How to get better at telling your career story

When you give the most coherent, relevant and resonant account of your career that you can, not only do you gain huge confidence in what you’ve achieved and where you’re heading, but you can also share that clarity with the people who matter. Your audience might be recruiters, clients or new colleagues - and how they understand this story is largely in your hands. 

Telling a good story is undoubtedly empowering, so it has to be worth spending a little time crafting the narrative you want your audience to understand. When you do this well your audience can connect with you, see where you fit in, and why they want to work with you.

I hope these four tips will help you craft an engaging and authentic version of your career story, one which you can use in applications or professional profiles, or wherever you might need to share your story.

1. Joining the Dots

When you’ve had a varied career, or just a long one, it can be challenging to draw out the most engaging and relevant points. But when you understand what connects one chapter with the next and can highlight the motivation behind each transition, you’ll be on your way to telling a compelling and joined up story.

To help you understand the WHAT and WHY behind each career move, I’ve devised a free workbook to guide you through the story. By understanding why you made each move, the common themes and golden thread that connects each chapter, you’ll be able to share your deeper purpose – and help the audience understand who you are.

Whether telling your career story in an application, during an interview or in written content to attract your ideal clients, you’ll be able to show your professional and personal journey – and that’s where connection begins.

To get your free copy of ‘Joining the Dots in your Career Transitions’ guide, just drop me a message. You’ll never again be stuck for a way to respond to that invitation to:

Tell me a little about yourself.

Request your free copy here

2. Make it a success story

Hands up if you feel uncomfortable talking about your successes and achievements? 

I suspect that’s almost everyone who’s reading this article!

There’s something here about not bragging, downplaying achievements, and dismissing what we’ve created as what ‘anyone could do.’

It’s time now to get comfortable with what you have achieved in your personal and professional life because these examples play a leading role in your career story.

If you want to persuade someone to offer you a new job or give you a promotion, you need evidence. Your achievements provide clear verification of your skills, character, mindset, knowledge and purpose. They are hard to ignore, so make friends with these stories. 

I’ve written about how to gather your achievements in this article, using a free resource to help you analyse what each of these demonstrates about you.

These are the stories you can weave into an application for a new job, a promotion, to upgrade your professional profile (e.g. LinkedIn), and during interview. These examples are priceless and clearly demonstrate that your career is a success story.

And don’t forget when things didn’t quite turn out as you hoped, what did you learn and how did you change your approach? These stories are also part of your success story - as a learner, with the ability to change.

3. Make it relevant

A good story engages the reader, draws them in and helps them see why this matters to them. Your career story is no different. The next aspect to consider is the context in which you are telling the story.

Choosing which elements to foreground for your particular context makes the narrative feel relevant, timely, and powerful. Think about which aspects of your experience, knowledge, character and skills are most relevant to the context and bring them into plain sight.

If you’re applying for a job or attending an interview, be guided by the job description, organizational culture, sector, and other contextual features that are most relevant to a successful outcome. Be sure you have chosen the best examples to demonstrate your relevance in this context.

Spend time on the hidden needs this vacancy reveals and which ‘now problems’ you will help them to solve so that your story jumps into focus. Read more about presenting yourself as the solution here.

In other words, see it from the point of view of your audience and tell your story to meet their needs. I don’t mean to tell lies, exaggerate or embroider your story, but rather to select the most pertinent elements. Your audience will thank you for it!

4. Make it yours

This is your story, so enjoy it. 

To stand out from other candidates it’s essential to be yourself. This means sharing the combination of elements in your story that are unique to you. No one else will have your exact blend of experience, skills, personality, values and purpose. That mix is your main strength, so embrace it.

To do this well, get to know your highest values and how they have found expression in your career so far. How are they relevant to this job, organization or team? What will they add and how will they motivate you? When you know your own values and can connect with those that matter to your target organisation, the synergy will be clear. You will express something very individual and connect on a human level. Above all, your listener will understand how you fit into their world.

Read more about values in this article. If you’d like to gain more clarity on your values, just get in touch, or read more about Values Discovery here.

Allow your character and personality to find voice in your application or when writing a professional profile. When you show enthusiasm, energy and motivation and why this job, profession or organization matters to you, your story will come alive.

“Your career story is not one narrative but many”

When you select the best elements for each situation, you will be able to engage your reader or audience. 

Take time to learn which are the strongest sub-plots in your story, which are the main themes and what joins it all together. When you know your story this well, it will become second nature to select the top elements for each context, and you’ll tell your true story with confidence and clarity.

If you’d like help identifying your top stories or applying for a new job, take a look at my Career Clarity Call, or drop me a message.

The highlights!

What can you do today?