Storytelling for Job Interviews
Page 5
• T in sharing this with you because ...'
• ‘I often reflect on this time when faced with a similar situation at work ...’
Always try7 to end on a positive, even if your stoiy is about
something you once did that you regret. Explain why you regret
it and what lesson you learned from it. How has this event impacted you in a positive way?
P ut into practice
1. Write out all the stories that y7ou identified in Step 4:
Match using a clear beginning, middle and end.
2. Write them on the Your stor ies worksheets. You will practise reading them out in the next step. (You could choose to type your stories out so you have an online record.)
Q jO W A t o r i e f i o c o r k f i k e e t
Story n a m e :
S te p 5: Prepare
Congratulations! You’ve made it to the final storytelling step.
Now that you’ve got a bunch of literal, learn, lateral and like stories identified and written down, it’s time to practise and prepare for the interview itself.
There is no better preparation than practising your stories
out loud. If you want to take it to the next level, record yourself
and play it back to see what you sound like. Better yet, practise
with someone you trust who will give you constructive feedback
and support.
Show them the job description and talk them through the
capabilities and values you would like to demonstrate at the
interview. Share your stories and ask for feedback on your delivery, presentation and how well you demonstrated a particular capability or value.
T O P 3 S T O R Y T E L L I N G T I P S
7. P A U S E F O R E F F E C T
Get into the habit of pausing after your story. This provides an
opportunity for the interviewer to reflect on what you have said
and ask any follow-up questions if required.
Many people are very uncomfortable with silence so they fill
it with waffle and irrelevant detail. They reiterate their point or
keep talking into another point and don’t know when to stop.
When you do this in a job interview, the interviewer may think
you are unable to express yourself succinctly or you are not sure
of what you are saying. Don’t make that mistake. Get comfortable with the sound of silence.
2 . C H E C K Y O U R F A C T S
Your stories must be factually correct. Details matter. If interviewers pick up on incorrect facts it could raise doubt in their minds as to the accuracy of other information you have provided. You want to avoid this at all costs.
Spend time proofreading and picking up errors. Have you
got the name of your previous manager correct? Where you
worked? How long ago it was?
3. A S K F O R H E L P
Practise reading your stories out to people whom you can trust
to give you constructive feedback. Read them to friends, colleagues or mentors (who obviously know you are going for a job interview). It will help to give them a copy of the job description
or ad to look at as you're doing this. Ask them to suggest improvements and tell you when things are not clear or if you are rambling. How well does your story demonstrate a particular-capability or value? How well does it match what your future
employer is looking for?
P ut into practice
1. Practise reading your stories out loud to the mirror and
then to other people whom you trust to give you constructive feedback for improvement.
2. Ask specifically about what capabilities or values they
infer from hearing your stories.
3. Practise pausing at the end to get comfortable with the
space for your interviewer to ask a follow-up question.
4. Practise, practise and practise some more!
C H A P T E R 4:
W H A T ’S Y O U R G R E A T E S T W E A K N E S S ?
This is one of the hardest - and also most predictable - questions in an interview. That’s why I feel it's important we look at how to answer it in some detail.
The question is usually slipped in at the end of the interview
when you are relaxed and think it’s over. If you’re not well prepared (but you will be because you’re aiming to be a Bradman, remember), this question has the power to undo all of your
good work. It’s the moment you go from ‘nailed it’ to ‘failed it’
in one swift move.
It’s not the time to answer with something lame like ‘chocolate’, ‘shoes’ or ‘alcohol’. Your future is riding on this interview!
It’s also always best to give a response rather than saying ‘I
don’t have any weaknesses’. That’s just not true. As humans,
we all have weaknesses. If you say you don’t have one then all
you’re doing is demonstrating that you lack self-awareness -
there’s your weakness!
The aim of this question is not so much to throw you off
balance and see how you respond, but more about finding out
whether your weakness will make it hard for you to fit in with
the organisation and its culture and do a good job. Your future
employer wants to know how you handle tough questions -
something that you need to be skilled in if you’re going for, say,
a sales role.
T R A N S F O R M D I S A D V A N T A G E I N T O A D V A N T A G E
The key to this question is to answer it honestly, authentically
and in such a way that your weakness is also seen as your
strength.
