Job interviews are a very delicate dance and not all of them go to plan.
A lot of us are left kicking ourselves afterwards, wishing that we'd have said something else or prepared more - but until someone finally gets round to building that time machine we're all in dire need of, there is nothing you can do about it.
If you end up getting an outright no or being told that they are going with another candidate, the only option is to take it on the chin and learn from the experience, so that next time, you're going to get it.
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Taking the advice of an employment expert who shares tips and tricks for job hunters to utilise won't do you any harm either - so let me introduce you to Erin McGoff, who reckons she can help you improve your chances in interviews.
She believes that preparing for any 'behavioural job interview questions' that could crop up is the best way to set yourself up for a smooth and successful interview.
Known as the 'internet's big sis', as well as an award-winning documentary filmmaker, director, editor and podcaster, Erin churns out life and career advice online like there is no tomorrow.
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In a recent TikTok video, she broke down everything people need to know about behavioural job interview questions while giving some examples of how to answer them successfully.
Erin explained that these types of queries are 'designed to get a sense of how you've handled yourself professionally in difficult or challenging situations'.
She said: "They usually start out with, 'Tell me about a time when…' and are SUPER hard to answer if you aren’t prepared! They’re really difficult to answer because they want a very specific story time right on the spot.
"They’re not going to fact check it, they just wanna get a good sense of your character and professionalism. And most of these questions are asking the same thing, which is basically ‘how have you dealt with conflict and difficult situations?’
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"If you’re stuck, just use the STAR method."
Ah, the trusty STAR method - it's stopped plenty of us rambling during interviews.
If you need a refresher, it's basically a structure to follow when answering questions, which can help you highlight some particular skills and qualities you want to show off to your potential new employer.
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S is for situation, AKA the situation you had to deal with, T is for the task you were given to do as a result, A is for the action you took and R is for result, so you just have to finish up by explaining the outcome and what you learned from it.
Erin reckons you need to think up a few possible scenarios prior to the interview that you could use the STAR method on and ace whatever behavioural job interview questions are thrown your back.
You can watch her putting the STAR method here:
But if her tutorial wasn't enough, she also gave social media users some further inspiration in the caption of her clip.
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Erin continued: "Basically, think of an example where you had a challenge at work.
"Maybe it was a disagreement on strategy with a co-worker, a particularly difficult client/customer, an overwhelming workload, a time you communicated proactively, a meeting where you had to motivate your team.
"Have a few of these in your back pocket. And remember, be authentic - talk about what was truly challenging to you and how you overcame it. Be humble, be earnest and be concise."
Basically, according to Erin, if you're ever in doubt during an interview, just whip the STAR method out.
Olivia Burke