Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career

209 Pages·2009·2.5 MB·English

by  Katharine Hansen

Careers/Job Searching
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Tell Me About Yourself
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Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career ABOUT
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“TELL ME ABOUT TELL STORIES THAT
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YOURSELF.” WILL GET YOU HIRED YOURSELF
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It’s the most commonly asked interview In addition to helping you shine during job
question, yet it catches most people off interviews, good storytelling can enhance all u
guard. How can you sum up your career aspects of your job search: r
quickly and make the interviewer want ● Know just what to say to networking s
to know more? Career and storytelling contacts. e
expert Katharine Hansen gives you the
tools for acing this tricky interview ● Catch the employer’s interest with a l
question—as well as all others: storytelling resume. f
● Storytelling guidelines for ● Reveal your true personality in story- S
based cover letters. t
structuring your stories eff ectively. o
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● Copious examples of interview ● Integrate stories into your career portfolio. yte
question responses that show you ● Distinguish yourself from the crowd by ll
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in your best light. using stories to establish your personal n
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● Tips for answering behavioral, brand. to
yes-or-no, and other traditional ● Keep moving forward by telling career- G
questions with an impressive story. advancing stories on the job. e
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR n Storytelling to Get Jobs
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Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., associate publisher of Quintessential Careers, is the author of Dynamic P
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Cover Letters, Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates, Top Notch Executive Resumes, and A Foot in the o
p
Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market; and coauthor (with Dr. Randall S. Hansen) of el and Propel Your Career
Write Your Way to a Higher GPA and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Study Skills. She is a member of the Y
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Career Management Alliance, a Master Resume Writer, and a Credentialed Career Manager. She u
teaches college courses on writing resumes and cover letters and has critiqued resumes and cover r C
letters for countless students. She blogs at A Storied Career (www.astoriedcareer.com). a
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Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
A
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E Associate Publisher, Quintessential Careers
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(www.quintcareers.com)
800-648-JIST www.jist.com
$14.95 Higher in Canada
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00FM:Layout 1 2/12/09 3:21 PM Page i
Tell Me
About
Yourself
Storytelling to Get Jobs
and Propel Your Career
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
00FM:Layout 1 2/12/09 3:21 PM Page ii
Tell Me About Yourself
© 2009 by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
Published by JIST Works, an imprint of JIST Publishing
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Indianapolis, IN 46256
Phone: 800-648-JIST Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected]
Visit our Web site at www.jist.comfor information on JIST, free job search tips, tables of
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Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 09 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hansen, Katharine.
Tell me about yourself : storytelling to get jobs and propel your
career / by Katharine Hansen.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-59357-670-7 (alk. paper)
1. Employment interviewing. 2. Storytelling. I. Title.
HF5549.5.I6H346 2009
650.14'4--dc22
2009003671
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, or
stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews. Making copies of any
part of this book for any purpose other than your own personal use is a violation of United
States copyright laws. For permission requests, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center
at www.copyright.com or [phone].
We have been careful to provide accurate information in this book, but it is possible that
errors and omissions have been introduced. Please consider this in making any career plans or
other important decisions. Trust your own judgment above all else and in all things.
Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service
marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
ISBN 978-1-59357-670-7
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DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to the memory of Kevin Sharpe, Ph.D., my core
faculty advisor during my doctoral program, who oversaw my work on both
this book and its companion dissertation. I am grateful that my story
intersected with Kevin’s, if only for a brief period.
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CONTENTS
Introduction: Why Use Storytelling in Your Job Search?....................................................1
How Storytelling Can Help You Get a Job ......................................................................2
About This Book..............................................................................................................5
Part 1 Career-Propelling Story Basics 7
Chapter 1: The Quintessential “You” Story......................................................................9
Starting Places for Your “You” Story ................................................................................9
Sample Quintessential “You” Stories ..............................................................................10
Summary........................................................................................................................18
Chapter 2: How to Develop Career-Propelling Stories ..................................................19
Formulas for Structuring Your Story ..............................................................................19
Identifying Characteristics to Highlight in Your Stories..................................................21
Story-Framing Devices ..................................................................................................22
Telling Stories About Handling Change ........................................................................25
Drilling Down to Tell Stories About the Other Skills and
Characteristics Employers Seek......................................................................................33
KSA (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities) Statements..........................................................39
Summary........................................................................................................................40
