If you’re looking for a secret weapon for your next job interview, you need to arm yourself with a Hero Story or two.

What is a Hero Story, and what does it have to do with interviewing? To answer that, let’s paint a fairy-tale picture:

A beautiful, lonely prince (yes, prince) is locked away in a tower, high off the ground, in an abandoned forest. The tower is surrounded by thorny bushes, a treacherous moat, and a vicious dragon to boot! It’s a perilous situation, and the prince is distraught that he’ll never be rescued.

Then one day, a warrior princess charges into the forest, slays the dragon, rescues the prince, and the entire kingdom rejoices.

In this scenario, you are the warrior princess. Your potential employer is the prince-in-distress.

Okay, so this might be a bit of an exaggeration, but my point is: When you walk into a job interview, you are the hero of your own story.

Your interviewers will ask you question after question, and while you may not be able to prepare for every single one, there’s a shortcut to making ANY interview work in your favor. And that shortcut is having at least 3 Hero Stories in your back pocket.

And what is a Hero Story?

A hero story is a short, 1-2 minute anecdote that provides a real-life example of how you solved a problem, demonstrated an admirable quality and “saved the day.”

Every great Hero Story has 4 components:

1. The starting point (the “Problem”)

2. What you did (the “Action”)

3. What the outcome was (the “Outcome”)

4. What quality this demonstrated (the “Strength”)

By preparing and rehearsing your Hero Stories in advance, you’ll be able to adjust and apply them to specific interview questions.

Hero Stories work especially well in scenario-based interview questions, like, “Tell us about a time that you ideated a solution to a problem, and what the result was.” Or, “Tell us about a time that you improved a broken system.”

Hero Stories also flow naturally out of strength/weakness

Putting together 2-3 solid Hero Stories will take a little bit of work, but the payoff is long-lasting, and will make interviews so much easier and less stressful for you in the long run. The toughest part is scouring your brain and past work experience to come up with your Hero Stories.

To help make this process easier, here are a few common Hero Story elements to use as a jumping-off point.

Common Hero Story “Problems”

• Deadline/delivery issues
• Struggling client or employee relationships
• Ineffective reporting processes
• Disorganized filing systems
• Bad company culture/morale
• Lack of communication
• Any problem that was causing your company/boss/working situation stress and headache

Common Hero Story “Actions”

• Coming up with a solution
• Making a key decision relating to prioritization
• Streamlining workflows
• Improving reports
• Smoothing or repairing client/employee relationships
• Breaking down silos to improve communication systems
• Any action that you ideate and/or implement that causes a major positive change

Common Hero Story “Outcomes”

• Your team won the business
• Your team delivered the product/presentation/contract on time
• Your team gained more revenue/profit/leads/etc
• Your team experienced improved morale

P&P Tip: Your Hero Story is about YOU, but the Outcome should be a reflection of how your efforts helped your team and company. This is a better indicator to a potential employer that you are a team-player. So yes, take time to tout your own accomplishment, but ultimately tie it back to how it benefited the greater team or company.

Common Hero Story “Strengths”

• Team player
• Reliable
• Organized
• Risk-taker
• Innovator
• Emotionally intelligent
• Passionate
• Result-oriented
• Flexible/agile
• Persevering
• Honest

Sometimes, the best way to start putting together your Hero Story is by starting at the end and working backwards. What are your professional strengths? What qualities do you pride yourself on? Start with those, and THEN work backwards to pinpoint specific scenarios and examples that showcase these strengths.

Do you currently use Hero Stories in your interview process? Do you find they work well? Share your tips in the comments!

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