A storyteller is someone who listens, documents, and shares stories in various formats. When you’re searching for a new job, you essentially have to become a storyteller because you are the only person who can accurately share where you’ve been.
There are 4 different types of stories you should be telling during your job search:
- Your Work Ethic Story (how you work)
- Your Work Experience Story (where you’ve worked+ the impact that you’ve made)
- Your Brand Story (what you want to be known for)
- Your Personal Story (how you connect outside of the office)
Some people tell their stories by writing. Others are better at verbally communicating their ideas, some people let their work ethic do all the talking, while others are great at making new friends. Most people are good at only a handful of these, but the more you practice, the better you become.
How to Tell Your Work Ethic Story
Before telling your work ethic story, you should keep a few things in mind:
1 | There’s no real substitute for actual hard work.
You’re number one goal should always be to make an impact by doing good work. Whenever you mention your work experience (i.e. class projects, volunteer work, personal projects, etc.) you should always be able to share how you’ve left a mark on:
- your team
- your colleagues
- your company
- whatever community, audience or fanbase you’re work is benefiting.
2 | Don’t worry too much about the “type” of work you do.
Most of the time when people are on the job hunt, they worry too much about the TYPE of work experience they have, and not enough about telling their work ethic story. If you get too caught up in not having the right type of experience, it impacts how you tell your story when you’re talking about how you work.
Here are a few reflection questions that will help you refocus your story:
- How do you talk about your current work experience and how you work?
- If you are shifting roles and don’t have the right “type” of experience, is there a project or assignment at your current job that will show how hard you are working to get to where you want to be?
- Are there any certificates or bootcamp programs that you you can join to put in a few extra hours?
3 | Don’t forget to showcase your work.
When you work hard, the amount of work that you show off starts to pile up. When you’re head is down, you might also forget to document and brag about what you’ve done.
You should always show off your work. You can do this by posting your work on social platforms like LinkedIn, and on a personal platform like a Portfolio Website. How will people know what you can do and how hard you’ve worked to get there if you don’t show it!
The target audience for your work ethic story should be:
- your current colleagues or managers (if you’re trying to get a promotion or get more projects)
- past clients (if you need recommendations or are trying to re-secure work)
- your future clients, hiring managers, or supervisors (work ethic is very important in the workplace)
Use the secret weapon below to start working on your skills, work ethic, or to gain a few new ones!
Breakroom Buddha Secret Weapon: Here’s a volunteer portal where you can practice your skills, explore your talents, and get valuable work experience. Remote and in-person options are available.
How to Tell Your Work Experience Story
Before telling your work experience story, you should keep a few things in mind:
1 | It’s important to practice telling your story on paper.
Despite the debate that is currently swirling around on the internet, the structure of your resume really does matter. The bulk of your resume–the bullet points–is what really makes or breaks you.
If you need help writing resume bullet points, try answering these questions:
- What did I do?
- Who did I help?
- Why did I do it?
- What was the outcome?
- Bonus Question: How long did it take?
Example: Consolidated company marketing services (what) in 45 days (how long); Resulted in a 15% increase (outcome) in company-wide sales (who).
2 | Storytelling is all about the build-up.
Remember the storytelling basics. A story has a beginning, middle, and end. Even though you have limited real estate on your resume, you can still tell a cohesive story.
The target audience for your work experience story should be:
- recruiters, your future hiring managers, and your future colleagues.
Make it count, because your resume will most likely be the first form of contact that these people have with you!
Practice building your resume bullet points using the formula above, and then use the secret weapon below to help you create more impactful and insightful resume bullet points.
Breakroom Buddha Secret Weapon: A list of properly formatted resume bullet points. Use this to beef up your resume bullet points, and increase your chances of making it to the interview round.
How to To Tell Your Brand Story
Before telling your brand story, you should keep a few things in mind:
1 | You are a brand.
A lot of people think it’s weird to compare yourself to a brand. I don’t. I actually think of myself as a business. You have some cool swag and goods (your skillset) and there’s a fanbase/audience that wants access to it (companies, clients, etc.).
So just like a brand or business, you have to have things like:
- A clear “About Me”, “Sales Pitch” or “Elevator Speech” that lets people know who you are.
- A personal or mission statement that quickly lets people know why you do what you do.
- A set of goals, that guide the decisions that you make.
If you’re at the “Brand Story” portion of the journey, you are most likely in the pre-screen phase of your job search, and you’re talking to recruiters or you’ve made it to the interview process with your future manager/team members. Congrats, but the real work is just beginning!
2 | Don’t forget to tailor your story to the audience.
So you’ve made it to the finale, but this is where your storytelling skills are really put to the test. The most important thing to make known during a job interview is how you will alleviate any pain for whoever you’re talking to. So for example, the pain points of the hiring manager will be very different than the pain points of the VP or a teammate.
Another thing to figure out is WHY a job is open. That will help you figure out which pain point to harp on. Normally, jobs are open for two reasons:
- Movement From Within or Out: Someone has moved on and left the company or they’ve been promoted within the company. During the interview, you need to figure out how to prove that you are as good or better than the person who has left the team.
- Growing Pains: The team is growing and they need extra hands. During the interview you have to figure out how to prove that you are as good or better than the people who currently work on the team.
The most important thing to do here is to be self-aware. Knowing how your skills and past/current experience will help your potential team fill in any gaps is how you make it. This is why perfecting your work ethic and work experience stories are so important.
Bonus tip: Be aware of which skills you lack (and how you’ll learn them) so that you’re not blindsided during the interview!
The target audience for your brand story should be:
- recruiters, your future colleagues, future managers.
This is similar to the “work experience” target audience. Once you ace the written portion of telling your story (detailing your work experience on paper), you have to then ace verbally communicating your story via interviews with the same audience.
Use the secret weapon below to record and practice your answers to common interview questions!
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How to To Tell Your Personal Story
Before telling your personal story, you should keep a few things in mind:
1 | You have to put your pride aside and step out of your comfort zone.
I didn’t want to scare you and put “networking” in the title, but this is the portion of the lesson where you have to network. For those of you who are scared to network, think of it as meeting a new potential friend. If you make genuine connections here, these friends will encourage you during your job search, cheer you up when you receive a rejection letter, AND might even be the reason why you land your dream job.
2 | Be intentional when you network.
When you network you should be prepared. You should look to network with:
- People who ave a job that is similar to your “dream job.”
- People who you find inspiring or interesting.
- Your peers
- People who went to your school, or a bootcamp, or other educational program that you’re associated with
- People who work in your current or desired industry
Knowing your “brand” well will come in handy here as well. So, knowing your elevator pitch, mission statement and career goals will come in handy as you make connections. There are many benefits to networking while you’re looking for a job, but remember to keep connecting even after you’ve secured the job of your choice.
The target audience for your personal story should be:
- potential future teammates/hiring managers, potential industry friends.
Networking should not be transactional, so please don’t go into these calls expecting something (i.e. a job offer). I also tell people to be open minded and genuine, because you never know what might come from these calls!
Use the secret weapon below to meet new people and practice your networking skills.
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