Directions For Crafting Your Interview Story

By Zack on September 22, 2009

Recently the Wall Street Journal gave some excellent advice on how to get back into the interview process after years with the same employer. Not very useful to the recent college grad ... or is it? (hat tip to lifehacker for the WSJ article)

Starting from scratch as a recent grad is not all that different from getting back into the game after a long absence, and the journal article has some very useful advice on the oft dreaded interview process.

It is imperative for people to know their strengths and how they can present these strengths to hiring managers. They need to learn how to tell a “why hire me” story until it sounds natural, and not canned. Once you have a solid story, you can use it in every situation with slight variations. This is a huge advantage and something you can always fall back on during the interview. People who have not interviewed in years simply don’t realize they need to have a compelling story to tell.

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When asked the question ‘Tell me about yourself?’ people talk too much about things that are irrelevant. Remember what the company is looking for when answering this question. [Others] act as if they are lucky to have the interview, showing a lack of confidence. [Some] people make too many assumptions throughout the interview process. They need to ask more questions to further define what the ‘ideal’ candidate looks like. Then they can properly sell why they are the right person for the job.

This concept of "why hire me" is something that every prospective employee needs to have prepared for a job interview, for the reasons outlined above. As for telling an interviewer about yourself, and shaping your story a career consultant once gave me so very good advice. The key is to find key words, phrases and goals that the potential employer outlines either in the job listing or in the company's literature. Use these words and phrases in your story to strengthen your appearance to the potential employer. If the company asks for strong leadership skills, think of instances in your life when you have had to execute leadership and craft an approach that allows you to work that story into your narrative.

.In this job market, you will face increased competition from others searching for jobs, so it's even more important to use your "why hire me" story to your advantage.

On to The Links ...

KeppieCareers Stresses the Importance of Social Networking In the Job Hunt: The video featured is attempting to debunk social media as a fad has been making some rounds. I've seen it a few places and it is definitely convincing. One important stat: 80% of Companies use LinkedIn as the primary way to find employers. Use it!

Secrets of the Job Hunt Gives Some Info on Green Jobs: Today the President addressed the urgent and serious threat of Climate Change, so if you think jobs in the green sector aren't on the rise you are nuts. This post has some good starting off points for these jobs, and we plan on covering them more in depth in the future. Stay tuned.

Lifehacker Tackles the Best Music For Being Productive: Studies have shown that certain types of music can help you be more productive, focused and get more work done. Productivity blog (and a personal fav) Lifehacker rounds up the best type of music to listen to to help this process along, looking at classical, ambient techno and even general ambient noise. Cool stuff.

"Story Road" courtesy umjanedoan via Flickr Creative Commons