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Virtual Job Club Day 6: What’s YOUR Story?
Tory Johnson
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A few weeks ago for my show, @Work on ABC News Now, I interviewed legendary filmmaker Peter Guber about his newest book, Tell to Win.
He argues that we’re all in the “emotional transportation business” and our successes are won by creating compelling stories that have the power to move our audience (in your case, prospective employers) into action (in your case, hiring you). Guber believes strongly — and has endless examples to prove it — that if you’re a great storyteller, you have the ability to win over any audience.
In a weak (to put it mildly) job market, if you can’t tell your story — a positive one because, quite frankly, woe-is-me windbags need not apply — you’re killing your chances of getting hired. The good news is that anyone — yup, even YOU — can learn how to be a strong storyteller.
Gretchen Gunn, who runs a successful staffing firm, helps jobseekers every day to perfect their stories. On this recorded call, she walks you through a lesson to help you develop yours.
Press the play button to listen to this 20 minute call (The audio begins 45 seconds in, so don’t worry, it’s working properly!):
In the meantime, tell us two things in the comment space below:
1. What’s the BEST part of your story? What are the most important things you’d want employers to know about you? Focus on something unique. For example, the fact that you’re reliable or a hardworker isn’t the BEST you have to offer. Be more specific.
2. What’s the UNIMPORTANT stuff that you’re having trouble keeping out of your story? For example, we get countless emails from people who focus on lack of degree, crippling divorce, near-empty bank account and so on. They share that in an effort to express the urgency of their job search. But it has the opposite effect: it drives people away instead of bringing them closer. So tell us the things that you know you need to save for pillow talk instead of for your professional communication.
Then study the difference in your answer — and others posted — so you know what to begin to build on and what to leave out.
Looking forward to YOUR story!
Tory
BACK TO VIRTUAL JOB CLUB HOME PAGE
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- Virtual Job Club Day 1: Aug 22
- Virtual Job Club Day 2: No more YES, BUT!
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- Virtual Job Club Day 4: Tackling the Potential Obstacles
- Virtual Job Club Day 5: The Fun Part
I am a couple of days behind, hence the late posting. By the way, Gretchen Gunn’s phone session was great! Very helpful in helping to identify the most unique and positive qualities to present to a prospective employer.
In my case, I grew up in a military family and moved every 3 years sometimes to live in some very distant places. For me, this was a way of life and I considered it exciting, but also very normal. All of my friends were military families, and we all were in the same boat. Every 3 years we moved, leaving friends behind and making new friends at the next station. It wasn’t until I grew older and met kids who were not in the military, that I realized that many kids growing up never moved at all and never traveled far away from home. I thought this was very strange.
Basically, I had travel and adventure in my very foundation and it has stayed with me every since. I view change (whether change in assignment, job, or goal) as a challenge and embrace it, rather than fear it or shy from it.
As far as the detrimental stuff, no one needs to know of any past mistakes, unless there was a lesson to be learned in which case I will admit the mistake and also stress how it helped me the next time.
The best part of my story is that no matter what happens or how long I have to look for a job, I will never quit. I get down from time to time, but try to keep myself busy. That is one reason why I went back to College. I had been laid of from my last two jobs and work was hard to find, so I made my time useful. I guess what I am trying to describe would be perseverence.
The best part of my story is that I’m an effective team player. My line of work requires me to think out of the box, be quick on my feet, be detailed oriented and prioritize under tight deadline. I interact with people from all walks of life so the adaptability and heavy verbal communication are all skills I possess. I am a quick learner and a high deliverer plus more. This is my story.
The three compelling experiences that led me to my current career were:
1. While in college, I was learning a coding language. There were mistakes in my prgram. The students who ran the lab programmed the application to give prank like answers. My report said, “There 20 mistakes, now we both know something is wrong!” This incident spurred me master computer technology.
2. Later, my combined background in career counseling and computers landed me a position as career director for a US Coast Guard base in the mid 90′s. Personal PC’s and the Internet were taking off in popularity. I taught my clients to use the new PC’s to write resumes and to use the Internet to search for jobs on then new career sites like Monster.com. I worked with both military and civilians as well as their families. I learned I loved teaching others to master computer skills. I also loved helping people transition to new careers.
3. Now I am helping teachers learn to integrate technology in their classrooms. Students range in skill levels from millenials to those career changers who had not used computers when they were last in college. Students ctreate an e-portfolio they can use to find employment or apply to advanced educational programs.
What these stories let employers know is my skill with making technology relevant in the careers of their employees.
I’m a great problem solver and very detailed oriented. I am able to research and locate the answers to get the problem resolved. Despite the walls I may come in contact with on my journey I still rise to move forward.
I guess the unimportant stuff is welling on why I never got a response after what I felt was a slam dunk interview. *sigh*
Interesting presentation. Thank you. I am working on my “presentation.” I recently had the opportunity to do a mock interview, at the last moment, so did not have time to prepare. I rambled on too long, so I agree, it is important to be prepared ahead of time. The advice I came away with is to match yoru story/your skills with the needs of the employer you are interviewing with. They don’t really want a short biography per se, they want to know about the relevance of your skills to their needs.
Great telephone lecture. My most important quality is that I have a very good work history. I have a lot of experiience and and a great skills, organized, reliable, and understand how to priortize.
Downer: Never being called for that interview. What am I doing wrong.
Wow! Thank you! I usually required to write on my website something like that. May i implement part of your post to my site?