Interview Tips - telling your Story

I am constantly asked questions about the interview and its many variations and complexities. This all too common topic has become a major fear factor for most candidates moving through the recruitment process. Actually, the interview is simply one party trying to understand if the other party can do the job or has the potential to do the job and most importantly is not enhancing the truth in any way. An oversimplification I know. 

In the defense of the interviewer, this screening process is a critical part of ensuring that the incorrect candidate is not hired.

The candidate, however, moves into the interview process blissfully unaware of the interrogation that is about to follow and many times not well informed of the key issues around the company corporate culture and hidden key details that have not been included in the specification such as why the previous candidate left. 

When I coach my clients I place massive emphasis on telling a story when you interviewed. 

Your CV is a critical part of the process here and I continuously advocate that this all-important document needs to be your “script” and should read that way. 

So how does one move through your CV story rather than fumbling through a document with unrelated information? 

Speak about the most recent information

We are all very proud of our achievements at school and our first job. However, the interviewer wants to understand what we have achieved most recently.The ten-year rule here is important. Most interviewers will concentrate on your roles ten years after your current role, so when you talk about your background make sure you provide information about the most recent roles. 

Remember the interview time limit

You can assume that most interviews will last between 30 to 40 minutes. (the longer the better)

You will actually only be given about 60% of that time to answer questions and speak about yourself. This is actually not a lot of time so when you practice your story work according to this time-frame. 

Selling vs screening

The initial interview will always center around screening. So you should be ready for lots of questions.Practice your potential answer beforehand. This is not the time to launch into a full sales pitch about yourself. Keep your answers to the point and provide practical examples of your achievements. 

The selling part of your journey will happen later. Try also establish what the recruiter or hiring manager is asking you, as many try to ask questions with a predetermined response, almost as if they are working from their own script - which they are!

Let your story flow 

There is nothing worse for the interviewee than a candidate stumbling through of questions in the interview. This creates a very dubious picture of your background and then provides the interviewer an opportunity to hammer you into potential problems. The most common of these stumbling blocks is the very famous question - why did you leave? Keep this answer simple with no opportunities for the other party to raise questions. 

These are just a few of my hints regards creating a story, in future articles I will cover the important topic of asking questions in an interview and the interview participants. 

Happy hunting!