All hiring decision-makers can recall candidates who captured their attention in a good way and most of them shared the art of storytelling. Just as a good speaker captures his or her audience with a good story lead and sets the stage for developing credibility so can you during an interview.
Telling a personal anecdote can be a powerful way of creating a lasting impression instead of just talking about your accomplishments. You don’t have to be a professional speaker in order to come up with a good story however you do need to spend time thinking about your achievements and experience at work that will highlight your skills the interviewer is seeking.
If storytelling is new to you, start out by using a couple of anecdotes to emphasize the points you want the interviewer to remember about you. One way to begin is to reflect back on your previous jobs that show how you accomplished a task, such as how you solved a problem or delivered excellent customer service.
Storytelling also can come in handy when talking about how you overcame an obstacle or challenge in your career. Sharing personal anecdotes can also be a good strategy when encountering “weakness” questions during an interview by conveying to the interviewer challenges that you addressed in your area of weakness and how it has made you a stronger candidate.
The point of using stories is to highlight your positive attributes, abilities, skills and personality that sets you apart from others.
To prepare for using a good story, think back to times in your professional life where you hit some home runs, the successes that made an impact on your career. Successes are fun to talk about; however, life is full of challenges. During those times of great obstacles, don’t forget the skills or attitude you used to overcome them successfully.
In the book “Lead with a Story,” Paul Smith makes use of questions that will help you recall stories that have meaning for you. His book is full of examples in how to use anecdotes effectively throughout your career. Here are a few questions to consider:
• Think of the people you admire the most. What did you learn from them that made you admire them so much?
• What are the moments in your career from which you learned the most important lessons?
• What’s the best working relationship you’ve ever had?
• What was the most surprising thing that’s ever happened in your professional life?
• What’s the toughest problem you’ve ever solved?
• What was the job you loved the most, and why?
Customer focus and personal dedication are other qualities that help you stay memorable in the interview.
Write out your stories and practice them first, then narrow down the points you want to convey to avoid rambling. Begin with using a few anecdotes and as with all techniques, use stories appropriately. It’s a good idea to always be ready during a job search to talk about how your skills and abilities can help an organization; stories just make them more personal and memorable in a good way.
What makes a compelling story memorable during an interview? How have you used stories to answer interview questions?
