Craft your Career Story
Do you have a compelling career story in your back pocket?
What is a 'career story' some of you may be thinking...
Well - it is exactly as it sounds - to be successful in your job search you need to have a deep understanding of your skills, experience and what you want and what you can offer a potential employer - hence your career story.
Your unique career story should be a narrative that describes your growth in both your personal and professional life. It can include anecdotes from your childhood, the classroom and the boardroom. Your story can illustrate your unexpected turns and compelling context on how you navigated your different job roles with your own talents and attributes.
Essentially it is the story of your journey - the windy road detours and all - succinctly outlining where you are today.
Once you have your story crafted you can use it everywhere to weave your compelling career story to build your professional brand.
Here are some area's you can use your career story:
During your job interview for a new role
When discussing your accomplishments
At networking events and when giving an elevator pitch
On your LinkedIn profile, your resume, or your cover letter
When expanding your professional network
Here are 6 possible places to start your own story:
1> Your 'lemonade stand' story - the original origins of how you started out - your formative years where you had that summer lemonade stand, the Christmas Craft Fair where you sold friendship bracelets, your wacky inventions or lawn cutting business - you get the gist
2> Early Success stories - how you lead the debate team and won the Provincials or State prize, the Tech project where you lead your team to an A++ victory, running for School President and winning and changing inclusion and access for all students - these early stories highlight that you have always been a high achiever and will continue to do so
3> Career AHA moment - or the big TRANSITION from realizing that the law degree you have does not jazz you up so you became a special needs teacher, or taking on a new project for your last company outside of your skill area and nailed it or even as simply as the moment when you realized what you wanted to be and have not looked back
4> Conquering Challenges - it is almost a 100% certainty that you will be asked a question about overcoming an obstacle in your interview so be prepared - craft your story so you are ready. The what happened may be hard to tell but what is key is the end result and how you overcame and grew from the situation. This illustrates your tenacity willpower and resilience
5> Your mentor stories - most people have had someone in their back pocket that is their cheerleader and sage - someone who is there to bounce ideas off of and help you see a different perspective. These 'influencers' are fabulous to have as part of your story as you can illustrate examples highlighting the learning and growth and openness to be mentored
6> Future Self - being able to imagine yourself in the future and the type of work that you are passionate about is empowering for you and illuminating for your perspective employer to see how grounded you are in your career passions
So give this a whirl - write it out and start weaving it into your print, digital and personal interactions. You may find this a great exercise to help you with clarity and momentum in your job search.
If you want to run this by me I would love to talk to you! DM me and we can set up a free 30 minute session to review your story - I would love to hear it!
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