Bottom line: stories resonate with people on a fundamental level, and letting someone in on your story can help you get your foot in the door to have more conversations.<\/p>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nHow we communicate with story<\/h2>\n
Storytelling is universal to every culture and the human experience. According to\u00a0National Geographic<\/a>, stories allow us to share information in a memorable way, which might\u2019ve helped our ancestors survive. The story format of delivering otherwise dry or boring information can make it more compelling and meaningful to the reader. A good career story can help an interviewer feel a connection to you.<\/p>\n The #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling book,\u00a0Building A StoryBrand, explains that our brains don\u2019t know how to process complex information. Simple stories help because they help the brain make sense of information and make it easier to digest. Stories \u201dput everything in order so the brain doesn\u2019t have to work to understand what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n There are many things to keep in mind when writing your career story, but there is one absolute must.\u00a0You owe it to yourself to be completely truthful in telling your story.\u00a0<\/em>Don\u2019t embellish or augment your story to make it sound more exciting or compelling.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a satisfying experience to discover and tell your own authentic story. It may even help you see patterns in your life and understand what you want out of life.\u00a0Everyone has a story and everyone\u2019s story matters<\/strong>. Including yours.<\/p>\n There are many story frameworks to use, but many of them are very similar, as people tend to like stories told in a certain way. We\u2019ll go with a basic format.<\/p>\n Remember: simplicity rules. The reader should be able to understand what you are all about with a simple story that they can easily understand and trust. It should convey\u00a0your<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0personality and\u00a0your<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0voice. The goal is to connect with the reader in an authentic way.<\/p>\n Now, if you\u2019re early in your career, you may think that you have no career story to tell.\u00a0I respectfully disagree<\/em>. We\u2019ve all lived our own stories, and your life has likely had many ups and downs personally, in a school setting, or at part-time jobs or internships you\u2019ve held. Use those experiences within the steps listed below.<\/p>\n Write a simple sentence about your purpose in telling your career story. Is it to get a new job? To go out for a promotion? Are you applying for an advanced degree program or trying to get a speaking assignment?<\/p>\n Regardless of the reason, clarify it for yourself by writing it down in one simple sentence. \u201dThe goal of my career story is\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Interviewers are often wading through dozens or even hundreds of resumes and applications. It\u2019s hard to stand out with standard statements such as \u2018exceptionally organized and detail oriented\u2019 or \u2019a team player\u2019.<\/p>\n Also, keep in mind that interviewers are human, and they have real fears about not being able to find the right person, or even worse, hiring the wrong person, which may lead to months of performance management.<\/p>\n The person has limited time, energy, and attention to devote to filling a role, and they need to be able to identify the right people to interview. A good career story can captivate an interviewer and convince them that you\u2019re worth their time and energy.<\/p>\n Write down 2-3 expectations, needs and fears a person reviewing your career story may have.<\/p>\n Think about your best attributes and any situations in your past that help demonstrate these positive attributes about you.<\/p>\n Some examples:<\/p>\n Write down a few of your best qualities and note a story or two that demonstrates that quality and\/or why you developed or value that quality.<\/p>\n With all the information you\u2019ve gathered above, you\u2019re now ready to weave together a story that is compelling while simple and easy to read and understand.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t an exercise in writing a journal entry or a rambling essay and it doesn\u2019t need to rehash information that is in your resume such as your educational background or job experience.\u00a0This is a story focused on selling yourself<\/em>.<\/p>\n Start with a problem that will set up the story you\u2019d like to share about yourself. Get a bit creative here. Find a compelling way to set up your story.<\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019re sharing a story about why you do the work you do (or want to do). Were you spending your days staring at the clock, and realized you were wasting all of your talents on work that didn\u2019t speak to your heart? Did you find a process that didn\u2019t work, and it bothered you so much that you couldn\u2019t stop thinking about it? Were you in a setting where people with serious potential were not being properly developed for their next role?