Aritlce 6: Identify the success stories on which you will build your resume, social presence and interview responses

The first step in landing your dream job with effective storytelling is to identify what three stories you will share. The results from this first step will lay the foundation for your resume, cover letters, LinkedIn persona, social media and later interviews. It is critical that you slow down at this step so that you can go faster later. 

When I work with clients, I begin this first step by asking them to list up to 10 projects they’ve worked on where they were extremely successful. Just a simple brain dump.  No judging or too much thinking.

Once they have their list of their successful projects, I have them explain each of the projects to me and how they feel today about each project.  Their successes are not geared toward any certain job or company. Again, nothing formal. They talk. I listen, and seek clarification.

Again and again, I am impressed by the accomplishments of my clients. Most the time, they don’t even realize how amazingly brilliant they are until after they share their projects with me.

What I have found, too, is that the majority of my clients don’t understand why we do this step.  I’ve had a few even push back and tell me it’s not necessary. They want to fill out the job experience part of the resume and be done with it!  For some people, resume creation can be comparable to doing taxes or going to a dentist – something you do as fast as you can, without too much thinking about it!

It’s also as if they are uncomfortable talking about their successes. That’s when I show them how to see their successes as a story. 

Turning successes into stories allow you to be the storyteller, not the bragger. 

See how much easier this just became? No uncomfortable bragging, just real stories about projects that make you feel successful and strong. Now we can have fun with something that was initially very uncomfortable.

I want you to find a quiet spot and jot down up to 10 projects that you worked on over the last several years where you received praise or were personally pleased with the outcome. Out of the projects you jot down, I want you to pick three that focus on the type of job you want to move into. Your dream job. You will be able to identify these three projects easily now after working through the questions located in my previous blog, Understanding what your dream job really is.

The reason I recommend only focusing on your dream job at this stage of the process is that even if you really, really need a new job, your stories won’t be believable if you have to stretch them to match a job description. And you won’t be a strong contender for the job if your background and passion don’t fit what the hiring manager is looking for.

Why spend your time on jobs like that? Try narrowing in on the jobs you know you’ll love and the companies that have a culture where you’ll be comfortable.

The biggest mistake I have made in my past job searches has been sharing stories during interviews to try to match the job description. Even if the job was not something I wanted to do.

For example, I can do analytical work, but I don’t enjoy it. I’m much more right-brained, and I like being right-brained. I love writing and being creative, along with building relationships with people. So even though I am able to do accounting (past-CPA here!) and run reports, I’d much rather work with words and people.

Where this is leading to is a personal story of mine about a very kind mentor who got me an interview for an analyst position after I had been laid off.  I updated my resume and cover letter to make it sound like I wanted to be an analyst. I got the interview. I shared success stories that were analytical in nature, but they were not authentic. 

I had no passion during the interview, and it was clear to the hiring manager that there were other candidates who loved databases and analytics who were a much better fitted for the job. I was actually relieved when I found out I was out of the running.

Imagine if I had fooled the hiring manager? I’d be doing a job I didn’t enjoy. I would have been miserable! That was not my dream job at all! 

Remember my personal story so that you stay honest to yourself when it comes to identifying those three stories that will help you move to your dream job.

My next blog will be about pulling out interesting facts about your three projects and making those facts into stories that recruiters and hiring managers will remember.