Top interview tips

Professional, Life after OB

No matter what industry you’re in, your Outward Bound course can help you nail a nerve-wracking job interview.

Drawing on your OB experience will help you to answer a number of tricky competency based questions. Leading employers and recruiters recommend that you use the STAR method in your responses.

The Situation
The Task required as a result
The Action you took
The Result of that Action

Here are some of the common questions that your interviewer may ask and some ideas of situations you may have come across at OB that will support your answer.

Interview Tips4

Tell me about a time you lead a group to achieve a goal

This question assesses your leadership capability. Think about when you were asked to take charge of a particular activity or influenced your group in some way. Being able to say that you’ve developed and refined your personal leadership style will carry a lot of weight with your interviewer.

Did you lead your team for part of the hike?
Did you have to make a crucial navigational decision on behalf of your team?
Did you coach your watchmates to climb the rock wall or take on the high-ropes course?

Interview Tips3

How have you worked within a team?

Here, the interviewer is trying to gauge your interpersonal skills. At OB, you work with people from a wide variety of backgrounds, which is a big plus point and shows that you’re adaptable within a team.

Think about your hike or cutter sail. What strategies did you suggest to overcome a problem?
How did you work together to overcome failure?
What unforeseen circumstances did you have to deal with and what was your input in adapting to these circumstances?

Interview Tips5

Tell me about a time when you identified a new approach to resolving a problem

You’re now being tested on your problem solving skills. Think about the Plan-Do-Review model and how you put it into practice.

Look back at your OB adventure to see how you’ve demonstrated your ability to problem solve.
How did you make a plan for your days’ activities?
Did you have to think creatively?
How did you improvise?
Did you have to set up camp when you didn’t expect to? How did you adapt?

Interview Tips6

How would you deal with someone disagreeing with you?

This question assesses how you deal with conflict and your level of resilience.

How did you adapt when your group had a difference of opinion?
What systems did you put in place to cope with people having different ideas to achieve the same goal?
Think about what you learned about growth mindset.
Did you encounter challenges around equal sharing of roles and responsibilities?
Did you disagree about navigating in bad weather?
How did you deal with complex tasks?
If there was open conflict, how did you help to calm and resolve the situation?