Bring Stories to Your Interview

If you do it right, it won’t sound rehearsed

Interviews are tough. They’re great because you have one chance to show the interviewer the best traits you bring in one encounter.

There are plenty of general tips out there. I would say they’re in the common sense category. None of these are new.

I’ll start with what I look for:

1. Do they demonstrate why they want the job?
2. Do they understand what we do? Even if you don’t know what my business unit does, demonstrate you did a little homework.
3. Can they explain a situation in good detail and make me understand it well enough to follow?
4. Do they have energy? Some enthusiasm that demonstrates they like this job and industry makes it all easier
5. Do they have things they enjoy outside of this industry, preferably applicable skills?
6. Do they answer the question? Nothing knocks you off my list like someone who gives a detailed answer unrelated to what I asked. If you don’t answer my question, how can I trust you’ll follow your team? When in doubt, summarize it back to me to verify you get the question.

How do you put your best forward without sounding like you rehearsed in your bathroom mirror?

The first thing I would do is list 5–10 stories that answer most of the boilerplate questions that come up. These stories are your highlights. The stories you want to tell that project the image you want them to see.

1. When did you go “above and beyond”?
2. When did you show initiative?
3. When did you come up with a creative solution?
4. When did you have a conflict with a team member and how did you resolve it?
5. When did you mess up and what did you learn from it?

Questions like these come up all the time. In some cases, the story you have could answer multiple questions. Think about some stories you can tell which address the question and give them insight into what makes you tick.

Practice the stories that would answer questions like this. Keep a notes file or index card handy with talking points that you can refer to when necessary. The key is practice, but make it sound a little imperfect. If you sound like you’re delivering the network news, it may not provide the same impact.

If you go deep, you’ll reach them deeply and they’ll remember you.

Last but not least, the day after your interview be sure to send a carefully crafted thank you email. Handwritten is ideal, but we’re all busy people and as long as your email is thoughtful and not pushy, it still shows you valued the interviewers’ time and may just be a tie-breaker.