IRVINE, Calif - The Big West continues its SAAC Student-Athlete Programming Series during the 2023-24 academic year. These events serve as a series of virtual webinars for student-athletes, coaches, and administrators based on informative topics for real-world success.    
 
The league encourages SAAC members across its institutions to join these calls and extends the invitation externally across other conferences. If you want to attend one of these webinars, please contact your campuses' Big West SAAC representative or Angie Allen (allen@bigwest.org) for more information.   
 
This week, Big West students and staff were joined by Dominque Clark and Rasaan Stewart, former Villanova Student-Athletes and Co-Founders of Gritty. The two focused on one of the topics of Gritty's core curriculum, the 5 Pillar Interview, and interacted with student-athletes on the call and exercised these practices in real-time. Overall, the session focused on the three main takeaways being, learning, constructing, and practicing the 5-pillar interview process that will help you succeed when interviewing for new opportunities.  

1. Prepare for Success 

2. Introduce with Authority  

3. Respond with Purpose 

4. Question the Intent 

5. Close with Gritty 

There are three main steps to help prepare for success during the interview process. Doing research on the company and analyzing the job is very important so you do not go blind to the interview. Try to tailor your responses to what the job description is asking.  Preparation is another big part in preparing for success. Creating a three-trait introduction that supports, represents, and describes what sets you apart and how you will thrive in that role. Practice makes perfect to help nail a three-trait intro that will make interviews intrigued during the first interaction.  

Introducing with Authority is heavily supported by Gritty’s A.C.E. formula. A is for authenticity which is important to always show your personality and show you are personable when speaking to a group of people. C stands for concise. Make sure to keep your answers clear and quick and try not to ramble on and get off topic. E represents engaging which also ties in with being authentic as well. 

Formulating effective responses will help you respond with a purpose when asked the typical interview questions during the process. Creating effective responses that can showcase your strengths, the structure of how you work, and your personality will set you apart since you can concisely highlight yourself. From a student-athlete perspective, abilities to speak about leadership and managing a busy schedule are examples of effective answers. The S.T.A.R.R. method is another helpful template to help ensure an effective response.  

Situation 

Task 

Action 

Result 

Relate 

What is the situation you were faced with? What is the task (goal/objective)? What actionable steps did you take? What results did you achieve? What skills relate to the role? 

If we talk about the importance of showing up to an interview prepared to answer questions, you should be prepared to ask questions. It is very important to ask questions about the hiring manager, team, and organization. It is best practice to have two questions prepared at the end of the interview. A tip is to ask specific questions to the interviewers and show you have done your research on them and the company.  

Being able to Close with Grit will nicely cap off the applied skills in this session. During an interview, it is important to address concerns and if there are any questions or concerns you can answer before the conversation is wrapped up. Also, make sure to reintroduce your three-traits. Reinstating your traits will serve as a full circle moment and the interviewers will see that you were prepared, and it will be the last thing they remember about you. Finally, a personalized follow-up email or note to the hiring committee members will go a long way too. Point out what resonated with you in the interview and thank them for taking the time to talk. You never know what kind of connections can be made if even the opportunity does not work out.  

Overall, the 5-pillar interview by Gritty gives applicable information on how to properly prepare, shine, and follow up during the job interview process. Visit get-gritty.com for more information.  

ABOUT GRITTY

Gritty's 100% virtual sales training and cohort-based professional development program combines pre-class readings, executive coach-led live classes, and real-world application assignments.   

With support from our industry-specific networks, Gritty graduates break into and maintain long-term success in sought-after sales roles. With access to Gritty's proprietary templates and live mock interviews & debriefs, participants are supported through the process of securing a job offer. Participants will build a personalized Job Placement Plan and outline short and long-term career goals with a career coach. Participants are matched with a mentor with experience and expertise in their desired career path and join our community of sales professionals.