The single most effective thing you can do in an interview is to make your experience come alive through stories or examples. Yes, you need to get other things right in an interview as well: ask the right questions, prep for handling issues with your candidacy, follow-up effectively and so forth. But telling a good story is the most powerful way to stand out from the competition, since our brains are wired to remember the imagery, the drama, and the emotion that’s conveyed in a good story.
Think of your story as a picture painted with words. Use it to describe either a) how you would tackle a problem your prospective employer is facing, or b) how you previously helped another employer with similar problems. Since in most interview situations you just don’t have enough information to effectively illustrate what exactly you would do in the prospective new role, we’ll focus on the latter case, sharing an example of how you helped another employer. Follow the guidelines below, and then make it your mission to get at least one of your success stories heard in your next interview!
1. Prepare just two or three stories (not 15)
To tell a story well, you need to practice it over and over. If you’re trying to memorize a dozen or more stories, you won’t have time to properly prepare and rehearse the individual examples.
Plus, you don’t need more than three stories; three (and sometimes just two) is enough to demonstrate both a track record and versatility. Keep in mind that just one story can be used to answer multiple questions. For example, one of my clients used the same story about how he landed a new account in answer to the questions a) what’s your greatest strength, b) give me an example of one of your work achievements, and c) how did you handle a difficult employee. He just told the same story from different perspectives.
2. Use a story-telling format
I like PAR – Problem, Action, Result – because it’s easy to remember and implement, and every good story contains these three elements:
- The Problem, or obstacle you had to overcome, is part of any great story. They are also hiring you to solve problems, so you want to demonstrate problem-solving ability.
- The Action, i.e. how your brain works in addressing problems. Sharing this element enables the interviewer to envision what it would be like to work with you.
- The Result demonstrates your value to an organization.
3. Go for the drama, the importance
Think about stories you’ve heard that have been memorable. In describing why they were memorable, you might use words like “important,” “dramatic,” “engaging,” “fascinating,” “emotional.” You want interviewers to describe your stories the same way. Look to make both the problem and the result important, a big deal; you’ll help them to both remember your story and understand that you can be entrusted with big responsibilities.
You can fit a lot of the drama in the “Problem” and the “Result” portions of your story. Don’t just say “One of our accounts was considered a retention risk, so here’s what I did to keep them.” Instead say “One of our key accounts was considered a retention risk. If they left, it would have cost us a quarter of our revenue and threatened our stock price! So there was a lot on the line. Here’s what I did to keep the account.” Go for the same high-impact message on the “Result” side as well. Don’t just say “So the account ended up staying with us.” Say what that meant to the company, and/or how you were recognized for this achievement.
4. Try to use a story in your answer to any question
Let’s take a typical interview question- “What’s your greatest strength?” You could say, “My greatest strength is my ability to build productive relationships.” OK, well you’ve answered the question, so that’s good, and if they are looking for someone with strong relationship skills that’s also good. But the end-result is sort of blah because your answer just isn’t memorable. You’re not really differentiating yourself from your competitors.
Now let’s try this again, with the answer my client gave. She said “Well my greatest strength is my ability to build productive relationships. Why don’t I share an example so you can see what I mean?” And then she shared her resonant, powerful story.
5. Avoid these common mistakes
If you keep your stories to roughly two minutes, you will avoid the most common issues, including too much detail (boring) and too little detail or too high level (not interesting).
I find that many clients are great at describing the problem and the result, but give short-shrift to the ‘Action’ part of the story. This part is key to the interviewer understanding how you operate, and is vital to making the example you’re sharing relevant to them. Introduce this part of the story by explaining your strategy, that is, show them how you think; say “I approached the problem in three ways…” or “the key to addressing this issue was…”
Also, make sure you don’t use “we” too much. “We” is good if used occasionally to show you’re collaborative. But ultimately the interviewer wants to understand what YOU did. So it’s great if you mention how you partnered with others (always desirable), but say it just once or twice, as in “I partnered with two of my colleagues in creating…” Then focus on your contribution.
Want to Ace Your Interview? Tell a Great Story
by Robert Hellmann • Interviewing
Think of your story as a picture painted with words. Use it to describe either a) how you would tackle a problem your prospective employer is facing, or b) how you previously helped another employer with similar problems. Since in most interview situations you just don’t have enough information to effectively illustrate what exactly you would do in the prospective new role, we’ll focus on the latter case, sharing an example of how you helped another employer. Follow the guidelines below, and then make it your mission to get at least one of your success stories heard in your next interview!
1. Prepare just two or three stories (not 15)
To tell a story well, you need to practice it over and over. If you’re trying to memorize a dozen or more stories, you won’t have time to properly prepare and rehearse the individual examples.
Plus, you don’t need more than three stories; three (and sometimes just two) is enough to demonstrate both a track record and versatility. Keep in mind that just one story can be used to answer multiple questions. For example, one of my clients used the same story about how he landed a new account in answer to the questions a) what’s your greatest strength, b) give me an example of one of your work achievements, and c) how did you handle a difficult employee. He just told the same story from different perspectives.
2. Use a story-telling format
I like PAR – Problem, Action, Result – because it’s easy to remember and implement, and every good story contains these three elements:
3. Go for the drama, the importance
Think about stories you’ve heard that have been memorable. In describing why they were memorable, you might use words like “important,” “dramatic,” “engaging,” “fascinating,” “emotional.” You want interviewers to describe your stories the same way. Look to make both the problem and the result important, a big deal; you’ll help them to both remember your story and understand that you can be entrusted with big responsibilities.
You can fit a lot of the drama in the “Problem” and the “Result” portions of your story. Don’t just say “One of our accounts was considered a retention risk, so here’s what I did to keep them.” Instead say “One of our key accounts was considered a retention risk. If they left, it would have cost us a quarter of our revenue and threatened our stock price! So there was a lot on the line. Here’s what I did to keep the account.” Go for the same high-impact message on the “Result” side as well. Don’t just say “So the account ended up staying with us.” Say what that meant to the company, and/or how you were recognized for this achievement.
4. Try to use a story in your answer to any question
Let’s take a typical interview question- “What’s your greatest strength?” You could say, “My greatest strength is my ability to build productive relationships.” OK, well you’ve answered the question, so that’s good, and if they are looking for someone with strong relationship skills that’s also good. But the end-result is sort of blah because your answer just isn’t memorable. You’re not really differentiating yourself from your competitors.
Now let’s try this again, with the answer my client gave. She said “Well my greatest strength is my ability to build productive relationships. Why don’t I share an example so you can see what I mean?” And then she shared her resonant, powerful story.
5. Avoid these common mistakes
If you keep your stories to roughly two minutes, you will avoid the most common issues, including too much detail (boring) and too little detail or too high level (not interesting).
I find that many clients are great at describing the problem and the result, but give short-shrift to the ‘Action’ part of the story. This part is key to the interviewer understanding how you operate, and is vital to making the example you’re sharing relevant to them. Introduce this part of the story by explaining your strategy, that is, show them how you think; say “I approached the problem in three ways…” or “the key to addressing this issue was…”
Also, make sure you don’t use “we” too much. “We” is good if used occasionally to show you’re collaborative. But ultimately the interviewer wants to understand what YOU did. So it’s great if you mention how you partnered with others (always desirable), but say it just once or twice, as in “I partnered with two of my colleagues in creating…” Then focus on your contribution.