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Interview Storytelling Tips, Part 2 of 2: Crafting Your Stories

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Jane Goodall telling a story

“Let me tell you a story, because sometimes stories are the best way to understand things.” – Jane Goodall

 

 

 

 

My previous blog post provided practical suggestions to help you recall, gather, and prepare stories for your interview process. Next, you want to craft your stories so that they present you as the best person for the job.

The good news is, you don’t need to be an extrovert or a practiced storyteller to provide effective interview stories. The hiring team is expecting just two elements: 1) you are the protagonist and 2) the story answers the question.

You Are the Protagonist
In an interview, you should be the protagonist of every story. Don’t use passive phrases like “this happened” or “it got done”. Being the protagonist doesn’t mean you were the hero of the story – it means you were key to the plot.

Example: “The biggest failure of my professional life, I realized after the fact. I oversaw the implementation of a compensation program that caused the budget to balloon in year two, leading to layoffs in year three. As Finance Director, I should have done a five-year forecast for the management team to consider before we approved the new salary structure.”

As the protagonist, you don’t have to be the only character. A word of caution: Without clear storytelling, it can be hard for the hiring team to discern which aspects of the project or situation were done by the interviewee vs. by other colleagues. Especially for leadership roles, the candidate may come across as unqualified because it’s not clear they were the leader.

At the same time, most roles in the impact sector – as in most sectors – are highly collaborative. That means it’s equally important to give credit to those around you who contributed to the successful conclusion of the story! The hiring team doesn’t want to hire a leader who does everything themselves, or who takes all the credit for a team’s work. Tell the story in a way that clearly demonstrates your contribution, balancing the use of “I” vs. “we”.

Example: “The fundraising team briefed me on their prior conversations with the donors. The donors wanted to meet me, the CEO, in-person before they would make a contribution. Using the background information given me by the team, I deployed my rapport-building skills, answered all of the donors’ questions about our organization’s accomplishments and goals, and walked out with a five-figure gift.”

The Story Answers the Question
When asking interview questions, the hiring team is attempting to understand a few things:

  • Has the candidate done this type of work before?
  • Do they seem to be good at it, based on their description of the work?
  • Do they actually seem to enjoy the work, based on their story?

The impression becomes “No” if a candidate’s response to an interview question veers away from the core topic of the question asked. Sometimes the problem is the storytelling, but if you prepare your stories as I suggested in the previous blog post, you’ll be ready with the right example.

To be an exceptional candidate who gets the job, gather and prepare multiple stories related to key topics.

As a recruiter, I often find myself conducting an interview in which a candidate tells the same story multiple times, or uses the same example to answer a number of different questions.

For you as the candidate, there is a major downside to getting stuck in one story. It can seem to the hiring team that this is the only project that demonstrates your skills – especially if you use the same example across multiple interview rounds.

Pro Tip: The candidate who has several different stories to illustrate a skill will get the job over a candidate who has done something precisely once.

Be sure to share a variety of projects or situations that highlight different aspects of your professional life. Be prepared to pull out new examples for different questions – preferably from various roles across your career.