The Secret Pattern Behind Every Interview.
What all interviewers are looking for, and how to make the best impression.
When I first started interviewing for Shopify, recruiters were trained to run the infamous “Life Story” interview. It aimed to assess candidates on 4 Fit Factors:
Authenticity,
Engagement,
Impact
Self-Awareness
The idea being that folks who are authentic, self-aware and have made an impact and been engaged in previous roles would be good additions.
The Life Story was very conversational (literally - it was a 60 minute conversation). Many companies run interviews with more traditional behavioural or situational based questions.
Tell me a time when you ….
Describe a situation in which….
Whatever the interview style, all (good) processes will have a work history review at some point. This likely will be with a recruiter or the hiring manager. It’s a chance to get to know you, what you’ve done, how you’ve done it and where you’ve done it.
The Secret Pattern.
These interviews can be nerve-wrecking and hard to prep for. How do you know what to focus on? Do I prepare a full monologue about my career? Do I prep on only my recent roles, or my entire career? etc. etc.
Preparation is important. Preparation is tough. However, it gets easier once you know about the Pattern…
What’s the Pattern?
The Pattern (or Achiever Pattern, as outlined by Lou Adler in his book “The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired”) is based on the concept that top talent always get recognised somehow.
These achievements could be obvious like promotions or bonuses, or more subtle things like informal recognition or more responsibilities within your role.
Here’s a few examples:
Track Record of consistent upward progress.
Formal Recognition for doing exceptional work.
Assigned to bigger projects or special roles earlier than expected.
Rapid promotions, special rewards or unusual bonuses.
Working on cross-functional teams, with senior leadership or those outside of the company on critical issues.
Being involved in big decisions that wouldn’t normally be assigned to someone at the person’s level.
So what Luke? Why should I care
Great question.
Many folks find “selling” themselves in an interview difficult. They leave out details or overshare.
The Achiever Pattern is a great way to frame your growth, highlighting your achievements and thinking about the best way to share those experiences in an interview setting.
How to Craft Your Own Achiever Pattern
Think about the specific accomplishments you’d use to best demonstrate your proficiency for each competency relevant to the job.
These relevant competencies will be listed on the job posting under responsibilities, requirements, must haves, nice to haves etc. etc.
Come up with two or three specific examples or projects for each. There may be some overlap and that’s ok. Make sure you have at least a couple of relevant examples for 80-90% of the requirements.
For each example, start by listing some of the basic facts:
your supervisor/lead
names of people on the team
actual dates
your role
how you got assigned
key metrics
traits that helped you succeed in the role.
After this, prepare one short paragraph overview for each example.
In the interview, it’s important not to just recite these examples from memory as blanket statements, instead parse segments into your answers in a logical and relevant way.
Don’t give too many details right away. Give one or two points to excite the interviewer, with the hope they’ll ask for some more information.
Once you’ve completed your short paragraph, start building an expanded answer. You can use the C.A.R.L (Context, Action, Results, Learning) or S.T.A.R (Situation, Task, Action, Result) methods to help structure the longer answer without rambling too much.
Remember, each example should showcase an Achiever Pattern.
With time and preparation, you will have a personal log of tangible examples that can be used time and time again to showcase your impact and growth to interviewers.
Give it a shot!