# Interview Story Bank

**Time:** 30 minutes\
**Use it for:** Preparing a small set of truthful, adaptable stories about how you worked, learned, and responded.

A story bank helps you recall useful examples without memorizing a script. Build from real events, outline the context briefly, and spend most of the story on your own actions. One experience may demonstrate several skills when you change the emphasis honestly.

## 1. Choose experiences you remember well

Scan school, work, volunteering, athletics, caregiving, and personal projects. Choose moments with a decision or action you remember clearly, including imperfect outcomes that taught you something.

- A time you solved a concrete problem:\
  ________________________________________________________________
- A time you contributed to a group:\
  ________________________________________________________________
- A time you adjusted after feedback, a mistake, or a changed plan:\
  ________________________________________________________________

## 2. Match each story to a skill

Read the role description and underline skills that appear important. Match each skill to an experience you can discuss firsthand. Leave a gap blank if you do not yet have an example; that gap can become a practice goal or future project.

| Skill or responsibility | Experience with direct evidence | Best part to emphasize |
| --- | --- | --- |
| __________________ | __________________ | __________________ |
| __________________ | __________________ | __________________ |
| __________________ | __________________ | __________________ |

## 3. Outline with STAR

Keep Situation and Task concise. Make Action specific to what you did, then state the observed Result or what you learned without upgrading a team result into a personal achievement.

- **Situation:** What context does a listener need?\
  ________________________________________________________________
- **Task:** What were you responsible for?\
  ________________________________________________________________
- **Action:** What two or three steps did you personally take?\
  ________________________________________________________________\
  ________________________________________________________________
- **Result:** What verified result, feedback, or lesson followed?\
  ________________________________________________________________

## 4. Practice for flexibility

Tell the story aloud from the outline, then retell it with a different skill in focus. Check that names, private information, client details, research data, and internal results are safe to discuss. Ask a listener what your contribution sounded like.

- Short title for this story: ______________________________________
- Other skills this story can truthfully support: _____________________
- Detail to clarify, verify, generalize, or remove: ____________________

- [ ] The story describes a real event I remember.
- [ ] My actions are clearer than the background.
- [ ] The result matches what I can verify.
- [ ] Private or confidential details are protected.
- [ ] I can adapt the outline without reciting it.

## Source

- MIT Career Advising & Professional Development: [Using the STAR Method for Your Next Behavioral Interview](https://capd.mit.edu/resources/the-star-method-for-behavioral-interviews/)