The Job Interview As Shared Narrative

This is another in a series of monthly advice posts made in association with the Career Collective, a group of professionals who collaborate to provide guidance for job seekers and careerists. We’ve observed that sometimes a long-time job search winds up in an interview scheduled with little lead time; so the questions is: What should job seekers do now to prepare for interviews? 

Let’s face it. The phrase job interview conjures up feelings and images most of us would rather not entertain. And it only adds to our apprehension when interview advice references terms like targeted selection, behavioral interview, situational and stress interviews, panel interview – just to point to a few! Nor does it help that most people seem to reserve interview prep for the time when they’re in active job search, and feeling especially pressured to make a great impression in order to win a job offer.

Yet, it seems to me that there is a flaw in the typical thinking about job interviews: it is in the notion of being a job seeker preparing now for an interview. The real question, I think, is how does the interview fit with the long-term management of one’s career?

If we take the long view, managing one’s career involves having some degree of self-awareness of specific instances of one’s successes and failures. Ideally, we are able to capture the elements of those successes and failures to monitor, maintain, or improve our performance. And if we don’t, there is very likely someone else who will. It’s what performance reviews are intended to do, after all.

Taken as a whole, these individual instances of success and failure weave the story of our career, and perhaps even our life message. While seemingly disparate elements, they are episodes, or chapters, or plot lines that form a larger narrative. In fact, this relationship to story is not novel. It is clearly captured in the most fundamental approach to interview prep: create accomplishment stories to describe your experience. It’s what the STAR Technique is all about; namely, creating stories that tie together discrete situations and/or tasks faced, action steps taken, and results achieved.

Our careers represent our narrative, with stories that get told in formal performance meetings, in “water cooler” chatter, after hours with colleagues and friends, during mentoring conversations, and while networking generally. Indeed, our stories are what give us visibility and credibility inside of the communities of practice made up of the people who do what we do, and more broadly in brand communities that include the people we serve.

I believe that thinking of our careers as narrative has a powerful implication for how we conceive of professional interactions, in general, and job interviews, in particular. And it’s this: discussions of our professional experience are truly opportunities for shared narrative. Trading stories with an interviewer about our shared experience allows for a sharing of meaning, and supports the kind of bonding that takes place in discovering the things we share in common. It is a fundamental human need that drives folklore, which is often a device for transmitting a culture's morals and values.

If the final outcome of a job interview is to select the candidate who has not only the required skills but also represents the best cultural fit, then your ability to engage in shared narrative over the course of the process can have an impact on your success. Still, this is not something you should construe as just another interview strategy. In a world driven by digital presence and always-on social networking, the ultimate approach is to step outside the analog, on/off thinking that conceives of discrete events that are part of a job search process. Instead, find regular opportunities to share who you are in a way that ties you to the culture of you communities.

Cross-posted at William Arruda's Personal Branding Blog.

How did members of the Career Collective respond? Follow #careercollective Twitter and read these posts:

The May 2010 Career Collective Links:

Sit Down and Panic. The Interview is Yours @GayleHoward

How to Stand Out in a Job Interview @heathermundell

Avoid These Reference Mistakes @DawnBugni

Unspoken Secrets of Job Interviewing Prep: How Your Nonverbal Presentation and Behaviors Impact the Impression You Make @KatCareerGal

Prep for Interviews Now: Snuff out the Elephant in the Room Later! @chandlee

What Should Job Seekers Do Now to Prepare for an Interview @erinkennedycprw

Take a Ride in the Elevator Before You Interview @barbarasafani

Are You Ready for the Elephant in the Room? @WorkWithIllness

“Tell Me About Yourself” (Oh, Yikes!) @KCCareerCoach

Prepare your references for job search success @Keppie_Careers

No Pain No Gain In Job Search and Interview Prep @ValueIntoWords

Job searching? Take a cue from the Boy Scouts @LaurieBerenson

Preparing for Career Success Starts with Interviewing the Employers @JobHuntOrg

Comments

[Heather Mundell]

Wow, I truly enjoyed this original take on job interviewing. Simply shifting perspective to engaging in a shared narrative makes the entire interaction much more interesting, powerful and human.

[Walter Akana]

Hi Heather!

Thanks for your terrific feedback! I’ve been working on a great project developing a career management workshop, and have been shifting my perspective quite a lot!

In that context, it first occurred to me that a job interview was a special case of telling your career story – but it’s more.

A conversational interview with examples from both the interviewer and the candidate really is a shared narrative that allows for bonding and finding the best fit!

[Chandlee Bryan]

Walter,

This is great stuff. I too believe in the power of narrative and storytelling in interviewing. In fact, I'm working with an organization in NYC that focuses on how individuals and companies can tell their stories. Check out narativ.com and I'll introduce you the next time you are in New York!

All the Best,
Chandlee

[Walter Akana]

Hi Chandlee! Thanks for your comment!

I’ve checked out narativ.com, and am impressed. By way of background, I’ve been working with a partner on a career development workshop, and we see narrative as an increasingly important skill in career management. It drives bonding across all relationships, with the interview being a special case of shared storytelling and bonding.

I’m pleased to hear that you’re working in this area as well! Look forward to comparing notes; and of course, meeting the folks at narativ.com!!

[Career Sherpa]

Walter:
Your big picture insight is refreshing!
Taking the emphasis off of the "selling yourself" and putting it on fit and belonging really forces the job seeker to shift their thinking. And how neatly you tied in the concept of dialogue/information exchange in social media as another way of managing a career. This post is very powerful! Its a keeper!

