Tell “The Core Four” Stories, AND Tell Them Well
If you want to ace your job interview, you need to master “The Core Four” stories. These are the kinds of discussions that will appear in almost every interview. Interviewers always want to know about “The Core Four” so make sure to follow these job interview tips.
What are “The Core Four”?
- Your success/achievements
- Your weakness
- Your biggest failure/mistake
- Dealing with difficult people
1. Success/achievements stories
Think of your most successful projects and achievements – those that made a real impact. What was the challenge? How did you overcome it? Highlight not just the results but your strategic thinking that created the results. The best stories have you driving the strategy, not implementing someone else’s strategy. Coming across as authentic is one of the best job interview tips you should follow.
The best stories always have metrics – there is a solid end result.
- Met sales targets
- Delivery to timelines
- Improved efficiency
- Reduced costs
- Improved ROAS, ROI, conversion rates, Cost per lead etc.
Those who pussyfoot around their results or don’t know what impact they made will struggle to be hired. I don’t know any manager who wants to hire a salesperson who has failed to meet their sales targets or a production manager who hasn’t improved the efficiency of their production line.
If you are a salesperson, know how you are travelling to budget this month and year to date. Know how much you were over budget last year and what increase in sales there was over the previous year.
If you are a digital marketer, know your metrics for traffic improvements, conversions, lead generation, cost per lead, ROAS.
You can read more about what’s the most important thing on the resume on our blog.
2. My weakness is… story
These stories help you stand out more because most people do a terrible job of articulating their weaknesses and their mistakes. You need to honestly describe a weakness that is NOT “I am a perfectionist” or the usual example of something that you can be trained on.
Preparing for an interview also means the aim is to be authentic and vulnerable, talk about your real weaknesses, and discuss how you counter your weaknesses so that this doesn’t become an impediment to your success.
3. My biggest mistake… story
Your biggest stuff up should be a doozy! The bigger, the better, so take the time to explore job interview tips in advance and come up with a sound plan. It’s not just about what went wrong; it is a discussion about how you handled it, the resources and people you mobilised, the plan you put in place and the execution to fix it. More important than the fix is what you learned, so this will never happen again.
Once again, authenticity, being vulnerable, and being honest are key. This opens the door to earning massive brownie points because most people flub this question. Being a straight shooter will elevate you to the top of the class with this question. I’ve had candidates looked over because they did not articulate this well, they discussed something small or insignificant. Worse still, the candidate could not think of anything! If you don’t have a good example or worse, no example at all, don’t expect to obtain senior roles and move up the ladder. If you can’t honestly admit your mistakes, who is going to trust you? Who is going to hire you?
How to prepare for an interview can raise a few challenges. This question shows your level of honesty when something goes wrong. Can you be counted on to call it straight and own your mistake, or will you try to downplay it, ignore it or not take ownership? Will you go to your manager, explain what went wrong and what you plan to do about it, or will you blame someone else or just hope it all goes away?
Frame your answer as a lesson that you learned so much from. You learned what to do… and what not to do.
4. Influence and handling tough stakeholders
Whether it was a challenging manager, teammate, or client, prepare stories that show your resilience and diplomacy. No job interview tips would be complete without a good approach to this timeless challenge. This is where your emotional intelligence takes centre stage. Difficult people are in every company, so minimising conflict and charming people to march to the beat of your drum is an essential skill.
The more skilled an influencer you are, the quicker you climb the corporate ladder. More influence means better, faster, higher quality results. It also means you can bring a group of people with you on your journey – you can mobilise resources and people. You have leadership qualities if you can mobilise people.
The quicker you learn to influence those around you, particularly when you do not have anyone reporting to you, (or you don’t have positional influence in the business), the quicker you rise through the ranks. I always shortlist young candidates in the first few years of their careers that can influence those around them. They are on the fast track because they are not always CC’d their colleague’s manager every second email to get their team mates to march to the beat of their drum.
👉 Nail “The Core Four,” and you’ll handle most interview questions like a pro. Preparation is your edge. The more you practice telling these stories crisply and confidently, the more you’ll stand out.
