Interview Prep

Building Your Transferable Skill Story Before Interviews

A practical framework for translating your past experience into crisp, memorable interview stories.

October 8, 20256 min read
Professional preparing for an interview with notes and laptop

Map skill clusters to business value

Start by grouping your achievements into three or four “skill clusters” that regularly show up in your work—e.g., stakeholder alignment, data storytelling, or operational rigor.

For each cluster, list the tangible outcomes you drove. An interviewer needs to see how that skill affected the business, customers, or team health.

Craft concise STAR+Reflection stories

You already know the STAR method; add a final “Reflection” sentence that explains what the story taught you. This shows that you’re intentional about growth.

Keep each story under 90 seconds when spoken aloud. You can always add detail if asked to elaborate.

Translate to your target industry’s language

Rewrite your bullet points using the vocabulary of the role you want. A “service recovery playbook” in hospitality might become an “incident response runbook” in security.

Study job descriptions, product docs, and company blogs to capture tone and keywords without sounding forced.

Key takeaways

  • Organise your achievements into repeatable skill clusters.
  • Use STAR plus a reflection line to prove you learn from each experience.
  • Adopt your target industry’s vocabulary to make the story resonate instantly.

Where will you go next?

Wayfind helps you turn these ideas into action. Discover roles that match your story and strengths.

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