The Best Interview Tip I Ever Got and Still Use Today
This is the best interview tip that I ever heard and I am excited to share it with you. This is from a recruiting visit with Deloitte in San Francisco.
This tip has been like gold. When it comes to interviews, and I have had a lot of them, I have nearly a 80% success rate.
I’ve provided this tip to my kids, and they have had very high success rates. All of them have been able to find job opportunities they wanted, so far in their careers.
I’ve mentored multiple young adults and college students, even long-term members in the work force, and shared in this tip. I recently mentored two founders in a competitive pitch to raise money, both of them took the advice, improved their presentation significantly, and one of them won.
The concern I have with sharing the tip is, of course, everyone will hear about it and will use it. But then again, everyone knows you should eat vegetables everyday, and many don’t.
But the good news, in these blogs I try to add value. So, I am going to share this information for free. I have never charged for this information because I received it for free.
But let me tell you how I got here
At the University of Washington, as an accounting student, at that time, the so-called Big Six accounting firms would use different tools and methodologies to recruit the top students into their accounting firms. The best trip I ever had was going to San Francisco to be in their mock interview. Deloitte was training their associates, senior associates, and managers how to interview. I was their guinea pig for the interviews and they also used it as a recruiting experience to join their firm. Pretty good deal.
In San Francisco, they put me through the gauntlet of multiple interviews. Initially, I had very little guidance, and I just went along for the ride. Eventually, they started to critique me, telling me what I could do better. And finally, nearing the end of the experience, they said we are going to share a secret. This experience is going to help you get future jobs, going to make you better in your interviews, as it has for me and everyone I have shared this with..
After a couple of grueling days of interviews, I was super excited to hear what they were going to say so I leaned in close and started taking down notes. What is this miraculous formula to win any interview?
The secret interview formula
They said Carl, first of all I want you to think of one characteristic, which is going to define who you are. It might be a learner, outgoing, entrepreneur, you name it, whatever that quality or characteristic think deeply about that.
Develop at least three to five stories of real life experiences that you’ve had at work or elsewhere. However, these stories are intended to describe the one characteristic of whom you are trying to share. But this is what is super important, you never say that one characteristic once during the interview.
You have to use this next thing with judgment and wisdom. But as I said, I have taught this to high school and college students, it still works. But the key is, you want to find a way to use those stories in your examples regardless of what they are going to ask.
It’s very important that you answer their question, whatever they may be asking. But you must find a way to correlate the story to the question that you answer.
You need to practice the stories multiple times. They have to be something that you know by heart. It’s a story that will roll off your tongue. You need to be comfortable saying it. Be genuine, authentic, and it’s you, the one thing that is better than anyone else, is you. It’s your unique skills, gifts, strengths, characteristics, and stories that make you unique. Impress upon that one thing that you’re trying to get across that nobody else is better than you. And when you have the confidence, practicing it over and over again, your confidence will grow when you go through this interview process.
Practice the stories in front of somebody else, not just your family, but someone who will give you honest feedback about your answer. When you practice this out loud, it often sounds different than how you may write it down. Through repetition, you will be able to improve the stories, and provide you additional confidence.
Remember, whatever stage you are in the interview process, all you’re trying to do is to get to the next stage. You’re not trying to get the job at each interview. Be very disciplined with this, no matter how much joy and how well they said things were. All you have to do at the end of the interview is to say, “What’s next? Is there anything I can do to help out with that process?”
Yes, I’m a bit old school when it comes to this process, but I’m a big believer in handwritten notes along with emails. Follow up and show that you are interested.
Finally, how do you know you’ve done well?
Well, you will know that you crushed the interview if they describe you in that one characteristic that you were trying to get across. I have used this personally multiple times. I’ve had other people use this multiple times and what is so exciting is when the interviewer says something about the characteristic that you said you were going to be.
For myself when I was interviewing in public accounting, I chose to take the concept of being an entrepreneur. I knew I had crushed an interview when that’s exactly what they said, Carl you are really entrepreneurial.
When I was going through the interviewing process, recruiting in my senior year at the University of Washington I won four of the five job interviews that I participated in.
It is not perfect
But it is a game changer, and it will give you the confidence that you need, especially in this competitive world of finding a new opportunity.
If you have actually gone all the way through, reading this whole blog, and then tested this whole process to get a new job, let me know how it how it worked for you
Don’t skip one step. They all matter.
Good luck to you in finding your next great opportunity, a new job, a new passion, or even a pitch to get an investment in your company.
November 3rd and 4th, 2025 | Phoenix, Arizona
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This workshop is designed for:
Business owners and CEOs of small to mid-sized companies
Companies with $400K–$40M in annual revenue
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