To Land Shipping and Receiving Jobs, How Do You Highlight Skills During an Interview?

Interview with Confidence with These Golden Rules

You’ve been invited to an interview for Shipping and Receiving Jobs. The hiring manager will know what skills you need for the role – but how do you ensure they see you as a standout candidate?

According to GlobalNewswire, 92% of Americans fear interviews – and 15% say being stumped by questions is the trigger. Answer incorrectly, and you could lose yourself a great opportunity.

We’re here to show you how to nail interview questions with concise evidence of your skills, so that you land the best shipping and receiving jobs that you deserve.

Know What Skills They’re Looking For

Preparation is key. Never enter an interview without taking time to consider what it is the interviewers will be looking for, and how you can demonstrate your standout ability. Read over the job description, and note the keywords they want from their ideal candidate. Think about:

Technical Must-Haves

These are the skills that are essential for you to perform and contribute from day one.

Technical Desirables

Such skills may have been mentioned in the job description. But think beyond this. Consider the responsibilities and duties of the position you’re applying for, and how the skills you possess will serve you well in the role. Also consider your career goals, and which skills will support your ability to achieve them.

Soft Skills

Your resume would have achieved much of the showcasing of your technical ability for you to have reached the interview stage. Once you’ve reached this point, the interviewer will be focusing on your soft skills, too. They are just as valuable as your technical ability because they’re harder to teach.

Soft skills in shipping and receiving jobs include:

  • A strong sense of time organization and management
  • Independency
  • Highly advanced communication skills
  • Team camaraderie

Again, pay attention to the duties specific to the role.

In every role for shipping and receiving jobs, make sure your overall demeanor and body language showcases winning soft skills, such as:

  • Confident eye contact
  • No fidgeting
  • Focused attitude
  • Listening ability
  • Encouraging yet calming body language

All these little gestures reassure a strong presence of excellent soft skills that will serve you well throughout your career.

Construct STAR-Quality Answers

Hiring managers will ask questions that help them identify your ability and potential. You must stay on track with your answers. This is easier said than done. Steering away from the question is common and can harm your chances to highlight the skills you have.

To help keep you on track, stick to the STAR method:

  • Situation – Your previous shipping and receiving job, and who it involved.
  • Task – What the challenge or problem was.
  • Action – What you did, how you applied a skill to resolve the situation, and who with.
  • Result – How your action resolved the situation. If you can give quantitative measures, even better (i.e., ‘The result was a 150% improvement on prepared shipping documents, from x amount to y amount in 1 week across the team.’).

Here are some tips on how you can prepare some STAR answers:

  • Go back to your list of job description keywords. Think of examples of past experiences that demonstrate how your skills enabled you to deliver great results.
  • Do the same with your resume – identify the skills and past experiences that will enhance your performance in this role.
  • Don’t over-rehearse your answers, but have them fresh in your mind for a conversational flow.
  • Be prepared to answer follow-up questions about your examples.
  • Keep them short and concise.

Get Expert Interview Guidance for Shipping and Receiving Jobs

Interviews can be daunting. Have confidence in yourself. You’ve already done a great job of highlighting your skills on your resume. Plus, Coast Personnel are on hand to support you and provide expert guidance to brush up your interviewing technique.

Better still, you’ll enter the interview knowing you’ve been perfectly matched by us with an employer and role that compliments your ability and promises a great future.

Let’s get going! Upload your resume with Coast Personnel today – we’ll support you the entire way.