How to sell your story (not your skills) in a job interview

By Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter

EP 3113 Most people sell the wrong things during interviews—which is exactly why they get ghosted instead of hired. This episode shows you how to flip the script, sell your results like a premium brand, and become the obvious choice in the room. If you’re still reciting your resume, you’re leaving both the offer and the money on the table.​

24 hours: The small change that quadrupled your interview rate

Okay, let’s talk about job interviews. We’re going to dive into this huge mistake that many people make. Honestly, solving this problem would be a complete game changer.

It’s the difference between getting an offer and just being ghosted. Okay, so imagine that. Are you in the interview room? You are sitting in that chair.

What are you actually selling? I mean, really think about it. Because your answer to this question actually determines your entire interview strategy. Now, if you’re like most of us, your first thought is probably my skills, my experience.

Yes, that sounds good, doesn’t it? But this is a turning point. This is a big mistake. Many candidates simply get bogged down in listing their qualifications.

But the ones who do get job offers, they’re selling something different. They are selling their work, their impact. That one little shift, man, is everything.

So let’s bust the first big pitfall, resume recitation errors. You know the guy I’m talking about, right? You basically just read your resume out loud. You list your skills, describe your work, and you can almost see the interviewer’s eyes glaze over.

See, that makes sense. You have worked hard to earn these qualifications. But this is something you have to remember.

They’ve already read your resume. Repeating it adds absolutely zero new value to the conversation. Okay, so why aren’t skills enough on their own? Well, this sentence hits the nail on the head.

When all you do is talk about how qualified you are, it sounds like you’re bragging. No substance, no evidence. Do you know what will happen? The interviewer starts to tune out because you are completely ignoring the real question on their mind.

The unspoken question is always, always, okay, that’s great, but what can you actually do for me and my team? That’s it. That’s the whole ball game. They’re not recruiting for resumes.

They are hiring someone to solve their problem. To answer this question, you have to know something about the brain. Dr Adrian McIntyre talks about the idea of ​​upstairs and downstairs brains.

You have to get over the initial emotional lower brain first. You have to hook them with something compelling, a story, before their logical brain bothers to listen to your list of skills. This brings us to the solution.

Sell ​​your results, not your resume. So what do sales results actually sound like? Well, you’re not saying I managed a team, you’re saying I increased the team’s productivity by 15%. You wouldn’t say, I’m involved in a marketing campaign.

You said I helped increase sales leads by 20%. Did you see it? One is drudgery. Another is achievement.

This is a huge difference. When you do this, you provide them with cold, hard evidence that you are a problem solver. You speak their language, the language of results.

This is the magic part. Their brain immediately starts imagining you doing the same thing for them. You are no longer just a candidate.

The “too experienced” card is bullshit

You are a solution. You have fully and undeniably realized your worth. Okay, let’s get started with tactics.

How do you do this? You build your hero story. The best way to show these results is with stories. This is a super easy four step recipe.

First, you set the scene. This is the case. Then you introduce the bad guy or problem.

This is the obstacle. Then you talk about what exactly you did. That’s the action.

Finally, the finale, the results, the tangible results. I must stress this, while each part is important, the entire story hinges on the last letter, R for Result. That’s the punch line.

That’s what they’ll remember. This proves that you not only do things, but you make them better. Here are the pro tips to make this result absolutely killer.

Quantify it. Write a number. Save money, generate revenue, save time, percentage and more.

Be specific. Why? Because I guarantee you most of your competitors won’t do this. Numbers make your story believable and incredibly powerful.

Now, storytelling is one thing, but framing is just as important. Let’s talk about high value frameworks. I love this little thought experiment, the burger test.

You have a Big Mac, and you have a beautifully presented gourmet burger. Delicious ones might cost five or six times more? Why? Is the meat that good? No. This is the story.

It’s branding, presentation and experience. Its value is created in your mind before you even taste it. So you have to ask yourself, are you an everyday choice, or a premium choice? The story you tell is the foundation for building a quality brand around you.

They make it worth your while to invest. Every great story needs one thing, and that’s stakes. You can’t just talk about routine, boring tasks.

Tell them about the stressful moments, the decisive moments, the real challenges. You move from “capable” to “indispensable” when you prove you can deliver when it really matters. Well, let’s summarize all of this.

Ultimately, it comes down to this. What story would you tell? Let’s review the main points. First, you are not a list of skills.

You are a collection of achievements. Your job is to sell your results, your impact, and you need to establish yourself as the high-value, premium solution they’ve been looking for. Because really, every interview comes down to a choice.

You can go down the first route and tell boring stories, stories about your qualifications that, let’s be honest, they’ve already read on your resume. Or you could tell an exciting story, one about your results, your impact, and the real tangible value you’ll bring to their team. The choice is entirely up to you.

So what story do you want to tell?

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