The Art of Storytelling in an Interview
Everyone loves a story. From ancient myths to modern blockbuster franchises, storytelling has had a central role in human society since the beginning. Why shouldn’t it play a crucial part in your job search?
Storytelling represents an excellent strategy for succeeding in a job interview. This doesn’t mean you should drone on about “that one time in college.” Instead, the technique offers an engaging and effective way to organize your presentation. By using narrative, you can underline your strengths as a candidate with a memorable and entertaining delivery.
Think of the way a parable works. You tell a little story to get across a larger moral point. The only difference here is the goal: the point of the story is that you would make a great employee.
Getting the most out of an interview involves the right strategy on your part…and having the right opportunity available. A top recruiter, like SmartTalent, can connect you to the best employers in your industry, ensuring that you are well-positioned to succeed.
Even when you find the perfect position, you still need to impress during the interview. Storytelling can help. Here’s how you can use these techniques to get the most out of your job interview:
Go Beyond Your Resume
Your resume sketches out your career. Think of it as an outline of a story. After all, you bullet point your experience and list your pertinent skills.
When you get to the interview stage, look to fill in some of the blanks. Reciting your resume highlights represents a waste of time — your interviewers have already seen the document. Rather, you want to bring your best qualities to life.
Craft a Career Narrative
Careers lend themselves to a storyteller’s art. They unfold like a novel — one event leads into another and (hopefully) builds over time. There are twist developments, character-building challenges, and interesting personalities.
Going into the interview, think about your career in these terms. Sketch out the broad strokes of your story. Consider how you’ve developed over time and the key events that shaped you along the way. Once you have these in mind, you can share them effectively with your interviewers.
Highlight Your Best Qualities
Many stories have a moral. In this case, you aren’t trying to teach a lesson. However, you are looking to get a specific point across. Specifically, you want to spotlight your most marketable qualities, embedding the tale of your career with those skills and experiences that are most likely to get you hired.
But how do you know what employers want to hear? SmartTalent can help. Reach out to SmartTalent to get the expert advice you need to put your best foot forward in every interview.
Elaborate with Details
Stories get better with details. Here’s your chance to engage your listeners, as well as impress them with some of your most exciting career adventures. Wherever possible, include specific examples and showcase individual events that typify your best features.
Showcase Your Personality
By delivering a narrative, you can do more than underline your hirable qualities. You also get a chance to exhibit your personality. Describe your work habits and the contribution you’ll make to team spirit.
This is an important aspect of landing the job. You want to connect with your interviewers, making sure they remember you. Like any good story, you want your listeners to root for the main character (in this case, you) to succeed in the end. If all goes well, the conclusion will see you getting hired.
Explain Any Resume Gaps
There’s another practical consideration while crafting your career narrative. You also want to explain any gaps in your resume. Whether from a return to school, parenting, or any other reason that you stepped away from your career, you want to make sure your interviewers understand why you left — as well as why you came back to the workforce.
Ready for the next chapter in your career? SmartTalent will help propel your professional development into the future.
Contact SmartTalent today to find out more.
