Choosing the right examples to use in your job interview is really stressful.
Sometimes it seems impossible to get it right.
This year I spoke to over 50 interview experts to hear their tips.
These 7 tips from them will change the way you select + prep your examples: 🧵👇
Tip #1: Do your prep well
Most have us have tried to come up with an example on the spot in interview.
If we try to do this, we experience:
• Stress
• Difficulty focusing on the answer
• A risk of choosing a bad example
Instead we can prep likely examples in advance.
Tip #2: Make sure it's true.
It's tempting to 'embellish' a story to make us seem awesome, but this is a terrible idea.
It will mean:
• We can't answer follow-up questions
• We get ourselves stressed
• We won't sound genuine
Instead, be your authentic self.
Tip #3: Show vulnerability.
Showing vulnerability it so important. They aren't looking for a superhero.
Vulnerability helps you seem:
• Relatable
• Human
• A team player
They won't think you're weak, they will recognise this makes you stronger.
Tip #4: Choose one where nothing terrible happens.
We know mistakes happen, but this is the wrong time to share them
An example with major harm distracts the panel from focusing on your positive contribution.
The easiest way to avoid this is just to choose a different example.
Tip #5: Spend most of the time talking about your role.
It's easy for us to get caught up in storytelling.
But this isn't what the panel wants to hear.
Focus on:
• Your role
• What you learned
• How you shared that learning
The story should be told in 1-2 sentences only.
Tip #6: Use the IMSO framework:
• Incident - what happened?
• Mission - what was your role?
• Steps - what did you do?
• Outcome - what happened?
Having a framework allows us to feel more confident, cover all the bases, and be able to focus more on being present.
Tip #7: Use examples throughout your interview.
Many of us only remember to use examples when we are literally asked for one.
By using examples throughout our interview ensure we:
• Add authenticity
• Back up our claims
• Give the panel a clear impression of who we are
TL;DR - 7 collated tips from experts that will change the way you use examples at interview
• Prep well
• Make it true
• Show vulnerability
• Choose one where nothing terrible happens
• Focus on your role
• Use the IMSO framework
• Use examples throughout the interview
If you found this thread valuable:
1. Follow me for more threads on surviving medicine → @tessardavis
Organisational psychologist @adammgrant is best known for helping us find meaning in our work.
This month he delivered a TED talk on languishing: a sense of stagnation.
The cure for languishing is finding our flow.
These 4 ideas from Grant allow us to get out of our rut: 🧵👇
Languishing isn't depression. It's not burnout.
It's:
• muddling through your days with no real purpose
• the sense of 'Meh'
• the void between depression + flourishing
• the absence of the dreaded 'wellbeing'
Is that what so many of us have felt over the last 18 months?
At the start of the pandemic we all felt fear. But after a while that changed to apathy.
Our days felt repetitive. A sense that we were stagnating.
We didn't feel excited at the prospect of socialising again.
We spent hours doom scrolling and 'revenge bedtime procrastinating'
Gertrude B Elion was a biochemist best known for discovering groundbreaking drugs (6-MP, azathioprine, aciclovir)
She is one of only 12 women to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
As medics we have much to learn from her.
Here are 5 lessons on life + careers from Elion: 🧵👇
1: Don't be discouraged by being the first.
Most of us are disheartened when nobody's done it before, or we're told we can't do something.
Elion kept going after 15 rejections of financial assistance from Grad schools.
She was the only female graduate in her Chemistry class.
"Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don't let others discourage you or tell you that you can't do it. In my day I was told women didn't go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn't"