##Executive Summary
- Actions speak louder than words
- Lead the interviewer to asking about your strengths
- Avoid overt unprompted self-promotion
##Speak Softly, and Carry a Big C.V.
If you have done nothing of value, you aren't going to have much success promoting yourself to employers. The best way to explain you are good at work is not through explaining to the interviewer how you are good at work, but by having great work experience, demonstrable accomplishments, and good references from previous employers.
##You Can Lead an Interviewer to Water...
Everyone is going to have areas they are stronger in, and areas they are weaker in. If I'm Steve Jobs, I probably don't want to be focusing an interview on how I handle interpersonal relations and conflicts with my coworkers. Instead it would be much better to try to focus questions on inspiring passion and having vision for future direction or some such. So if the interviewer asks, "Could you explain how you address conflict with members of your team?" you want to lead the interviewer off that track and steer them toward asking about your strength. For instance:
"There are two types of conflict. When a project isn't going well, or management doesn't seem to be hearing the feedback from the team doing the work, conflict can rise out of frustration. The other type of conflict is productive creative disagreement that is based on wanting to create something great. In my last role I focused on making sure that all conflict was the latter type, by making sure my team all shared the same direction."
The point is that you are taking a question that could paint you in a bad light, and shifting the discussion to something you are better at, which is how to lead people to have a common goal. By leading the interviewer to ask about your strengths, you don't need to promote yourself, you can just answer honestly based on your accomplishments, and get the interviewer to think more highly while making the interviewer seem like they are the one leading.
##Don't Toot Your Own Horn
Conversation should be natural and flow based on the questions being asked. When you try to stick in accomplishments or anything that comes across as overt self-promotion, it makes it seem like your skills/accomplishments aren't relevant to the discussion. If the discussion isn't allowing you to talk about things you are proud about or have experience with, you need to shift the discussion (see above section).
Even when you are discussing your accomplishments, I recommend avoiding sounding like you did everything yourself (unless of course you did). Any time you've worked with a team, using language that includes them ("We" instead of "I", etc.) will make you sound better to many employers because you are giving credit to people who have nothing to gain from you including them in the discussion. I'm not a fan of people who pass off the team's work as their personal accomplishments, and seen it backfire when the team members they put as references didn't react as expected when asked about them.
##Putting it All Together
Interviews go best when the discussion feels natural. If you seem confident, relaxed, and have substance to your answers, you will come across well. If you are reaching, or if you are forcibly trying to throw out things you are good at that don't quite fit, you will likely seem pretentious or less qualified than you are.
The only way to get good at interviewing is to practice. When you have a chance to go to an interview, try to take it (even if you don't think you'll take the job). By getting practice when there's nothing on the line, you'll end up being much better at it when it really counts.