A good example of this is when you’re new to the workforce
or have taken a career break and you feel after completing Step
i: Define that you are lacking some specific capabilities the job
is looking for. Instead of trying to hide this or cover up the fact
that you haven’t worked as a project manager (for example), be
honest and say so. The key is to then explain how this can actually be a benefit to your potential employer.
Are you quick to leam and adept at multi-tasking? Is there a
story you could use that demonstrates this? Maybe you have
fresh ideas and are keen to make your mark on this role. Great!
Tell a story that shows your passion and eagerness to learn.
Check what capabilities and values you have on your Hidden
gems worksheet, which can be an added bonus for the employer,
and show how your weakness is actually your strength. This is
what will make you stand out from the other candidates.
Dedicate some time to revisiting all the stories you have constructed. Did you identify a time when you were really apprehensive about doing something, but you did it anyway? How has this changed the way you lead teams? Turn being risk-averse into being courageous. What about a time you made a
mistake? What did you learn from the experience, and how has
it changed you as a person and what you value? Turn your
downfall into your achievement.
Below is a great example of how a weakness can be used to
your advantage in a job interview. It’s also a great example of a
learn or lateral story.
Quick decisions
When I was growing up, I was always told my biggest weakness
was that I would make decisions without thinking, often too
quickly and on a whim. I would also buy things on impulse,
even though I had no real need for them. However, being responsible for my own business, as well as being a mother of three, has helped me to mature. I have learned that there are always consequences to any decision you make.
When I needed to buy equi
pment for my business, the
younger version of me would simply just buy what I wanted or
what looked good. Now I undertake a thorough cost-benefit- analysis and determine i f the piece of equipment is worth the investment. I believe my greatest weakness has evolved over time into one of my biggest strengths.
C H A P T E R 5:
T H E C R I T I C A L F I R S T 9 0 D A Y S I N Y O U R N E W R O L E
Congratulations! You’ve followed the process in this book,
you’ve gone for your interview and got your dream job - you
have nailed it! You’re a Bradman! You might think the hard
work stops here, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Now you’ve been selected for the job, you have to make sure
your employers stay confident that they hired the right candidate.
The first 90 days in your new role is an important time for
you to establish yourself and build rapport with your peers and
credibility with your managers and team. This is crucial in any
role, but critical if you’ve just landed yourself in a position of
leadership, management or influence where others are going to
be looking to you for guidance.
Using stories in the first 90 days of your new role will help:
• break the ice with your new team and colleagues
• demonstrate why you were hired and why you can be
trusted to do the job
• create a solid foundation for great professional relationships to grow
• connect, engage and inspire with your customers and
clients
• show off your personality.
Not only that, but you’ve spent all this time defining, finding, matching, constructing and preparing your stories, so it would make no sense to lock them in a closet and never call on
them again. Remember how we talked about the importance of
storytelling in business at the start of this book? Storytelling is
the number one skill used in business today. That means you’re
off to a great start! Let’s continue developing, mastering and
implementing this skill in your new role and beyond.
F I R S T I M P R E S S I O N S C O U N T
When you start a new job, your peers, colleagues and managers
will start forming opinions of you. It is in your best interest that
these first impressions are favourable and reflect your authentic
self.
Many of you will be familiar with a kaleidoscope as a very
cool toy you had as a child. A kaleidoscope is a cylinder with
mirrors containing loose coloured objects such as bits of glass
or beads. When you look in one end, light enters the other end
and patterns are created from the coloured objects reflecting on
the internal mirror surface. Each time you turn the kaleidoscope. a different pattern is created.
The word ‘kaleidoscope’ is derived from three ancient Greek
words:
1. halos, meaning ‘beautiful’ or ‘beauty’
2. eidos, meaning ‘what is seen’, as in a form or shape
3. skopeo, meaning to ‘look’ or ‘examine’.
Think of what you say and do in your new role as the beads
and coloured glass in the kaleidoscope, and the situations as the
mirrors. Like a kaleidoscope, you have control of what image
people will see based on the way it turns. Instead of beads and
coloured glass, your kaleidoscope is made up of your words and
actions - more specifically, your stories and actions. What you
say and do in specific situations at work will influence those
crucial first impressions your colleagues will make about you.
Before we explore this in more detail, take some time to reflect on what you would like your first impressions to be. What would you like your new managers and team members to say
about you? Feel about you? Think about you?
