Performing well in interviews is a required—and acquired—skill to land your next job. We at mbaMission offer interview preparation guidance not only through one-on-one career coaching but also via our career advice blog posts, which include job search–related posts and interview-focused posts, such as the following:
- Strategically Answering Behavioral Interview Questions
- Ending the Interview Strong
- Fixing Common Interviewing Mistakes
- Avoiding Interview Pitfalls
In today’s post, rather than talking about how to tell your stories, we want to focus on how to identify the right stories to tell.
Step 1: Research the Job Requirements to understand the needs of each role.
- Talk to people at your target companies and in your target roles; learn the basic and nuanced requirements to be a compelling candidate.
- Use ChatGPT to understand more about the requirements for target roles. Try prompts like “Based on the job description, what specific skills or experiences should I highlight during my interview for [insert job title]?” and “Based on this job description, create a list of skills the recruiter is looking for.”
Step 2: Identify Eight to Ten Stories using the following strategies:
- Review your brainstorming materials and final business school essays.
- Examine each bullet point on your resume, and think about the situation and your actions.
- Brainstorm with previous colleagues and managers. Read past performance reviews.
- Think about your biggest accomplishments and your proudest moments.
Step 3: Choose Your Best Stories by using the following checklist, which will help you identify your most compelling options (the stories for which you can say “yes” to all—or at least most—of these questions):
- Can this story be pivoted to reveal more than one competency (or fit more than one potential interview question)? You need at least two stories for each competency required for your target role.
- Does this story require a lot of technical or industry-specific knowledge or substantial context to be understood? Find ways to help the interviewer quickly understand the situation you are relating without using a lot of jargon or background information.
- Did this situation happen recently? Ideally, you should share stories that happened within the past two to four years, because you are likely to have had more significant responsibility and to remember specific details, which will help you tell the story in an authentic and engaging manner.
- Does this story demonstrate your ability to navigate unexpected situations? Often, interview questions seek to uncover how you behaved in a challenging circumstance (e.g., “Tell me about a time when you led a team with conflicting opinions on how to approach a problem”).
- Was the outcome important or impressive? What was at stake if you failed to perform? Use numbers to show the scope or complexity level of your work, as well as the results of your actions.
The bottom line is this: you need to pick and share stories that demonstrate your relevant skills and expertise.
To learn other strategies for improving your interview performance, schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation with an mbaMission Career Coach.
