Rehearsing your stories

Recording your stories is a great way to hear all the things that need to be smoothed out or tightened so that your delivery is perfectly natural. Also, ask your family and friends to critique your stories and edit them. The reason for rehearsing your stories aloud is that the way you tell a story is different from the way you write one. 

The point of rehearsing your stories isn t to memorize them. What you want is to become so familiar with them that you can hit the main point of each of your success stories even though you may not tell them exactly the same way every time. Relax, improvise, enjoy, and above all, feel confident about telling your stories. Just make sure you have stories for each success factor. 

Learning how to use success stories effectively cannot be overemphasized. There is simply no better way to showcase your achievements and prove your suitability for a job. It takes some skill to weave success stories into an interview, but this can be done with relative ease if you rehearse them many times before you go to the interview, and use all of your communication skills to tell your stories once you get there. You will have to take some initiative to find openings for your success stories. Even if your interviewer asks you a question that can be answered with a simple yes or no, resist the urge to give a one- or two-word answer, as in the following example. 

In order to weave your stories into an interview so that they sound effortless and natural, write them down and rehearse them, saying them several times. The goal is to be clear, concise, and to make your point you don t want to sound like your answers are pat or overrehearsed. Eventually, you may feel comfortable enough to tailor your stories to individual interviewers, but this takes a lot of practice. 

On the other hand, if you are quiet by nature, make an effort to become more actively engaged in the conversation and use more energy. This is where videotaping and rehearsing your success stories before an interview comes in handy Listen to your stories again and again and cut or embellish them as you go along. Be sure to get as much critical input as you can from people you know, especially those who have been interviewed themselves or, even better, who have interviewed others. 

Keep in mind that text-only slides take half a minute to one minute. A slide with graphs, and especially with one or more equations, may take several minutes. So does a joke or a story. For a lecture of 8 minutes you probably will not need more than five slides. If you use PowerPoint, you can time your lecture with Slide Show - Rehearse Timings . Do that with a separately saved hie we have never been able to get rid of the timing markings You may feel a bit ridiculous talking loudly to your computer screen, but that does not matter if there is nobody else around. .. 

Telling success stories well is the most effective way to illustrate your accomplishments because it puts each one into a credible—and memorable—context. Long before you go fo your firsf inferview, you will have written and rehearsed many success stories for each success factor listed above, and you will be ready fo skillfully weave them into your answers. (For more detailed information about success stories, please refer to Chapter 4.)... 

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