Personnel selection research has advanced understanding of the psychometric properties of selection methods. Recently, efforts have focused on the practical use of methods, for example how applicants respond to the selection situation. However, properties in use are not equally well understood for all selection methods. The structured selection interview is one such case. Little is known about applicants’ actual responses to structured interview questions. This lack of knowledge contrasts with the spread of structured interviewing in practice. An important innovation of structured interviewing is question type. Structured interviews feature past behavior questions, where applicants are asked to narrate a critical job-relevant situation they experienced in the past. Past behavior questions amount to asking applicants to tell stories about what they did that work situation. However, there is little scientific evidence that applicants are able to effectively tell stories on demand. To correct this state of affairs and advance understanding of the selection interview's practical properties, we propose to study the antecedents, processes and outcomes of storytelling behavior in the selection interview. Antecedents of storytelling include personality, biographical, cognitive or situational variables that affect the likelihood that applicants will construe interview questions as an invitation to tell a story. Storytelling processes include the responsiveness of the narrator (applicant), the participation of the interviewer, and the end product, i.e., the resulting narrative. Storytelling outcomes that will be assessed include the evaluation of the narrative and, via the narrative, the degree to which the applicant is perceived to possess job-relevant competencies, measured by ratings of external observers. The project involves three studies. Study 1 is a field study of storytelling in real job interviews. Study 2 is an experiment where experienced and inexperienced applicants participate in a mock job interview, either with or without preparation for behavioral questions. Study 3 is a similar experiment where applicant experience will be manipulated, along with prompting on the part of the interviewer. In all studies, social interaction will be video- or audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed in detail. The planned research will deliver detailed quantitative and qualitative findings on the antecedents, process and outcomes of storytelling in selection interviews. Beyond the anticipated findings, a database of transcripts of applicant responses will be created. The project will allow the doctoral student to complete her PhD. The data will yield several conference presentations and empirical publications for submission to peer-reviewed journals. The study will deliver insights that can be translated into practice via guidelines for recruiters about how to conduct behavioural interviews or guidelines for training applicants in how to answer behavioral questions.