Interview Tips for Good Storytelling
by Nicole Roeder
Interviewing is an inevitable part of job searching and more people are searching than ever. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 4.4 million people quit their jobs in September of this year (1). One of the best ways you can stand out as a candidate is to be prepared for the behavioral-based interview. Behavioral interviews require you to talk about examples of specific situations of your past work. While you can’t know exactly what the interviewer is going to ask you, some common questions explore how you work collaboratively in a team, how you solve problems, how you balance competing priorities, and, depending on the role for which you’re interviewing, how you lead, manage, or influence others. You can be prepared with some great stories that can work in a few different contexts.
Methods to Generate Ideas
Coming up with ideas for stories is a challenge. Start by familiarizing yourself with the job description — go through each bullet point and use your stories to relate back to specific job responsibilities. For example, if the role is in customer service, think about a situation that required you to demonstrate empathy for customers or clients and understand their needs.
Additionally, consider three things you’d like the interviewer to know about you. What are your best traits? What do you value in the workplace? What are your strengths when contributing to a team? Be sure to weave these attributes into your interview responses as well as a background summary of your experience.
Think about who the interviewer is at the company, what problems they might be solving, and what you can bring to the table to help them. Sometimes an interviewer may ask hypothetical questions about situations you may encounter in this role. Even if the questions are hypothetical, giving concrete examples will demonstrate your first-hand knowledge of the critical thinking needed in the job.
How to Structure Your Stories
When telling your stories, practice the STAR method, an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, and Result (2).
S - What was the exact situation? Who else was involved?
T - Explain what your specific responsibility was within the situation.
A - What action did you take to resolve the situation and why? Describe your contribution to the team.
R - What was the result of the action? What did you learn? What lasting impact did this have on the company or on you as an individual?
An interviewer knows that not everything goes perfectly in the workplace. Show that you can take accountability and gain insight from unexpected situations. How did you recover when something didn’t go to plan? Explain how you worked to solve the problem and focus on the results when telling these stories. If it’s possible, give quantifiable data to demonstrate the business impact of your work and how you measured success in this circumstance.
Staying Grounded During the Interview
It’s easy to go into too much backstory detail, especially if you are nervous. If you feel yourself losing track of your thoughts during the interview, come back to the STAR method. Focus on telling these parts of the story. The key is to be succinct but give enough information to create a thorough understanding of the situation.
Practice telling your stories aloud. If it’s possible, recruit a friend to conduct a mock interview. Ask for their assessment about how well your story ties in with the traits, values, and attributes you want the interviewer to know about you. The more you practice, the more confident you will feel.
Interacting with the interviewer will also help keep you grounded. The interview should feel more like a conversation than a speech. Asking follow-up questions throughout the interview about the company and the role will demonstrate you’re curious about the team and want to find a role in an environment and work style that matches you. If you’re unclear about a prompt, ask for more instruction. After responding, you can check whether you gave the right level of detail the interviewer was expecting by asking if they’d like you to dive into any more specifics about the situation.
Indeed.com says you should spend about five to ten hours preparing for an interview (3). Spend this time tailoring your stories and thinking about how your specific contributions will propel forward the company’s vision and goals. Use this time to really do your homework on the business. In addition to reading news, check out the job listings to see what the company is hiring for right now. Read press releases to find out what they have been working on and consider what may be necessary in the future. The more you can tie your past work to the company’s needs, the better chance you have of getting hired or called in for the next round of interviews.
(2) https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/how-to-prepare-for-an-interview
(3) https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/how-long-should-you-prepare-for-an-interview