Remember, were talking about being authentic here. There
is no point creating an image just to fit in. Otherwise you’ll
spend the rest of your time at work living up to a perception or
an image that is not you - how exhausting! As Oscar Wilde
once put it; ‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken’.
Y O U R S T O R Y K A L E I D O S C O P E
To demonstrate how, when and where you can use stories to
build a great first impression, let’s look at the story kaleidoscope
in Figure 4. Your story kaleidoscope is made up of slx situations
at work in which you will find yourself on a regular basis and
can use as an opportunity to share some of the stories you have
created for your job interview. Using your stories in these situations will set you up for success in the first 90 days of your new role and wherever your career takes you.
Figure 4; Your story kaleidoscope
^our Storij- taife/i
Team meetings
Using stories at team meetings is a wonderful way of sharing
something about yourself, which in turn makes it more likely
that others in the team will share some of their own personality
and stories. It can also provide you with an opportunity to keep
reinforcing what is important to you. Imagine if you started a
movement whereby every meeting was kicked off with a storv-
sharing session in which everyone in the team contributed a
story about customer service, teamwork or innovation. What a
great way of capturing feedback and motivating the team!
Tip
Sharing stories in team meetings encourages others to share stories,
which can contribute to team building and knowledge sharing.
One-on-ones
If you are stepping into a leadership or management role, one
of the first things you’ll likely to do is catch up with each team
member, one-on-one. With time, your one-on-one meetings will
become mentoring or coaching sessions. If you’re not in a leadership role, you’re still going to be faced with similar situations.
Your manager will likely call a one-on-one meeting to get to
know you and brief you about the next steps in your new role,
or you may want to catch up with your peers. In either case, this
is a very safe environment for you to practise sharing your stories and gauging others’ reactions.
Tip
Use personal lateral, learn and like stories in one-on-ones to demonstrate your values, leadership style and aspects of your personality.
Corridor chats
How many impromptu discussions do you have with team
members and other people throughout your organisation in the
corridors, walking to meetings, at the water cooler, or in the
lifts, kitchen or cafeteria? When you’re new to an organisation,
this is an opportunity to introduce yourself to someone new.
You might find yourself being asked why you joined the company, for example. So why not share a story that demonstrates what you’re passionate about. What about a question about
where you worked before and why you left? Rather than just
stating the facts, think of a story that sums this up and leaves
your new colleague with a positive impression of you and your
experience.
Tip
Personal lateral, learn and like stories are best for when you bump
into someone in an informal setting, as they help build rapport.
Informal functions
When you’re new to an organisation, often one of the first
thing
s your team will do is organise and invite everyone out for
lunch or a coffee. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just
because this is an informal event it is a place to share stories
about your drunken nights out or to talk negatively about your
previous employer. This is an opportunity for your team to assess you and determine if you’re up for the job. Can they trust you? Will they respect you? Do they even like you?
Tip
To help connect with others at an informal event, share stories that
demonstra te your personal values instead of stories that demonstra te
your professional capabilities.
Stakeholder meetings
Stakeholders are those people who will be affected by your organisation’s actions, objectives and policies. This includes internal and external parties like clients, suppliers, team members, the Board, or community groups. A stakeholder meeting can be
formal or informal depending on which stakeholders you’re
meeting with. If your stakeholder meeting is going to be with
the Board or anyone external to the organisation (such as a supplier), then you need to demonstrate a level of professionalism,
but you’ll also need to show you’re trustworthy and credible.
This is the time to start building a solid foundation for your
professional relationship.
Tip
Share work-related literal, learn and like stories at stakeholder meetings to demonstrate your capabilities and build credibility.
Presentations
When you’re faced with your first presentation, you’ll need to
capture your new team's attention and also build your credibility. It’s a fact that in a one-hour presentation, people are most likely to remember a story you told. It’s also a fact that Power
Point presentations are overused and often boring. Do you really want your team and colleagues sitting in their chairs, rolling their eyes, looking at the clock every7 five minutes, hoping
you’re going to stop soon? That’s definitely not the type of first
impression you want to make! So ditch the PowerPoint and
think of some new ways you can bring your stories to life.
Tip
Presentations are great for bringing all four story types together: literal, learn, lateral and like.