In the job interview context, two factors that hold more significance than professional experience are:

In the job interview context, two factors that hold more significance than professional experience are:

The job meeting went smoothly. Your background fit perfectly. Excellent job! However, despite your strongest storytelling skills, not to mention the queries you posed at the end, you didn't secure the position. With companies focusing more on skills-based hiring, it's not hard to imagine that experience is what clinches the deal. If you're at an interview, the company presumably thinks (to some extent) that you have the experience they're seeking. So, what else could bring you closer to your next opportunity? During the job interview, these two elements are crucial - they carry more weight than your experience.

The Hidden Question in the Job Interview

"Tell me about yourself," is the question that's always asked. It seems like an invitation to share your background, history, and qualifications, doesn't it? But there's a question behind the question, and that unmentioned inquiry is more significant than your background. When an interviewer asks, "Tell me about you," they're actually asking, "Tell me how you can help us."

In my coaching work with executives and aspiring leaders, I emphasize the importance of making the other person the priority. In the interview, the person in front of you - your audience - is the one who truly matters. Talking about yourself won't do much good if you don't connect. The other person is the one who matters most. How are you letting them know that you can help?

The storytelling approach here is to use the past to shape the future. Entrepreneurs who pitch their business ideas to investors do this regularly. The business pitch is filled with "future-orientated statements." Entrepreneurs seeking large investments talk about what could happen if the investment is made. During the interview, you're asking the company to invest in you - and sharing your past as context for future possibilities.

The Job Interview: What Can You Do to Help Us?

You have to consider the one thing that matters more than your background: it's your contribution. "Contribution" doesn't mean financial contributions or personal gifts. Contribution means helping others - and, by extension, helping entire organizations. Helping team members to succeed, helping board members to make the right decision, helping to fix that controller so the drone will work - you get the idea. In the interview, the real job is helping hiring managers to see the best investment for the role (you) - and that decision becomes easier around contribution.

Link your achievements to the contribution you can provide. That contribution is your solution - and ultimately, companies are hiring solution providers. The takeaway here is to remember that the past doesn't create the future. The future is always created from right now. And right now, in the job interview, your contribution determines your future. How many people can you help? In what way? And to what extent? How quickly can you create that valuable contribution, and what would be your first step if you had the job?

Focus on outcomes, using phrases like "because" and "so that" to connect your past jobs to the one you really want. What stories can you share, to emphasize your impact (which is another way to say "contribution")?

If You Can Do the Job, Do This in the Interview

Carmen Simon, PhD, is the author of "Impossible to Ignore" and Made You Look. A Stanford neuroscientist, she states that the past is only valuable in that it helps us to anticipate the future. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, according to my broker, the past is often used to predict a candidate's success in the job interview. But would you hire someone with great experience.....if you didn't trust that person?

Trust matters more than experience in the job interview. Stories are the key to confidence and trust. Examples of how others have come to rely on you, or how you went above and beyond in challenging circumstances, establish the credibility and trust that you need.

To establish trust, consider how your job interview responses can cover these areas:

1. Quantifiable Impact - Utilize the language of statistics. Declaring that you've assisted "many" individuals in getting promotions is impressive, but it's also ambiguous. Ambiguity doesn't foster faith. Statistics create assurance. Aiding four team members in moving into senior management roles while serving as CIO, leading a team of 11, adds precision to the dialogue. How are you utilizing statistics to convey who and how you aided?
2. Sequence of Events - results are significant, yet trustworthiness increases when you can share sequences (context). How long did it take you to introduce that new product - were you on schedule? If you're interviewing with a firm where speed and development are crucial (everywhere, essentially), it's time to discuss in sequences. And if you operate well under stress, express it - with a story. Dealing with deadlines is a key part of the services you can provide.
3. People and Procedures - business is all about procedures. And those procedures pass through people. Even if you're coding, or working in design or finance (where your work is highly individualized), people are always involved. What can you accomplish with, through, and for others? What procedure do you propose to your potential employer? Talk about how you approach both people and procedures, and present your methodology for the work environment. It's insufficient to claim you're a "self-starter" - share a story that shows your problem-solving skills and displays your initiative, resulting in outcomes beyond expectations.
4. Align with Your Interviewer, Align with the Position: the question that candidates often forget to ask, but it's an opportunity to stimulate discussion, is this one: “How does this narrative fit your vision for this position?” The essence here is interest, not adversity - or commendation. You're not seeking commendation, expecting the interviewer to praise you. Adversity is not the answer (such as the world's worst final job interview question, where you state, “Can you think of any reasons why you shouldn't hire me?”) Foster curiosity, and steer clear of adversity, with curiosity: honestly wondering if your interviewer requires more information about your financial background, or your work at NASA, or why you left Denny's to seek new employment.

Your background and skills are essential. Yet, without a service-oriented attitude, your skills won't connect with the interviewer - or the opportunity at hand. Moreover, building trust is crucial to how your stories are perceived in the interview. Trust places your skills in context. Make the second person your primary focus, and concentrate on how your background can provide service, solutions, and possibilities to your potential employer. Because service and trustworthiness are more significant than your job-related experience in the job interview.

1. To find your next job opportunity, it's crucial to focus on how you can contribute to the company during the job interview, as your background alone might not be enough to secure the position.
2. When preparing for a job interview, practice answering the question "Tell me about yourself" by emphasizing how you can help the company, rather than just sharing your background.
3. To get hired for a job, it's essential to link your achievements to the contribution you can provide to the company, as companies are ultimately hiring solution providers.
4. During the job search, you can increase your chances of finding job opportunities near you by focusing on outcomes and sharing stories that highlight your impact and contribution.
5. To interview for a job effectively, you need to build trust with the interviewer by using qualifiable impact statistics, sharing sequences of events, discussing your approach to people and procedures, and aligning your narrative with the company's vision for the position.

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