Resumes and LinkedIn profiles do not get you a job. They are two-dimensional tools that allow certain amounts of data to be analyzed appropriately. Your story is what will get you the role or work you want. Our stories are the currency of our relationships. Storytelling is a great skill that can transform ordinary encounters into ones that stand out in memory. When it comes to a career or a job search, we have infinite opportunities to talk about our work, but most of the time, we don’t put enough thought into this, so we end up glossing over, playing small, or skipping any attempt to share our value. However, when we consider how much weight is given to a confident and succinct sharing of our projects and ideas, let alone our purpose, we can see the value in preparing for this. You are the author describing what has gotten you here, where you plan to go, and why. CareerTruth provides you with all the tools and exercises to reveal, discover, and document your most important elements and continuously adapt, evolve, and develop to fulfill your purpose.
It is critical that you can tell the story of you well in a wide variety of circumstances, but most significantly when you need a new job. Every interaction with people is an opportunity to share your story and enable them to share theirs with you. This is how we build connections and relationships. This is how we network internally and externally. This is how we influence with greater impact. The ability to share the right elements of your story will make you more memorable and open others to sharing with you.
Within the context of your career, being able to tell the story of you has many applications and mediums to consider. These are the specific features of your story you must have to start.
- Your Purpose Statement
- Your Values
- What is important to you professionally – Your Professional Prioritized Goals – what you feel is most important in this career season that ties to your purpose.
- What is important to you personally – Your Personal Prioritized Goals – how you want to spend your time, where you want to live, and the importance of financial reward
- The areas of development you are working on right now should align with your Prioritized Goals. For example, I aim to work in a certain field or role, so I am learning to communicate as an executive.
- What have you learned from the biggest accomplishment and failures of your career? All of us have our biggest successes to call upon. You will need these stories to be ready for all types of job searching engagements and interviews – from hiring leaders to networking contacts to recruiters. Make sure you can tell these successes and even some failure stories well. In CareerTruth’s Professional Inventory, we help you think through and document the wins and learn from losses by having you use the STAR method for each moment of importance. CareerTruth uses this to enable you to tell the story of you well in any circumstance in detail.
- Your Big Idea – what you are working on that excites you today. There is an exercise within CareerTruth to help you with this Big Idea concept, but it is the breakthrough or novel work you are doing to create a big win in the future. This may be part of your day job or beyond the scope, but it is an idea beyond the normal work that shows your enthusiasm and critical thinking about something that still needs to be done.
- What are you doing for others? This may be directly tied to your Purpose Statement or your job, but always have on the top of your mind what specifically you are doing for other people right now. You display leadership and commitment by authentically discussing what you may be doing for others.
By knowing yourself well, having confidence in who you are, and yet being humble to the fact that every interaction you have is an opportunity to gain great feedback, you can engage successfully with anyone and likely even help them.
Let’s think about a few circumstances:
- You need a job and are going for an interview.
- The CEO gets on the elevator with you.
- You are meeting a client for a coffee to discuss business.
- You are at a seminar with people you don’t know.
- You are presenting in a room of work peers.
- You are asked your opinion about a business issue.
- A person who has just failed badly asks you for advice.
- You have been asked to apply for a big promotion.
How you use your story or what features of your story may apply differently, yet always being prepared with the fullness of the Story of You is critical to your success. Imagine you walk into a room and just start talking about a topic. Everyone needs to know where you are coming from and why they should listen or engage with you. Your credibility or reason for interaction is based on your story. The right story for the moment:
- You enter an interview with a hiring manager, and they say: “Tell me a little about yourself?” or “What brings you here today?” Answering this question well sets the stage for your entire engagement with this company. You will show strategic thinking and great preparation by relating the job you are interviewing for to your Purpose statement. In addition, by having full STAR experiences prepared for the most critical wins and learning from losses of your career, you will be able to impress in your meeting and see how your experiences are appreciated by the company you are interviewing with.
- A chance to share your purpose – which will most likely sound like a more informal “walk around” version of your Purpose Statement. For example, when grabbing coffee with someone new, you could say, “So that you know – a peek into my mind and heart – I consider my purpose in life is to serve people in their business and career. Which is why I’m glad for the time and enjoy connecting like this.”
- You should ask for a meeting to discuss something like your Big Idea. You may begin with who you are and ask if they would be willing to give feedback on the working concept because it ties to your bigger purpose and values. This is a great way to get a meeting with anyone. Your Big Idea will get you sessions that no one will give you while looking for a job.
- The simple question everyone gets in almost every casual engagement in the elevator, cocktail party, or passing at the coffee maker – “What’s going on?” Tell them. Share your current work in a “Walk Around Number.” You are always ready. This means you are not allowed to say…” Not a whole lot new!” when asked, “What’s going on?”!
Not every circumstance is the same. Always consider your audience, respect the other person’s time and place, be clear and concise, and be aware of your delivery. You may or may not have a specific goal for the interaction, but if you do have a goal in a meeting, make sure you apply the right portions of your story to display who you are properly.
Our goal is to give you the tools to be ready. Not only should you be prepared to discuss the important features of the Story of You, but the Story of You should be consistent in the different applications that display who you are. Your LinkedIn profile. Your Social Media accounts. Your resume. Your work product. While there are many facets of who you are, there is only one you. There should be common themes from your values and purpose in whatever medium you share yourself. This is not branding. This isn’t packaging. This is you owning your story.
Again, you are the author describing what has gotten you here, where you plan to go, and why—Mastery, Freedom, and Legacy.
Storytelling is a transformative capability in your career and will improve as you practice. Leverage CareerTruth to capture the moments and chapters of your evergreen career to ensure you take advantage of every personal interaction. Our stories are the currency of our relationships. You will be amazed at how people enjoy your story and what you can learn about them from theirs.