[Walter Akana]

Hi Hannah!

Thanks for commenting on this post! Glad it’s a keeper :-)

Interestingly, I think it’s always been about the shared narrative, but we’ve been so wrapped up in techniques and strategies to see it! This is not to say that traditional advice on interviewing is unimportant.

Yet, I do think it’s helpful to see elements of career management in a new and refreshing way.

Rethinking how we connect and maintain relationships in all parts of our lives is, I think, one of the clear benefits of a world increasingly driven by social media.

[carolross]

Walter,

In addition to an insightful post that makes us all think about the bigger picture, I like how you've provided some rich references, e.g., shared narrative portal and video on social networking in plain English.

I especially like how you've framed the interview as a moment in time when the candidate should be considering the fit with the long-term management of their career. You are right that it's not just about a job.

I also appreciate how you've made the leap from story-telling to story-sharing. A good story teller will find something that is common to the human experience, something that binds the teller to the listener. What a brilliant idea to use this concept in the context of a job interview and in determining fit with company culture!

Chandlee--thanks for telling us about narativ.com. I took a look at the site and love what it's about. Wondering if you are familiar with the book, The Leader's Guide to Storytelling, by Stephen Denning? It's a great read and reference.

One last comment. I continue to see the threads of a conversation-centric society, fueled by social media. Job interviews are just one aspect of that conversation. Thanks, again, Walter, for a thought-provoking post.

[Walter Akana]

Carol, thanks commenting on this post! I really appreciate your terrific feedback!

As we’ve so often discussed, finding ways to “tell your story” as a tool for connecting with others and managing your career is becoming an increasingly important skill set for folks. Having a great online profile and a great elevator pitch are just two of the ways we see story-telling showing up. On some level, I think that we could all benefit from thinking about our careers as an unfolding story. Not only can our “back story” generate interest and connection, but also helps us to consider how we want to write the next chapter.

Yet, it’s really in the sharing of stories across a wide array of career activities that people bond. And a job interview is another instance of this! Of course, it isn’t a simple matter of heading off for the campfire to trade stories. People still need to be well prepared to tell stories that will be relevant to their audience. As well, they need to be prepared to ask great questions – ones that will get the interviewer to share his or her stories as well. To the extent this sharing happens, it opens the door to recognition of common human experiences. And ideally, it generates important signals of the rightness of the cultural fit.

I think shared narrative has always been a factor in career management generally, and job interviews in particular – but perhaps mostly overshadowed by concerns with interview strategies/techniques for hiring manages and job seekers alike. Thankfully, our "conversation-centric society, fueled by social media," is enabling – and perhaps even demanding – more human connection. It’s a powerful as well as refreshing trend!

Thanks for noting the value of links to the shared narrative portal and video on social networking in plain English. I love when I can integrate links to resources that enrich the post, and hopefully support readers in finding new, interesting, and relevant information. I appreciate your adding a resource of your own! I’ll be checking out “The Leader's Guide to Storytelling” by Stephen Denning.

[Gayle Howard]

Love it Walter. Another beautifully written article! There is nothing more beautiful (well in communication terms) than two human beings in sync and truly communicating by sharing stories. I've seen it happen, I've felt it happen at interviews; that instant rapport when you know that the person with whom you are speaking suddenly "gets" you and shares your experiences. Those are the interviews where the candidate practically floats out the door after an enthusiastic handshake and the interviewer has a smile on his face from ear-to-ear.

However, there is a saying "It's hard to fly like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys" and they can be the real troublesome interviews, when our clients, coached and filled with entertaining and insightful stories, have the misfortune to meet disinterested HR Robot Interviewer with his set of questions on paper on which he will not deviate. No amount of giving by our clients can reach these impenetrable brick walls! There are many interviewers who can learn a thing or two about communication!

[Walter Akana]

Hi Gayle! Thanks for your great comment!

You’ve so beautifully describe the optimal outcome of a great connection during the course of the interview. Certainly, that would be a very strong indicator of fit and a very promising step forward.

And yet, you have certainly hit the all to common reality of the rigid interveiwer. There are absolutely those instances where a highly scripted interviewer will want to follow a predetermined series of questions with little deviation. And yes, remain unaffected no matter how warm and engaging the candidate is.

This is an unfortunate fact of life in career transition. And I think the first thing we need to do is to recognize and prepare for it. There are strategies a candidate might use to better engage the interviewer; among them: (1) a compelling “tell me about yourself” statement; (2) asking the interviewer to say a little about his/her background; (2) finding ways to insert questions about the interviewer’s experiece in the organization (e.g., follow up, “How would you describe the culture of the company?” “What do you most enjoy about working here?”).

These strategies won’t always work. And if rapport doesn’t develop, it may simply be that the chemistry is not there. On the other hand, and of even bigger concern, is that this could be a huge red flag about the culture of the company. And if that first interview is in HR, then the Candidate needs to be alert for other red flags as the process moves forward.

Let’s face it, going on an interview is as much an opportunity for you to assess the company as it is for the company to assess you. To that end, it’s your responsibility to work toward sharing and seeking out the stories that create bonds. If the interviewer can’t be engaged, you’d probably do well to move on.

[bba]

Thanks for this useful information that you have been shared to us readers. I am looking forward for your next post!