Sept. 13, 2024
21: Why Your Interview Stories Might Not Be Getting You the Job
If you've ever felt you nailed an interview, especially for a senior role, but you didn't get the call-back, there may be a problem with your storytelling, even if you're using the classic STAR method. Host Doug Lester has prepared thousands of MBA leaders for career-defining interviews, and he's noticed that even some of the best storytellers fail to do one critical thing. Find out if you're missing it, too, and what you can do to fix it.
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Transcript
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Have you ever felt that you did well in an interview, maybe even nailed it, but you don't get the callback or the offer?
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There might be a problem with your storytelling.
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As a former MBA and executive recruiter, I've conducted thousands of interviews.
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And as a coach, I've helped just as many people prepare for interviews, from aspiring product managers to CEOs.
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And I've noticed, more often than not, that there's one critical thing missing in the stories they tell.
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Stick around, and I'll share the critical component of storytelling in interviews that traditional approaches like the STAR method fail to include.
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So the STAR method is a popular and pretty effective way of answering interview questions.
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I guess that's why so many people recommend it.
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I was taught it.
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Just in case you weren't, the STAR method is a simple, structured way to answer behavioral interview questions.
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You know, the"tell me about a time" questions you're typically asked in an interview.
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In the STAR method, you start with the Situation.
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You set the context and describe the challenge.
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Then you move on to the Task.
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You explain your responsibility in that situation, essentially what you had to do.
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Next is the Action.
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Highlight the steps you took to address the challenge.
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And then finally, wrap it up with the Result.
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Share the positive outcome or impact of your actions.
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Or, if there wasn't a positive outcome, that does happen, then you share the learning and growth that came out of the whole experience.
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You know, the"tell me about a time when things didn't work out" kind of question.
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Either way, you might be telling a compelling story but you're counting on your interviewer to do one critical thing on their own.
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But before I talk about what that is, I want to discuss one nuance of the STAR method that's related to the level of the role you're interviewing for.
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It's something that I don't ever hear people talk about.
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If you're interviewing for a more junior role, maybe the role has the word"manager" in the title, then the Action part of the story is likely going to be what's most important.
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When you're more junior in a company or organization, you get hired to do the Action.
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Someone else generally assesses the situation or challenge and assigns you the task, and you do the work, the Action.
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A good Result is nice, but you might not get credit for it in the end.
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Or it might be such a team effort that you can't claim full credit for the Result.
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So, if you're recruiting for a manager-level role, or its equivalent, you should make sure you emphasize the Action part of your story, and be sure to make it clear what you yourself actually did.
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You know, try to answer"I" instead of"we" as much as you can.
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When you're more senior, the Situation and Task, or the challenge part of the story, along with the Result, take on much greater importance.
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After all, as a senior leader, you're responsible for assessing the challenges in a business or organization, and then coming up with the strategies to overcome them.
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And then, for the most part, you'll be delegating many of the Actions involved in carrying out the stategy to junior staff.
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The emphasis on the challenge and result for senior roles became much more obvious to me when I was a recruiter working in executive search.
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We didn't hire people to accomplish specific tasks.
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We hired them because they could help the client we were working with overcome a particular challenge or set of challenges in order to achieve a desired result.
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So as you aspire to move up into positions of greater responsibility and impact, and you're a candidate for those roles, put even more thought and effort into telling the challenge and result parts of the story.
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Paint a vivid picture of the situation you found yourself in, and pay special attention to the full impact of the result on the business or organization you were in.
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How did that result help support the organization's mission?
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How did that result help move everything forward?
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Maybe you achieved a certain revenue or profit goal, and maybe achieving that profit goal meant that the company could invest more in R&D in an area that you expected would be the company's future.
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I think you get the idea.
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Don't just stop at the Result.
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Talk about its full impact.
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So you've talked about the Situation and Task, or the challenge, as I like to think about it, and you've also remembered to cover the Result and its full impact on the business.
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You're done, right?
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People will evaluate you on your results.
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And if they're good enough, they might hire you.
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Well, maybe not.
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You see, you've forgotten one critical thing, and that is, you haven't told the person who's interviewing you how the story you just told is relevant to them and the challenge or challenges that they and their company or organization are facing.
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Now, I know what you're thinking.
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Why would I have to explain that?
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It's either going to be self-evident or, if it's not, the person interviewing me is going to be smart enough to figure it out.
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And if that's the way you're thinking, I'd say you're taking a big risk.
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The success of your interview may be determined by whether or not they make that critical connection.
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And, they might be tired, or distracted, or even a little confused.
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You've probably interviewed people.
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You know how that works.
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So why leave it to chance?
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Do it for them.
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Make the connection explicit.
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When you get to the end of your story and you share your result, tell them why you think the story is relevant to them at this point in their company or organization's history.
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I bet you'll see a head nod or two when you do.
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So at the end of any story you're telling, go back to the challenge, or the Situation and Task in the STAR method, and make it relevant to the person you're interviewing with.
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Say something like,"The challenge I faced in this role seems similar to the one that you're facing now, and I think I'd be able to leverage my experience to help you achieve your vision." You may not use those exact words, and you may have to qualify the similarities of the two challenges, but that would be the general approach.
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Don't make your interviewer do the hard work of figuring out the relevance of your beautifully-formed STAR-method story to their situation.
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Do it for them.
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It's not just the courteous thing to do.
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It shows that you've put some real thought into the role you might be filling, and the company you might be joining.
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You've taken the opportunity seriously enough that you've thought through how you might approach the challenges you'd be facing if you were hired.
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So the next time you have to share a story in an interview, make sure you don't leave it to your interviewer to do the hard work of making the connection between the challenge and result of your story and the challenge or challenges they're currently facing.
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Make the relevance explicit.
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Say it out loud.
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Don't give them the opportunity to miss the point.
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I've helped literally thousands of people prepare for interviews, ensuring they incorporate relevance into their storytelling.
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If you have an important interview coming up and think you need a little help, then sign up for a Career Strategy Session with me at careernarratives.com/strategy.
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We can work on it together.
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