of job you are interviewing for, the question of leadership will come up. This is true even for jobs you would not typically consider to be leadership roles. Hiring managers always want to hire people who can lead. You should be prepared for this kind of question in any job interview.
The responses to questions like this can show your leadership ability and how you make important decisions. If you're properly prepared for this interview question, then you can use it as an opportunity to demonstrate your great leadership skills and convince the interviewer you’re the best person for the job.
This blog will discuss why interviewers ask about times you demonstrated leadership. We’ll also give you some tips on how to answer the question, along with some examples of good answers. We’ll break it down into the following sections:
What are leadership skills?
Why do they ask?
How to spot this category of question
Tips on how to answer the question
Good examples of answers
What are leadership skills?
Leadership involves motivating individuals and groups of people to achieve goals. Any skill related to leading people would be considered a leadership skill. Pretty broad definition, right? Let’s get more specific. Some examples of good leadership skills are working under pressure, decision-making, planning, time management, prioritization, and being a good judge of character.
Leadership isn’t just about managing people. It’s about having passion, promoting ideas, and motivating people to reach a common goal. Employers want candidates that either are excellent leaders or who have the potential to become a great leader. It is an important soft skill valued by hiring managers, and all interviewers look for it.
Why do interviewers ask about leadership skills?
As we mentioned, leadership is a much sought after skill. HR, recruiters, and hiring managers will ask you questions about your leadership abilities. Your responses will play a big factor in whether you get hired or not. So, being prepared is crucial.
Statements like ‘describe a time you demonstrated leadership‘ are behavioral statements. They require you to respond with an example of how you have utilized specific competencies in the past. The objective is to learn about your past job performance, which is one way to predict your effectiveness in a new job.
Employers look for people who can motivate and inspire their coworkers, even if they are not in a direct management role. So, even if you don’t have management experience, you need to have solid answers prepared that include examples of when you demonstrated good leadership.
How might they ask you this type of question?
Interviewers can ask you about your leadership in many different ways. No matter how they ask, they are looking for information on what makes you a good leader.
Here are some different ways they might ask about your positive leaderships skills:
How would you describe your leadership style?
Can you give me an example of where you lead by example?
When is a time you delegated effectively?
When have you coached or mentored others to achieve success?
What’s an example of an important project you have led?
Will you describe a time that you led a team to a successful outcome?
Whichever version of the question they hit you with, you need to have a good answer with a solid example of how you demonstrated excellent leadership abilities.
Tips on how to answer ‘Describe a time you demonstrated leadership’
Now we’ll cover some things to keep in mind when you are preparing your answers about how you demonstrated leadership skills.
Use recent examples. Hiring managers are most interested in what you have done recently. Talking about something that happened long ago is not going to impress them and may lead to a lot of follow-up questions like ‘What have you done to develop your leadership skills since then?’
Don’t say you have no leadership experience. Come up with something from your past, even if it is not related to work experience, that shows how you led something. It could be a school project, a sports team, volunteer work, or church events. Don’t leave the interviewer hanging without a response.
Remember, there’s no right or wrong answer to this type of question. Hiring managers want to hear about your leadership experiences. Any answer that includes terms and phrases about relevant leadership skills will be a good answer.
Your examples should be specific. Give a brief description of a scenario and talk about how you used your leadership skills to address the situation. Include the positive outcome and, if possible, quantify those results to make your story more impactful.
Don’t be too long-winded. Your answer should be relatively short. Avoid using an example that turns into a long story. Get to the point quickly, which should be about how you motivated and inspired people, while influencing them to succeed as a team.
Remember to use an example or examples that show how you positively impacted the organization with your great leadership skills. Again, the example does not necessarily need to be from a direct leadership role. It is possible to exhibit leadership skills anywhere.
Examples of answers that demonstrate your excellent leadership skills
Exactly what you say depends on the situation and the exact question asked, but here are a few examples.
Example Tell me about a time you tackled a major leadership challenge. “While working for ABC company as an operations manager, we were forced to do company-wide layoffs due to a downturn in the economy. I had a team of twenty people and was forced to lay off 50 percent of my staff. The remaining team member had to absorb the work of the people that were laid off. As a result, we fell way behind schedule on projects and team morale suffered greatly. So, I streamlined regular meetings and cut down to only the most important meetings. The second major initiative was to go through each function and project and eliminate any redundant activities. The team leads did a great job at this and were able to reduce tasks by over 15 percent. Between the reductions in meetings and tasks, we were able to decrease the overall workload by about 33 percent. Morale was boosted, which led to further improvements in productivity.” |
Example Have you ever had to take on leadership unexpectedly? “In my current role, I recently had to take over direction of a project that was way behind schedule. I started by assessing the situation, identifying areas for improvement, and building a plan to get it back on schedule. During the next project management meeting, I presented the plan to the team and rallied them around it. Tasks were assigned, resources provided, and support arranged. We held daily standup meetings to ensure progress was maintained. The team was able to stay organized, focused, and accountable. We successfully completed the tasks, and got the project back on track. The project ended up finishing on schedule and was 5 percent under budget. I feel my ability to take charge, set goals, and keep the team motivated made a real difference during this project.” |
Example As a student, did you ever have a leadership role in a project or group? “Our student council recently organized an event for a local community charity. I was put in the role of chair of the student council to oversee the event planning and ensure all tasks were completed on time and within budget. Not only that, but I organized a volunteer team from the student body, assigned tasks, managed the schedule and budget, arranged logistics, and ran regular meetings. During the event, my team coordinated all the efforts. I ensured everyone was in place and all tasks were completed as planned. The event ran smoothly, and I am proud to say that my leadership skills played a major part. We raised over $10,000 for the charity, and both organizers and participants were very happy with the results.” |
Key takeaways
Leadership isn’t just about being in charge of people.
Expect every interviewer to ask you about your leadership skills.
Know how to spot questions about leadership abilities.
Have answers prepared.
Make the most of the opportunity to show what a great leader you are.
