Seven Stories That Can Win the Job

By Kevin and Kay Marie Brennfleck, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Today's interviews are often competency-based, "behavioral" interviews. Employers want to know how you have behaved in specific situations so that they can evaluate not only how well you could do the job, but how you would fit into the work team and corporate culture. The best preparation for a behavioral interview is developing personal stories that illustrate past accomplishments.

Ultimately, the bottom-line question that employers need you to answer in an interview is whether you can produce desired results for them. To be ready to prove your value to a prospective employer, spend time prior to the interview preparing several brief stories (30 to 90 seconds each) that enable the employer to see your job-specific skills.

Seven Key Areas to Showcase Your Abilities

You can start getting ready for a behavioral interview by identifying examples of what you have accomplished in the past. Take the best examples, and work on adding details so that you create compelling narratives that help the employer picture how your past actions have prepared you to excel in this new position. Here are seven areas to consider for creating your personal stories:

1. Times when you took the initiative to either save money or make more money for the company.
2. Examples of how you took the lead in getting something (a process, procedure, system, machine, etc.) to function more efficiently or effectively.
3. A setback or failure in your job or personal life, and how you overcame it.
4. Times when you provided leadership or guidance that made a difference for an individual, a group or the organization.
5. Situations in which you had to deal with challenge, stress, and/or uncertainty.
6. Examples of how you functioned as a valuable team member.
7. Times in which your skills, character traits and/or knowledge enabled you to make a key contribution in your work.

Well-constructed examples will enable you to prove your potential worth to the employer. Good stories are memorable, and will help you to stand out from other job candidates when the hiring decision is made.

If you would like professional assistance with preparing for an interview, or other aspects of your job search, we invite you to look into our career coaching services. After reading about our services, you can schedule a free career services consultation session to discuss which career services would best meet your needs. We would consider it a privilege to help you get your next job.

Kevin Brennfleck and Kay Marie Brennfleck are the authors of Live Your Calling: A Practical Guide to Finding and Fulfilling Your Mission in Life. As National Certified Career Counselors and Life Calling Coaches, they are recognized experts in helping people identify their giftedness and find their purpose in life. If you are interested in career coaching and testing to discover work that fits your God-given design; or would like assistance with writing a powerful resume, interviewing effectively, finding job openings, or other aspects of a successful job search, you can schedule a free consultation session at www.ChristianCareerCenter.com.