Four Words: Show. Your. Work.
People love stories, so take them on the journey of how you got to your final solution. No, they don't need to every single detail. Remember, you're storytelling not giving an accounting of your life history.
Follow the basic 3 Acts.
- What was the situation? What were you trying to achieve? What was the task?
- What obstacles got in your way? What action did you take to overcome them?
- What was the final result?
Let me make this a little more real and relevant for you, but first a song...
The
Job
Interview
When employers ask interview questions, specifically behavioral questions, they often expect a S.T.A.R. response from the job applicant.
Situation. Task. Action. Result.
Ladies and gentlemen, what the employer is really saying is “Yo, tell me a story, bruh.”
Don’t believe me? Look how the S.T.A.R.s align (pun intended… I slay me 😂) with the 3-Act structure of a story:
Act 1: What was the setting or the norm (i.e. SITUATION)? What was the triggering event (i.e. TASK)?
Act 2: What was the plan? What went wrong? What did you do? (i.e. ACTION, conflict, and rising tension)
Act 3: How did it end? Did you succeed? What was the resolution? (i.e. RESULT)
Using a simple story structure, like the 3 Acts, will give you a framework for expressing yourself and making your experiences understood so you nail that job interview.
You can't get enough job interview stuff?? Fine. Check out the video below (or here) you can see the STAR response IRL (sorta 🤷♂️).
Impressing Steve Jobs
So you wanna get your grubby paws on the presentation that Paul Rand gave to Steve Jobs, eh? Well, you can flip through it here, download it, or head to the Paul Rand website here.
I recommend checking out the website because there are even more examples than just this one.