How to Dig out Your Best Interview Answers From the Deepest Parts of Your Brain and Prepare Stories "on Speed Dial"

Do this before your next interview and you will win

Let's GO! ?? ?? ??

Here's how to prepare stories on speed dial.

#1 The Big picture

Think of your career as a movie

Visualize your “career movie.” A big story made out of small stories (aka scenes).

What are the relevant things that got you to this point in your career, and where do you want to go next?

Keep in mind the person meeting you for the first time only knows what you tell them with your resume, cover letter, and during the interview. The interviewer is putting the pieces of the puzzle together as you two speak, so make sure that there are no holes in your stories. All of these pieces need to paint a big picture of you.

Your big picture is the foundation of your sales pitch. The more solid the foundation, the stronger your answers will be. From the big picture, you’ll be able to derive logical, congruent answers to any question, no matter which angle the interviewer approaches you.

If you get the foundation right, you can produce answers to virtually any interview question.

Doing the following will help you build such a solid picture and an impenetrable sales pitch that no one can poke holes into.?

#2 The 5 WHYs

This technique is used in business to uncover a root problem. Essentially you can use it anywhere and everywhere to dig out some answers.

Here's how to do it:

1. Ask yourself a question that you want to get to the bottom of, and answer it.?
2. Next, ask the question why to uncover the reason behind that answer, and give a new answer.
3. Then ask why a few more times until you get to the bottom of it and there is nothing more left to add. That is when you know you've done it right and you have the final answer.

Start with:

• Who am I, and what's my story??
• Why have I chosen this line of work as my career?
• What do I want to achieve in my career?
• Why do I do what I do?
• Why do I love this type of work??
• What do I really want in life?

Etc.

Don’t try to craft perfect answers just yet. Answer them for you. Be brutally honest. Some answers will pop up pretty easily, while others will require some rolling in the deep.

It is much better to come up with these answers in advance than have the interviewer do the digging and ask you questions that you are not prepared to answer.

Sometimes, a why question will produce two or more possible answers. Explore them all. You can even draw a mind map to get a visual representation. Decide which ones are the best for your pitch. Toss the rest.

You will notice that some of the answers overlap. It means that your big picture is starting to form. Your answers are telling the same story but from different angles. This is great news!

#3 Crafting your answers

The questions that a lot of people find tricky are those open-ended questions like:?

• Tell me about yourself
• Where do you see yourself in your career in 5-10 years
• Why did you choose this type of work
• Why would you like to work here
• Why should we hire
• Tell me about a time when you dealt with a difficult situation/client/coworker

These are basic but, at the same time, fundamental questions. The problem is, these questions can be answered in a million different ways. So which route to take?

Always ask yourself - are these answers painting the same picture about me? Are they giving off the same vibe? The answers should not be conflicting. Make sure all the pieces of the puzzle are congruent and complete each other. Any incongruencies will raise red flags in the interviewer's mind.

After going through these and other interview questions, revisit the big picture. Try to find holes, then patch them up and smooth them over so that it flows nicely. If you stumble across a question that your big picture doesn't answer, expand the big picture.?

You want your big picture to be able to answer virtually any interview question. If it’s not there yet, you can add more stories to complete it.?

#4 Test your answers

When I read interview Q&A on the internet, I can’t help but laugh at those answers that look like textbook definitions. They sound nothing like everyday conversations.

The "Bro, are you ok?" test

I heard about this from Istok Pavlovic.

Imagine talking to a friend. If you start throwing thesaurus words at him, he would probably ask you: hey bro, are you ok? You sound strange.

Now think of your potential interview answers. If any of them could prompt such a reaction, it means you need to tone it down a notch. If they sound scripted, adjust them until you feel like you can ease them into any conversation without sounding strange.

The point is, selling and being persuasive isn't about using big words. Selling is having a normal conversation but with an end goal - to close the deal.?

Simple sells. Complicated confuses.

A few things to keep in mind

• There is no right or wrong answer, there are just answers.?
• You can never know if they will like your answers or not, so do what a salesperson would do and use your best guess. Most often than not, it will work out.
• Turn every good piece of information, no matter how small, into a selling point.
• Show your personality.
• Whatever you did in the past, own it.
• Reveal information on a need-to-know basis.

Have you used the 5 WHYs technique before? Let me know!

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?? Don't forget to grab a copy of?Interviews Demystified?to learn all the interview secrets you need to ace your job interviews and get the job you want!

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