The best interview trick (that’s not really a trick)
If you’re interviewing, you’re exhausted. It’s such hard work to constantly be on your a-game, firing off answers to complex questions, creating presentations, meeting new people... it’s a LOT.
First of all, kudos to you for working on that! It’s hard! And it’s a rollercoaster of emotions - you get excited about a potential role, start imagining yourself in it, daydream about rage-quitting your current organization, how you’ll post about it on LinkedIn... only to discover they don’t want to meet you, or the compensation if laughable, or turns out their idea of work-life balance is that they’ll let you take the day off - as long as you work an extra day over the weekend... Whatever it is, get that seatbelt on for a wild ride.
All that to be said, there’s one trick that you can take into every interview.
Storytelling.
Let’s play it out. Someone asks you, “How do you deal with difficult employees?”
Option A: I like to really try to see things from their side. I’ll set up time with them, and talk through it, and try to find alignment. If that’s not working, I’ll be sure to loop in their manager.
Option B: “Let me tell you about a time that I was working with a difficult employee. I used to work with an incredible woman, we’ll call her Marianna for now. Marianna was an extremely talented engineer, her work was impeccable. She also happened to be radiant - everyone loved spending time with her, and she was so fun and vibrant. However, she really struggled with deadlines. And the more important the deadline, the more she struggled. We’d ask for something incredibly important to be due end of week (which she assured us she could complete), and we’d ask for updates (which she wouldn’t deliver), and then come Friday she’d call in sick. It was so bad that we’d find ourselves developing back-up plans in advance because we started to assume she wasn’t going to deliver on time. On top of that, her mood would go sour and the entire team would feel it.
It was tough! On everyone! I wasn’t Marianna’s direct manager, but I was acting as team lead for one of our projects together. I confirmed with her manager that I could speak with her on this topic, who heartedly agreed. What I did next was I took the time to meet with Marianna. Not to accuse her, but to be curious. I planned the meeting right after a missed deadline. I said to Marianna, “The team loves working with you. You create beautiful work. But, this past week, your actions really impacted the team. When you agreed to completing this project by Friday, and then didn’t, it meant that Tina (not her real name!) had to work overtime to meet that deadline. We had asked for updates and you weren’t forthcoming.
How can we work together in the future to ensure this doesn’t happen? You’re part of this team, and we care about you. And at the same time, we want to make sure the work gets done. What can we do?”
And it was a hard conversation, but once Marianna understood that we cared about her, and, that her actions impacted others around her, she opened up. Marianna explained that she had realized she had bitten off more than she could chew. Fearful we’d think less of her, she worked herself into a tizzy. And basically, she panicked.
So together we decided a few steps to move forward. Marianna would tell us how long she expected something to take, but, she would check back in with us after she reviewed the code to ensure her estimate was accurate or if she needed additional support ASAP. And, because she realized that this might have been a personal issue too, we made sure she knew that we supported her in taking time to see her therapist - put it on your calendar! We love therapy!
From there, there were still missteps - no one is perfect, but at the root Marianna understood that we were there to support her, and that we wanted to make sure she was successful - and not fearful to ask for help.”
Which answer tells you more clearly what kind of leader I’ll be?
The power of storytelling is that we all love stories. So rather than talk robotically about how you did xyz, take your time to think about it like a story.
How can you change your work experience into work stories?
Take your time to think about the same components you would if you were writing a novel.
Who was involved (the characters!)
What was the situation (the backstory!)
What was the conflict (evil villain? major obstacle?)
How was it resolved (the battle!)
What happened next (the epilogue)
Even better, bring it to life with specific details. We didn’t just say Marianna was an engineer who didn’t deliver on time. Marianna was a WONDERFUL engineer, who not only didn’t deliver on time, she disappeared. And, she was well loved by the team, magnetic. The people in our stories should be three dimensional characters. They don’t exist in a tiny vacuum where they’re reduced into just one thing.
Thinking about your experience as a series of stories helps ensure that the interviewer really understands who you are as a person, an employee, and a problem solver.
So get to it, you bard!