Lesson 1
Six stories from your own work
The structure that makes any example answerable in ninety seconds.
Interviewers do not remember answers. They remember stories with a shape.
The shape
- Situation: one sentence of context.
- Decision: what you decided to do, and why.
- Action: the two or three things you actually did.
- Result: what changed, with a number if one exists.
Build six
Highlight the requirements in the job advert. Write one story per requirement from your own experience — work, study, volunteering or family responsibility. Six is enough for almost any interview.
Keep them short
Ninety seconds spoken. If a story runs longer, cut the context, not the result.
Prepare the boring ones too
A time you failed. A conflict with a colleague. A deadline you missed. These come up, and a prepared honest answer sounds very different from an improvised one.
Do this now
Write two stories using the four-part shape and say each one out loud with a timer running.