Interview Tips: Backing Up Resume Statements with a Compelling “Story”

On May 26^th I blogged about ideas from Carole Martin – “The Interview Coach” (www.interviewfitnesstraining.com) – after listening to the first part of her two-part teleseminar on good interview techniques.

Now I’m listening to the second part of the teleseminar, and I was particularly struck by this advice: Never put anything on your resume or say in an interview that you can’t back up. Sounds simple, right? Turns out it isn’t.

Martin gave the example that people often say on their resumes that they are hard-working. Yet, when asked in an interview to give an example of being hard-working, these interviewees have nothing to say.

She says that you must be able to “prove” everything you say on your resume. In other words, be prepared to give an example of when you were hard-working – a “story” that reflects this trait.

And I loved Martin’s formula for what makes a good interview “story.” Here’s her formula:

• beginning – 20% (problem, situation)
• middle – 60% action (what you did)
• end – 20% (results)

The reason I truly loved this is because the same formula could be used for telling a good “story” on a college application essay. Many college application essay writers spend way too much time on the beginning, very little time on the middle (the meat of the essay), and snip off the ending of their essay.

(Recently, during a coaching session, I explained to the father of a high school junior that college application essays were NOT the same as what high school English teachers drum into their students – five-paragraph essays with the first paragraph stating the proposition that the next three paragraphs will support and then a concluding paragraph.)

Always be careful what you put on your resume (or college application) or say in an interview. Ahead of the interview prepare the “stories” that you will tell to back up your statements. Then you’ll have a good chance of saving yourself from freezing when asked for an example of, say, how hard-working you are.

Post in the comments below an example of a “story” that you used to support a statement on your resume or college application.

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Good Interview Techniques Cross Over to Good Essay and Speech Writing

I’ve been listening to a teleseminar led by Carole Martin – “The Interview Coach.” I particularly admire her motto for interviews: “Leave your modesty at the door and bring your heart to the interview.”

I listened to Carole Martin coach a woman – let’s call her Dorothy – who is a principal of a small K-12 school and is interviewing for a position of a principal of a large high school. Dorothy would give her answers to Martin’s questions, and then Martin would demonstrate better answers to the questions.

And here’s what I was struck with that I had never before considered: The rules of good interviewing are the same as good essay writing and good speech writing. SPECIFICS, SPECIFICS, SPECIFICS. Paint a word picture in the mind of the interviewer, reader or listener.

For example, Dorothy said she is a people person. Then Martin said at least two sentences that used specific words to describe how Dorothy was a people person. The words Martin used created in my mind concrete images rather than the generalizations that Dorothy had used.

Aha! I thought. When I go on and on in my blogs about painting pictures in your college application essays, for example, I’m actually teaching skills that will be very helpful in interviews, whether those interviews are for college admission, an internship or a job.

Here’s my suggestion: For the next week, when you ask people specific questions about themselves, note how they answer. Do they give generalized answers or very specific ones that you can actually visualize? See which answers hold your interest the most.

Then stand in front of a mirror and play both roles: Ask yourself questions and answer those questions. Try to use as concrete language as possible and give very specific examples to illustrate your meaning.

You can find Carole Martin at www.interviewfitnesstraining.com. And you should definitely check out her site if you have any interest in working for the FBI. She coaches candidates for the FBI, and in her teleseminar she gave an example of the generalizations FBI candidates give to the question “Why do you want to work for the FBI?” and then an example of a much more specific answer. I was definitely impressed.

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