Stories for Work

Chapter 11 Stories that work for job interviews

Do you feel like you go for hundreds of job interviews and never seem to get anywhere? Have you ever considered that you may be presenting yourself in a boring or bland way?

As we’ve seen, experts have scientifically proven that stories connect with people on an emotional level. They are great at highlighting how you have practically dealt with certain situations and problems from your personal and professional life, but in a way that is engaging and shows off your personality.

At the moment, you likely don’t use any stories in job interviews, or you use them incorrectly, in a way that gives away nothing about your personality to the person interviewing you.

You probably share relevant, work-related stories that demonstrate your skills, capabilities and experience — but are still left wondering why you’re not getting picked. You tick all the boxes; you can do the job. But something is missing that would make you stand out compared to the other qualified candidates.

When you’re being interviewed for a job, you are lining up alongside a lot of other people. If you’re prepared to share a combination of work-related and non-work-related stories, you will showcase your unique qualities that no-one else has. Sounds pretty good, right?

Moving with the times

For many years, the preferred method of conducting interviews has been the Behavioural Event Interview (BEI) technique. This technique involves the interviewer asking questions ...