What are some ways you have worked to improve yourself over the past year?

"I just went to a leadership conference to help me cultivate some of my skills and learn how to be a more effective leader on my team. I have found it to be beneficial to attend continuous training and conferences like this at least once a year because I am surrounded by other leaders who also want to challenge themselves and grow. I find that I'm always learning new tactics and techniques at each one, so they are definitely beneficial to my growth as a leader."

"My college sponsored a group of 50 students in gaining blue belt certification in innovation engineering with Eureka Ranch. I was selected to participate and received my certification late last year. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and I feel like it improved my critical thinking and problem solving skills. I look forward to using what I learned here at Boeing if offered the open position."

"I researched various technologies related to efficiency and sustainability last year. I also attended the CleanTech Forum in Europe.

It is very important to me to align my work with companies that demonstrate a commitment to the future and the environment. That's why I am interviewing here at Boeing. I researched Boeing's programs such as EcoDemonstrator and the various remediation activities such as the Duwamish Waterway cleanup and restoration projects. Boeing has an impressive record of innovation and service that I would love to be a part of in the future."

"I attended classes on NoSQL databases over the last year. A lot of the analysis I do is data driven. I am very comfortable writing queries to pull information from traditional relational databases, but I was unsure how to get the information I needed effectively from a NoSQL DBMS. I learned a lot, and I am glad to have added these skills to my analysis toolkit.

I am unsure of the usage of any NoSQL databases at Boeing, but I feel my work in this area demonstrates my commitment to keeping my technical skills up to date. I would enjoy the opportunity to continue to learn relevant technical skills if offered the open position at Boeing."

"I feel that healthy communication dynamics are vital to the success of a team. I have participated in facilitated sessions in which the communication styles of each team member are assessed and then team members learn how to best communicate collectively. I wanted to bring that knowledge to my own teams, so I took a class last year to learn how to facilitate DISC communication style assessments.

I practiced what I had learned with my teams when I returned from my class. Everyone seemed to learn a lot about the best way to present information to their teammates, and the health of the communication dynamic of each team improved significantly as a result. I look forward to applying the knowledge I gained in my role as a project manager going forward."

"I set a professional goal last year to obtain my cloud services certification. I attended a Microsoft bootcamp and then received my Azure Developer certification. In the future, I would like to continue and obtain DevOps and Architect level certifications as well. I know Boeing uses a mix of cloud services including AWS, so I would be willing to expand my knowledge to other platforms as needed."

Think about a goal you recently achieved, or are actively working towards, and explain what you did/are doing to help you reach that goal. If your goal is ongoing, like being a good leader, tell how your actions will help you in the short and long term. As you answer, be sure to stay relevant to the field in which you are applying. Focus less on any weakness you want to improve, and more so on the steps or actions, you are taking to improve.

Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.