In this instructional video, career coach Natalie Fisher shares a practical framework for interview preparation based on six core story themes that appear in most job interviews. Drawing on experience from over 100 interviews, she explains each theme—leading people, taking initiative, challenging work, accepting feedback, dealing with failure, and managing conflict—provides concrete example ideas for the kinds of anecdotes candidates can tell, and emphasizes the need to listen for varied question phrasing. Fisher also promotes a downloadable guide that includes ten ready‑made example stories, fill‑in‑the‑blank templates, and 25 reflective questions to help viewers craft their own compelling narratives. The video serves as a foundational, repeatable approach for answering behavioral interview questions across any industry.
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Hey there! In this video, we're going to talk about 6 stories to nail an interview. So after working with many clients and sitting in on 100+ interviews, I've narrowed down 6 general areas that you're probably going to be asked about in most interviews. So in this video, I'm going to tell you what the 6 areas are and And what types of stories you can tell to address each area. So stay tuned. Okay, so before we get started, I just want to remind you that these questions, these areas, could be asked about in different ways. So make sure that you're listening carefully for them as they start to come up in your interviews. So you'll be able to use these 6 stories that we're going to talk about today you're going to be able to use them over and over to answer questions in every interview. So it's kind of like the foundation of preparation. So now below this video, I'm going to put links to the concrete examples because I have a separate video for each. But this video is just explaining the themes and giving you some ideas to create your own stories. So I have a ton of examples, but they're not in this video. They're going to be in the links below. Okay, so without further ado, let's get into the 6 themes. Theme number 1, leading people. So some examples of some stories you can tell about leading people— it doesn't necessarily mean you had to lead a team, so we'll talk about that. Leading a team from point A to B is the simplest form of leading people. Leading by example is another way that you could have led somebody, so where others followed suit as to what you did or even just one person. Teaching some— someone something that they didn't know before that made them more efficient in their job. Or organically stepping up to take the lead. So for example, on a school project or in a group project of any kind, if you volunteer to take the lead, that's an example of leading. Make a decision when no one else would make a decision. So making a hard decision, making a call, that's taking the lead. So any of those would work. Theme number 2, taking initiative. So some example stories to tell about how you took initiative might be seeing something that needed to be done and you did it without direction, or you improved upon something that benefited from your improvement or that contribution that you made. You helped someone that needed help without being asked to help them, or you went above and beyond in a customer-focused setting without being asked to, or you responded very quickly in an emergency situation, or you responded quickly in any situation where you used your intuition. So basically, taking initiative means that nobody asked you to do it. You saw it and you, you went for it. 3, challenging work. So some examples of stories to tell of challenging work might be a personal situation where you persevered despite many obstacles in your way. Or a situation where many people working together were colliding and miscommunicating. Or a time you finished a task from the beginning to end with roadblocks, but you worked through them. Theme number 4, accepting feedback. So some example stories to tell about accepting feedback. Tell about a time when your boss asked you to make a change to something. For example, a document or a project. Your boss asked you to make changes. That's feedback. Or a time when someone gave you feedback on your presentation, for example, your instructor or your teacher. Or a time when a colleague asked you to improve upon something or change something that you did. Or a time when an internal or external customer advised you on what you could do better next time or what you could be doing differently. So any of your responses to those, and I have a video on examples for that. Theme number 5, dealing with failure. So some examples of that: a time you made a mistake. In other words, a time that you failed at work. A time that you didn't successfully achieve a goal that you'd set for yourself. Or a time when you failed to understand what someone meant and you proceeded doing something incorrectly because you didn't understand. Or a time when you felt like you failed at something, but maybe you You just felt like you failed yourself. And the 6th theme, managing conflict. So some examples that you could tell about managing conflict, you could talk about a time when you disagreed with your boss or you disagreed with a coworker, a time when you disagreed with the rest of your team, a disagreement between you and a customer or client, a disagreement on how to manage a change. A disagreement on how to word a specific email. Any of those would work, but there are tons more. I'm sure that you have your own stories. So if you would like to draw from 10 specific examples, great real-life examples of my own and from my clients, you can get that all right here by clicking the link below where you can instantly download the examples guide. So that'll give you the formula to answer all of these questions. It'll explain the formula and explain how it works, and you'll also get the 10 examples in PDF format, plus you'll get fill-in-the-blank templates. So all you have to do is fill in the blanks to create your own story. It's all there for you. And if you are still getting stuck, because lots of people tell me that they don't have any stories, but I, I I'm telling you, if I were to coach you one-on-one, we would come up with stories. They're always there. So I've also included 25 questions that you can ask yourself to get thinking about those stories. So the questions are designed to get you thinking about your own concrete success and failure stories. So download the guide now and you'll be all set. Thank you so much for watching, and I will post the links to the examples Plus, you can always download the guide. Thanks so much, and I'll see you on the other side. Bye.
