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Job Hunter Newsletter The Compelling Story TechniqueDisclaimer: please note that all of the links were active as of the newsletter publication, but some may become inactive over time. Previous |
View 2007 Newsletters | -------------------- IN THIS ISSUE:
-------------------- - Job Search Tip of the Week, by Brian Krueger, author of "College Grad Job Hunter," the #1 book for entry level job search: "The Compelling Story Technique" Once you have grown accustomed to the Behavioral Answering Technique, you can expand your examples into compelling stories. Instead of merely providing an example that suits the question, weave the example into a compelling story with personality, flair, and interest. Captivate your audience by providing the details and nuances that bring your story to life. Consider yourself the author of a piece of non-fiction. As you put your story into words, you must give life and meaning to the characters and surroundings. Do the same in telling your compelling stories. Build the framework and background for the story. Add the elements of interest and intrigue. Tell about the unexpected plot twists. And show how our hero (you) saved the day in the end. We all have compelling stories in our past. We tell them to our friends, our family, our loved ones. We laugh. We cry. And our hearts yearn for more. Yet we sometimes lose these stories over time, or bury them in our long-term memory bank, only to dredge them up at reunion time. The key to retaining these compelling stories for your interviewing is to write them down. Go over the questions and bring to mind the stories you can weave to provide your example in living color. And as another compelling story occurs to you, or as you find yourself in the telling of another interesting tale, ask yourself if the story will provide substance in your interviewing. If so, write it down. After a period of time, you will have a full collection of compelling stories to guide you through your interviews. As you become proficient in developing the connection points to these stories , you will find yourself steering to these stories to illustrate your responses. One example of a compelling story was told to me by a recent grad, who answered my question about her organization skills by telling me how she planned and organized the alumni dinner during homecoming weekend, including full details of the management of twenty different student volunteers and coordination with six different campus departments. The event was a resounding success, but there were several challenges she needed to overcome. And each of these challenges provided a compelling story of its own, as she was able to show her ability to plan, organize, and develop a team toward eventual success. In the end, she received a personal letter of recommendation from the President of the university, which she presented to me as validation of her extraordinary efforts. Another compelling story was given to me by a current student in reference to a question about his lower-than-expected grade point average. He related to me the amount of work he had put forth to finance his college education, averaging thirty hours per week and occasionally putting in as much as fifty hours per week. He was eventually promoted to department manager, even though the employer knew he would be leaving after completing his degree. He recounted the story of the meeting with the employer in which he tried to back away from the management responsibilities, asking that one of the other department employees be promoted. The employer called in the four other workers in the department, who each personally asked that he take on the job as their manager. This student successfully shifted the focus from his lower-than-expected grades to his outstanding performance on the job by the use of a compelling story. How do you know if your story is connecting with the interviewer? By eye contact. This is where the interviewer will show their interest. If you are not connecting with your story, decrease the amount of detail and drive home your point quickly. Depending on the personality type of the interviewer, you may need to adjust the length of the story, yet compelling stories work with all personality types. With the extreme driver or analytical personality types, you will need to keep the details to a minimum, while quickly making your point. Usually two or three shorter stories are better than one long story. At the other extreme, for feeling personality types, you will perform better with a longer story and more details. How do you detect the difference in personality types? By continuously striving to stay personally connected with the interviewer. If this connection appears to be lost or fading during the telling of a compelling story, shorten the story and come to your point quickly. On the other hand, if you have a captive audience who is hanging on your every word, provide all the necessary details. The key to using compelling stories is that stories are remembered. Stories are what make you human. Stories are what put a face on you in the mind of the interviewer. And stories are what they will come back to when you are being sold to others internally. When that time comes, you have given your interviewer ammo for helping others to see why you should go on to the next step in the hiring process. Or be offered the job. Next newsletter: "The Pregnant Pause Technique" -------------------- - Help Spread The Word! Do you know of someone who can benefit from the information in this newsletter? Simply forward this e-mail to them and tell them to subscribe at http://www.CollegeGrad.com/newsletter. Thanks for spreading the good word! -------------------- Job Search Links:
-------------------- - Job Search Book Online There are at least two other entry level Web sites that offer books on job searching, proclaming that they will tell you everything you need to know about entry level job search. However, there is a very important point about these books they don't mention up front: they cost money. At CollegeGrad.com, we give you two things they don't: 1. The #1 entry level job search book ("College Grad Job Hunter"). It's that simple. So don't buy the hype. Read the real information you need for FREE: http://www.CollegeGrad.com/book Don't ever pay for books or reports or resources of lower quality when you can access the very best quality information for free. P.S. Yes, you can buy "College Grad Job Hunter" in hardcopy format as well at Amazon.com for $15 (actually, 30% off that price), but the online version is better. Why? Because the version at Amazon.com (the 2003 edition) is being continually updated at CollegeGrad.com. So the most current version of the book is actually the online, free version. -------------------- - Sponsor: Lower Your Monthly Payments on Student Loans Want to lower the monthly payments on existing student loans while locking in a fixed rate? Act now to consolidate your student loans: Previous |
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