Interview Advice: The Importance of Being Memorable and Telling Stories

interviewstory

I was once asked in an interview to talk about an accomplishment I was proud of. Prior to the interview, I had come up with a list of practice questions and what my general approach to them would be – the “accomplishment question” was one of them. I had planned on mentioning my TD Canada Trust Scholarship because of it’s prestige, the hard work it represented, and how it has allowed me to continue doing a lot of my volunteer/non-profit work during university without worrying about having to pay for my education. But as soon as I was asked the question, I decided to change my mind and pick an experience that I had spoken about before, but had not planned on using as my answer for this type of question.

Instead of the TD Scholarship, I decided to talk about June 29, 2006. It was 9 a.m., and I was at City Hall in downtown Toronto. I was also really, really tired. I was tired because the previous day was a big day for me. Not only was June 28 my 18th birthday, but it also ended up being the day of my graduation and high school prom (yah, my high school was weird that way). Needless to say, June 28 was a really big and exciting day for me, but also a very tiring one.

So why did I need to be up at so early the day after my birthday, graduation, and prom? The previous fall, my friends and I started a Make Poverty History student banner that was signed by students in over 30 schools and university campuses in Southern Ontario. June 29, 2006 was the one-year anniversary of the Live 8 concert, and so there was a Make Poverty History press conference held at City Hall to commemorate the event, as well as remind world leaders to put issues of poverty on the agenda for an upcoming G8 meeting. To celebrate the work of all the students involved, we were given the opportunity to present our banner at the press conference.

Part of that presentation involved me giving a speech about the banner. It was a really cool experience, especially the chance to share the podium with the likes of Gerry Barr (past-chair of Make Poverty History Canada), Steven Page (of the Bare Naked Ladies), and Toronto Mayor David Miller. The reason why I was proud of that moment was more than because it culminated the achievement of our banner campaign. It was a great personal achievement for myself – if you had told me four years before when I started high school that I would be at that podium a day after turning 18, I would never have believed it. That wasn’t the person I was when I entered high school – I was much too shy. For me, that moment also represented the personal transformation I went through in high school as I opened myself up to more experiences, and for that reason, I was very proud of myself.

Telling Stories

The reason I changed my answer at the last minute was because I remembered the importance of being memorable and producing memorable answers. This is important for a few reasons.

You see, in most scholarship or medical school interviews, the interviewers aren’t writing down what you say. Rather, they hear what you have to say, and then discuss and score you afterwards. Interviewers are regular people just like you and me – meaning that, just like you and me, they aren’t going to remember everything you say. In general, interviewers are going to remember two types of candidates – people they liked and people they didn’t like. When competition is stiff for so few spots, you want to be the good kind that’s remembered.

How do you produce answers that are memorable? One way is by telling stories.

Everyone loves a good story, and I would guess that most people would rather here a story than facts. You have to keep in mind that your interviewers are probably going through a long day of interviewing many candidates. Anytime you can entertain them, make them laugh, or give them something interesting to listen to, you are being a bright spot in a sometimes long, tedious day for them. Stories can accomplish all of these things.

Imagine if I had told the interviewers that my greatest accomplishment was my TD Scholarship – just straight facts. It’s not something that’s likely to be remembered. It’s also not that interesting. And if my interviewers don’t remember my answer when they are evaluating me after the interview, it’s almost as if I didn’t answer the question.

But compare that to the story I told about June 29, 2006. Talking about city hall, Steven Page, etc. creates a vivid image in my interviewers minds about that day. It likely captivates them much more than talking about my scholarship – it is clearly way more interesting, and so they are less likely to zone out when I’m talking. And as a story, it is something they are way more likely to remember after the interview.

In a vacuum, is the story that much of a better answer than talking about my scholarship? Perhaps not, but if it is significantly more likely to be remembered and gives the interviewers a more positive, captivating experience, then it is most likely much better.

If the interviewers are looking at a wall of photos of candidates at the end of the day, comparing the interview experiences, telling interesting stories makes me less likely to be one of the candidates who they don’t remember interviewing at all (that’s hopefully an extreme case, and I would hope that doesn’t happen to any candidate, but you get the point). They might not remember my face on its own, but they’ll remember my story, and if they do, they will probably remember my face and the rest of me.

A Second Example

I also like to use this approach whenever I’m asked in an interview about an important leadership experience. When answering this question, I think some candidates might just pick their most impressive-sounding leadership experience – but I don’t think this necessarily ends up being the best possible answer. Let me use myself as an example to better explain this.

One of my most impressive and important leadership experiences was creating the SMARTS network for Canadian youth interested in science. If I had to give a one hour talk about leadership, it’s one of the stories I would definitely focus on. But you don’t get one hour to talk about a leadership experience in an interview – you get maybe a few minutes to answer the question.

Trying to convey a complete, captivating, and most importantly, coherent story about SMARTS in just a few minutes would probably come out pretty awful – I just wouldn’t be able to do it. I could try, but I think I would end up just confusing the interviewers more than anything. I could just focus on the basic details, but then I wouldn’t have time to talk about the leadership skills I developed and obstacles I overcame, which I think are things you want to mention in your answer. And if I focused on those things, I wouldn’t have time to talk about all the details, and so on.

So instead, I like to talk about my leadership experience at the Shad Valley summer program and the company and product my teammates and I developed. It’s not only an interesting story, but as the project only lasted two months, I am able to tell a complete, coherent story in the few minutes I have.

Basically, my point is that if you choose to answer a question with a story, it’s important to be strategic about exactly which stories you choose to tell. Not all stories make sense to be used in the context of an interview. So if you choose to tell a story, you should select one that’s interesting, meaningful, and can be delivered clearly within a few minutes.

Be Careful – Don’t Use Stories Just for the Sake of Using Them

I want to make it perfectly clear that you don’t need to spend a ridiculous amount of time and effort making everything you say memorable. Of course that’s not going to happen, and it would be a pretty awkward interview if you answered every single question with a story.

Some questions are going to lend themselves better for stories than others. I just want to get you thinking about and exploring the possibilities of improving the memorability of your interview by using stories.

In preparing for an interview, one of the things I suggest you do (and I will explore this technique more later on) is come up with a list of questions you are very likely to be asked, and come up with some possible ways you could answer each question. Explore story and non-story type answers, and see what works better for you for those types of interview questions.

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