By Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter
Storytelling is a fundamental way for people to communicate with each other, and if told well, it can work wonders. But it’s not something you always want to use in an interview to the exclusion of everything else.
For example, telling a story too early in an interview may cross the line into bragging. However, later in the interview, if you tell a story, they may build enough trust and rapport to accept the fact that you were the hero of a situation.
The story should follow the framework of the hero’s journey – an existential problem, our hero comes to save the world, and everyone lives happily ever after.
You are the hero of the story. You are the one who rides on a white horse to rescue the villagers from the evil cowboys who are there to plunder, pillage and destroy.
The story has several frames. The most famous is STAR – Situation or Task, Action, Result. I tend to think this is effective at the employee level. For managers and above, use SOAR – Situation, Objective, Action, Result.
The result should always contain numeric values. Money saved. Money was made. Percent improvement compared to the previous baseline.
Ⓒ Big Game Hunters, Asheville, NC 2008, 2011, 2020
About Big Game Hunter Jeff Altman
Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter is a coach who has been a recruiter for a hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 job search podcast on iTunes with over 1,900 episodes, and is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council.
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