I’m a big fan of the BBC Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. In several episodes, Sherlock Holmes uses a “memory palace,” where he stores vast amounts of information which he uses to make logical deductions and solve a vast array of tricky and intriguing cases.
The memory palace technique was invented by the Greeks thousands of years ago and can also be used in the job interview situation — allowing the interviewee to quote accurate information, from budgets to profit margins, sector details to a list of products. Being able to remember key pieces of information when asked at the interview helps highlight your professionalism and knowledge.
There’s nothing worse in a job interview than having your mind go blank when you’re asked a question. The memory palace technique will allow you to easily locate information in your mind and access whatever it is the employer asks for.
The Memory Palace Technique for Job Interviews
The memory palace technique is split into three key sections.
- The palace
- The palace features
- The palace pegs
1. The Palace
First, you need to pick your palace. The palace is a place you know well, a place you can recall easily. Many people pick their house or a building they frequent. You need to be able to close your eyes and walk around your palace as if you’re there, recalling all the details: the color of the doors, the pictures hanging on the wall, even the stain on the carpet.
If you can’t remember all the details of your palace in your mind’s eye, physically walk around your palace several times until it’s easy to recall.
2. The Palace Features
The palace needs a start and an end. If you want to remember a large amount of information, you may need to walk into several of the palaces rooms. When doing this, you will need to follow a sequence: start in the hall, walk into the front room, walk from the front room into the dining room and so on.
When walking from room to room, you need to be aware of each room’s distinctive features: a door, a picture, the lamp on a table. A particular room may have a particular smell. The more detail you remember, using all your senses, the easier it will be to recall the individual rooms of your palace.
3. The Palace Pegs
We’ll call each of the memory palace features that stuck out to you a “memory peg.” Now, record all the information you’re likely to require in the job interview. This can include statistics, project details, dates, skill-based stories, sector knowledge and information from your application.
Next, close your eyes and walk into your palace in your mind’s eye. As you see the first peg (distinctive feature), link this to your first list item. For each item you want to remember, try to give it a visual reference, a sound, a taste, a smell and a feeling (internal or external).
As an example, let’s say the first peg in your memory palace is a lamp, and the first item on your interview list is the profit earned on project X. In your memory palace, walk up to the lamp and, on top of the lamp, picture an oversized check with the profit recorded in thick red marker ink. As you breath in, you can still smell the strong scent from the red marker. You pick up the check and start to laugh out loud.
When making the link between the peg and the required information you need to use, use all your senses if possible, and be as creative as you can. By using all of your senses — visual, audio, feeling, taste and smell — your mind will be able to create a memorable memory that is linked to an easy-to-remember palace peg.
Walk around your palace storing new information to your pegs. When asked at the interview, you can easily think about your palace, access the room with the required information and tell the interviewer what they want to know.
We can try this now. What was on top of the lamp that I mentioned earlier? That’s right, a big check with the profit written in red marker. And that was my palace and peg, not yours!
Putting It All Together
With a little practice, this technique is easy to use. The idea is that the palace — i.e. your home or workplace — is easy to remember because you use it on a regular basis. To remember information or facts that you don’t quote often, however is hard, especially in an interview situation.
By linking the information and the pegs of your palace together, you can, by association, remember the facts more easily. By making the information extreme (making the check large, for example) and by using all your senses for each piece of information (such as giving it a smell or sound), you allow your mind to store the information, making it easy to recall when required.
Are you ready to stock your own memory palace?
Image: Flickr
