Interviewing? Why Your First Job Is To Be A Great Storyteller

Crafting your career story is an important part of the interview process because it makes you memorable for all the right reasons. If you make being a great (or even good) storyteller your first job, you’ll find that writing your resume and interviewing becomes much easier. A well-crafted career story will increase your opportunities and allow you to naturally stand out in the crowd because it is easy for a recruiter to remember.

It’s imperative to be easily remembered because there are hundreds of people applying for one job. You are likely to be applying and possibly interviewing alongside 20–30 very strong candidates. Don’t rely on the company’s hiring process or an impressive resume alone. Instead, craft a career story that makes it impossible for anyone to forget you.

Wondering if the work it takes to craft your career story is worth it? If it is worth your future employer’s time then it is worth yours. In this Forbes article, How To Use Storytelling To Build Stronger Remote Teams In The New Normal, by Darren Menabney he explains why. Note in the very first paragraph the benefit to the company’s current and future employees.

“By telling stories with our remote teams, we can build trust and psychological safety and support employees who feel isolated.”

Fortunately, Menabney also shares, “We are all natural storytellers and stories grab our attention.” Remember, this is your story. Not fiction. This makes you the best person to share and tell your story in the manner only you can.

In a survey done by FYI, while 96% of remote workers would recommend remote working. The number one challenge remains the same — communication. Storytelling won’t only make it possible to interview better and land the job you want, it communicates to your future employer your ability to work well on a remote team. Your ability to communicate through storytelling is an essential skill employers are looking for.

Key Elements of Your Story

Values

Think about your story and how it is driven by what you value. At an early age, what started your path even though it seems random? You want to show this is not something you are simply doing right now. This is part of your DNA and who you are which is shaped by your core values. Were there values in your life that pushed you towards something or was it how you challenged society’s values that forced you to find value on your own?

Education Progression

Education can be one of the most boring parts of the interview process. Particularly when recruiters are interviewing super achievers. Having the interviewee simply restate all their accolades and reiterate everything that is already on paper is the equivalent of holding a meeting that could have been an email. What doesn’t the recruiter know? What can’t they see on paper that they should? How did your values show up in your schooling? Did you ever fail and, if so, what did you learn from it? Share college experiences and extra-curricular activities, passions projects, volunteerism that aren’t simply meant to score you points but that are in line with your values and the company’s.

Past Work Experiences

Only in hindsight, do most people realize that different life and work experiences play off one another to form strengths. Imagine reading the resume of someone whom you’ve never heard of, with line items of their work history alone. This is what is taking place every time you submit your resume. Will it catch the eye of the recruiter and be memorable?

If you have been in different industries and have held had different roles that don’t seem to match up there can be a disconnect. While in this new era of changing employers every few years is no longer a red flag, it’s still your job as the candidate to show how this next role is naturally part of your career trajectory.

Now imagine reading a resume and feel like you are being told a story in a way that makes each line item unfold. Painting a picture that shows how all your work experiences easily connect to one another. Storytelling helps you create a resume this strong. Your story of frequent job and/or industry changes should be able to paint the story that you are not choosing to jump ship, rather you are daring to do something different.

Steve Jobs is famed for his very different skills and abilities. For marrying art and science. Before him, technology was bulky, square, not sexy, and not fun. Because of his interests, abilities, and talents, in a wide variety of areas, he was able to “naturally” bring them all together. Show how your unique life experiences make you uniquely qualified for the role.

If you have been at the same company for many years and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of change and challenge it’s time to rewrite your story.

Don’t list one title for 20 plus years and leave it at that. Show where you started and write your rise to where you are now. Share your story of the things that people often forget are challenging when you’ve been at a company for a long time.

• Share the memories of when you had to work under new management and adapt to change in leadership.
• Write and tell the story of how you navigated employee turnover or a multigenerational office successfully.
• Let the reader know the numerous software and implementation changes that have no doubt taken place over the years and your role in the process.

Cultural changes and technology advancements tell the story of how dedicated and committed you were and how many times you saw something through from the beginning, possibly conception, to implementation. You remained around long enough to see what worked and then what no longer worked and then again started a new cycle of change.

Story Framing

One of the easiest stories to craft is one that starts at the beginning. It’s a story about the progression of your career. It’s also one of the easiest stories to remember.

If you chose to work backward in your career, the place where you are now and your rise to this position, then you have to create a narrative that is extremely compelling because the recruiter will naturally assume the end based on where you are today. It’s not biased, it’s an assumption and everyone makes assumptions. Be prepared to share a plot twist in your narrative.

Crafting your own story, even if you find yourself to be a natural storyteller, can pose challenges. We simply don’t have an outsider’s perspective. Asking your friends, family, and co-workers about your work habits and life experiences is an excellent place to start crafting your career story.

The best book I can recommend for crafting any story is Steven Pressfield’s book, “Nobody Wants To Read Your Sh*T: Why That Is and What You Can Do About It”. No matter what kind of story or narrative you are crafting, this book has the framework to assist.

At the end of every story is a really strong summary. The boy gets the girl. The girl gets the job. The underdog wins against all odds. People are reunited. Love wins all. At the end of your interview, what story are you telling when someone asks if you have any further questions? What are you leaving the interviewer with?

Don’t end with great, I look forward to hearing from you soon. Everyone says that. Don’t wait to put something in an email. Summarize what you are going to say in the end. When you are done watching a great movie or reading an incredible book the first thing you are likely to do is share it. Your story should leave the interviewer feeling the same way, wanting to share your career story with the team.

Remember, everyone has a story to tell, and your story matters.

Melissa Smith has been working remotely since 2013. In 2017, she became location independent. During that time she traveled to 16 countries in 12 months while running her business. Now Melissa teaches and consults others on how to work remotely, specializing in the remote hiring process. You can learn more about working with Melissa at melissasmith.io

Additionally, Melissa is an author and mentor for the first global, online education remote individual certification program with Remote-how Academy, as well as the Founder & CEO of the Association of Virtual Assistants and The PVA. She is also the bestselling author of Hire the Right Virtual Assistant and Become A Successful Virtual Assistant.

Melissa has since gained international recognition and has been featured in Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and many others.