In response to the type of question below, show an artifact that illustrates exceptional effort.

• Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.

In response to the types of questions below, walk the interviewer through the presentation, perhaps showing the PowerPoint slides you developed, visual aids you used, and photos of the actual presentation.

• What has been your experience in giving presentations? What has been your most successful experience in speech making?


• Describe the most significant or creative presentation that you have had to complete.

In response to the types of questions below, show project deliverables, timelines, photos, praise from supervisors, any awards earned.

• Recall a time when you were assigned what you considered to be a complex project. Specifically, what steps did you take to prepare for and finish the project? Were you happy with the outcome? What one step would you have done differently if given the chance?


• What was the most complex assignment you have had? What was your role?


• Describe some projects or ideas (not necessarily your own) that were implemented, or carried out successfully primarily because of your efforts.

In response to the type of question below, show a project sample with the accompanying piece of written communication.

• Describe a time when you had to use your written communication skills to get an important point across.

In response to the types of questions below, present artifacts that illustrate your decision-making skills.

• Give an example of a time in which you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision.


• Give me an example of a time you had to make an important decision. How did you make the decision? How does it affect you today?


• Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision, but didn't have all the information you needed.

I learned yesterday that the book serialized here, Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling That Propels Careers, will be published by JIST Publishing.

The book is the non-scholarly companion to my doctoral dissertation, so I am thrilled to have it accepted for publication. A common goal of academics is to have their dissertation research published. I’ve had marginal success in publishing the scholarly portion, so it’s very satisfying to publish the non-scholarly.

I’m also gratified because the entire impetus for starting this blog’s parent blog, A Storied Career, was my interest in the value of storytelling as the way to advance one’s career (in A Storied Career, I’ve obviously branched out to many other kinds of applied storytelling). Although other authors and even scholars have written small pieces about this connection, I’m the only one I know about who has made it a centerpiece of research.

A sister site of A Storied Career, Quintessential Careers, has published Tell Me About Yourself as a quasi-ebook under its Quintessential Careers Press imprint, and, of course, I have also been serializing the book in this blog. Both these versions are free. Since I don’t know whether JIST will feel kindly to having free versions out there in cyberspace, interested readers may want to take that opportunity now.