<\/p>\n Think about the problems you solve with your unique skill set. Pull the reader into your story with a compelling problem that needs to be solved.<\/p>\n Find ways to weave in why you care about this type of problem. Did you experience a career stall due to a lack of self-confidence or development opportunities? Are you drawn to order and organization because of something that happened in your life? Explain why you care about this particular type of problem.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve set up the problem and drawn the reader in, now how did you solve that problem?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take the example of experiencing the problem of working with a lot of great people with high potential. But, you recognized that they weren\u2019t given proper\u00a0development opportunities<\/a>. How did you solve that problem? Did you start a leadership club, book club, or mastermind group for the high potential people? Did you recommend someone for a high-profile project? Did you set up a mentorship program or get funding for a leadership development conference?<\/p>\n The middle should convey your solution to the problem and how you think about issues. Dig deep into why you are who you are and why you care about solving this type of problem.<\/p>\n Explain what happened once you implemented the solution described above and how you and others benefitted from the solution. The end should be a success story where you use a skill you have to achieve something that matters to you.<\/p>\n For example, were you able to set up a new process that reduced processing time and made it easier to best serve your customer? Were you able to see an increase in promotions within the company due to your leadership program? Were you able to create a more cohesive team that won company awards?<\/p>\n Lastly, the end of the story must leave the reader with two things:<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve written a beginning, middle, and end you are happy with, the next step is editing your story to perfection. Any words you\u2019ve written that don\u2019t provide key information or advance your story need to be cut, regardless of how clever or interesting you find them.<\/p>\n Your career story needs to be short, compelling and to the point. Write and re-write it until is 500 words or less, but still makes all the important points.<\/p>\n Here are some key things to think about while editing your story:<\/p>\n I use\u00a0Grammarly.com<\/a>\u00a0to review all of my writing (including this blog post). They have both a free and paid version. The free version will catch any basic mistakes such as spelling grammar and punctuation. I use the premium version, which also provides style, tone and clarity suggestions.<\/p>\n Consider hiring an editor from Fiverr or Upwork to review and edit your career story. You should be able to find someone who is five-star rated for $50 or less. Tell them your goal of simplicity, clarity, and compelling copy that sells you as [insert whatever your goal is].<\/p>\n Now that you have a compelling, well-crafted career story, you can use it in so many places. Use it in your LinkedIn profile, in place of a cover letter, on a blog, when competing for speaking assignments, or when applying for membership to a professional organization.<\/p>\n You can also use it to tell your story to people you meet at networking events or conferences. When someone asks \u201dwhat do you do,\u201d you\u2019ll be able to leverage the story you wrote to communicate what you bring to the workplace and why.<\/p>\n Remember, everyone has a story to tell. So many experiences have shaped you into who you are today. The trick is getting clear on your goal and then finding the experiences that help you communicate your story.<\/p>\n Once you have your career story nailed down, get that\u00a0professional headshot<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0suit up<\/a>\u00a0to really stand out above the rest!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Regardless of how good the job market is, landing a top job requires that you stand out from the other applicants. And, I\u2019ll let you in on a little secret: using the latest resume template, buzz words, or a laundry list of skills isn\u2019t going to do it. What you need is a career story.\u00a0People … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.latterly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}One thought before you get started<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWrite your career story<\/h2>\n
Prepare to write<\/h2>\n
1. Clarify your goal in telling your story<\/h3>\n
2. Consider your audience\u2019s expectations, needs and fears<\/h3>\n
3. Make a list of experiences that\u2019ve impacted you, successes you\u2019ve achieved, and obstacles you\u2019ve overcome<\/h3>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWrite your story<\/h2>\n
1. Beginning: What is the problem?<\/h3>\n
2. Middle: How did you solve the problem?<\/h3>\n
3. End: What kind of success did you achieve?<\/h3>\n
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4. Edit, edit, edit<\/h3>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nFinishing touches<\/h2>\n
You did it!<\/h2>\n