Stories of your career experiences are powerful illustrations that create your reputation in almost every career circumstance – especially in the creation of your resume, LinkedIn presence, and interview scenarios. Sharing stories creates a relationship with your audience. Your audience may be a peer, a leader, a decision-maker, hiring manager, or a group that needs to learn about you for credibility to buy into your ideas.
Use the STAR method to tell the best stories about your career. The structure of the STAR method ensures you provide all the pertinent facts and show your thought process in a simple, results-oriented way.
The STAR method is an easy-to-remember acronym that works for various career experiences.
- S – The Situation to be solved.
- T – The Tasks you needed to accomplish.
- A – The Action you took to overcome challenges.
- R – The Results that came from your actions.
There are a variety of STAR stories you could tell. Think of stories you would tell on a stage in a room filled with a diverse group of people from work, the school you attended, and your neighbors. Imagine the moderator hands you the mic and says, “Tell me about a time when….”
- You had the biggest success of your career
- You had to overcome a decision-maker who disagreed with you
- You had to get people to follow you
- You helped someone get better at their job
- You learned from a failure
- You had to make a personal sacrifice to get better or help someone else
- You had a very embarrassing moment in your career
- You had to take a step backward for personal reasons
- You created an innovation at your work
- You had to do something you didn’t want to do but ended up enjoying it
Think through these questions to create and review moments of your career. The STAR method helps you reflect on your experiences, organize them into a cohesive narrative, and share them effectively. Think of the emotions that came with each experience. Think of the technical and leadership skills you can now claim as having some level of mastery and note this in your inventory.
Everyone in the room may ask a question from a different angle about your story. Consider how your account may be helpful to each of them to learn from your experience, provide you feedback, or even value you more.
Always be prepared well with stories of who you are. These STAR experiences are great for your confidence, your development, your reputation, and your value in the market.