Interviews and the Art of Story -- Part II "The Difference"

Read Part I

The Story
Last week a member of my team approached me and asked if I would mock-interview him for an internal position for which he had applied. The part of me most passionate about developing people responded immediately, "Sure!"

During the short jaunt across the street to the Border’s Café, it struck me – a mock-interview was not at all what Edward needed to be prepared. He needed tools. Tools to think about the very unique art only he has to share with the world, and tools to bring this art of his to market in an interview.

As we walked across the street and up the stairs, through aisles of books, past the Twilight series, my mind was racing through the myriad of interviews I had conducted over the last 6 years, searching for those moments that truly intrigued me as an interviewer. Those crux moments separate a good candidate from a great candidate.

The Turning Point
We approached two leather club chairs and took a seat. I sat down across from Edward and said to him, “I’m not going to mock-interview you today.”

Clearly perplexed, he asked, “Why? Do you think I’m not ready for this position?”

“No,” I said, “it doesn’t matter whether you’re ready or not, a mock-interview is not what you need to be prepared for this interview, for any interview. You need stories.”

“Stories?” Edward asked, now even more confused.

I continued, “Rather than preparing for what the interviewer may ask, prepare to share the masterpiece of who you are through stories. Pick those things you are proud of, tell a story about something you care about, some outcome that you played the critical part in transforming. These stories will resonate with the interviewer because your account of the experience will evoke emotions in you as you walk them through the story. These emotions allow you to be more present in the interview and will more genuinely reflect who you are.”

The stories of a candidate reveal who they truly are – their character, decision-making, and their passion, their art. The stories they tell in an interview, and the stories they tell through social media (Travis Robertson shares the importance of a candidate's social media story here). What we’re looking for are the stories that make a difference.

The Difference
I went on with Edward, “What we need to do today is work on your story-telling. So, tell me a story about something you are proud of, something that speaks to who you are, a situation in which being Edward made all the difference.”

Edward told me a brilliant story about how he recognized a huge gap in the operations of a staffing firm and took a very different approach than the rest of his peers. This led to drastically higher conversion, retention, and success (for Edward, and the company). Brilliant! Edward had come alive in a way I had never seen before! His story was engaging and animated, full of emotion and passion. We had made some progress.

It was the perfect story. Perfect to reveal his mastery of several key-competencies. Perfect on so many levels, except for one thing, the big thing – he completely neglected the crux of the story – the part that explained how his art was different from everyone else. How he had reached his conclusion, and why he acted the way he did.

Had I truly been interviewing Edward, I would have been tempted to move on to the next question. He had spoken to several competencies and with the often-missing passion. But the looming question in my head from Edward’s story was, “What gave him the unique perspective on the operations of his company that every one of his peers had missed for years? And why did he do something about it?” So, instead I circled back and said, “let’s review and critique your story. It was a good story, but you skipped the best part! The crux.”

Find out the crux of Edward’s story and the most important part of every interview answer later this week in Interviews and the Art of Story -- Part III.