Part 2 Using Storytelling in Your Job Search 41
Chapter 3: Using Stories to Network with People..........................................................43
The Elevator Speech Becomes the Elevator Story..........................................................43
Enlisting Your Personal Advisory Board in Reviewing and Critiquing Your
Job Search Stories..........................................................................................................51
Story Formula Roundup from the Experts ....................................................................51
Summary........................................................................................................................56
Chapter 4: Telling Stories on Your Resume....................................................................57
Guidelines for Creating a Story-Based Resume..............................................................59
Using a Professional Profile or Qualifications Summary Section to
Tell the Story ofWho You Are ......................................................................................61
Composing Accomplishments Bullet Points....................................................................65
Creating a Resume Addendum to Enhance Your Resume’s Storytelling..........................67
Are Resumes Dying?......................................................................................................68
Sample Story-Based Resumes and Addenda....................................................................69
Summary........................................................................................................................81
Chapter 5: Cover Letters That Tell a Story ....................................................................83
Types of Stories You Can Tell in a Cover Letter..............................................................83
Do’s and Don’ts for Storytelling Cover Letters................................................................96
Sample Story-Based Cover Letters................................................................................100
Summary......................................................................................................................102
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CONTENTS
Chapter 6: Portfolios That Tell a Story ........................................................................103
The Portfolio Explained ..............................................................................................103
Developing Stories Through Portfolio Preparation........................................................106
A Web Portfolio Makes Your Story Accessible 24/7......................................................107
Using Your Print Portfolio to Tell Your Story in Interviews..........................................109
Linking Interview Questions to Portfolio Artifacts ......................................................110
Summary......................................................................................................................116
Chapter 7: Interviews That Tell a Story........................................................................117
Using Stories in Behavioral Interviews ........................................................................118
Return to Alphabet Soup: Examples Using the Story Formulas....................................119
Not Just Stories, but Stories Well Told..........................................................................126
Storytelling for Traditional Interview Questions............................................................127
More Examples: Typical Questions and Storytelling Answers........................................133
Storytelling for Situational and Future-Oriented Interview Questions..........................158
Compose Your Stories in Writing Before the Interview ..............................................161
Summary......................................................................................................................164
Chapter 8: Telling Stories to Communicate Your Personal Brand ..................................165
Writing Your Story-Supported Branding Statement......................................................166
Examples of Story-Supported Branding Statements......................................................169
Personal Branding, “Googlability,” and Your Storied Online Presence............................171
Summary......................................................................................................................175
Part 3 Continuous Career Storytelling 177
Chapter 9: Propel Your Career Through On-The-Job Storytelling ..................................179
Stories to Lead and Communicate Organizational Change ..........................................179
Promote Yourself Through Storytelling ........................................................................183
Using Storytelling to Cope with the Stress of Change..................................................185
Summary......................................................................................................................190
Epilogue: Let Your Career Story Unfold ......................................................................191
Appendix: Storytelling Resources ..............................................................................193
Quintessential “You” Story Resources (Chapter 1)........................................................193
Story-Development Resources (Chapter 2)..................................................................193
Networking Resources (Chapter 3)..............................................................................194
Resume Story Resources (Chapter 4)..........................................................................194
Cover Letter Resources (Chapter 5) ............................................................................195
Portfolio Resources (Chapter 6) ..................................................................................195
Interviewing Story Resources (Chapter 7)....................................................................196
Personal Branding Resources (Chapter 8) ....................................................................196
On-the-Job Storytelling Resources (Chapter 9)............................................................196
Index........................................................................................................................199
v
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people have contributed to this book and my doctoral dissertation
research. I’d like to thank Dr. Robert Boozer, through whose class I discov-
ered organizational storytelling. I thank Cynthia M. Buenger and John R.
Hansen for their invaluable research assistance. I thank my research partici-
pants and students for telling their stories. Many thanks to Deb Wile Dib,
Roberta Gamza, Norine Dagliano, Meg Guiseppi, and other members of the
Career Management Alliance, who shared their insights and samples. Thanks
to Robert S. Frey and Lori Silverman for their excellent information. I owe a
huge debt of gratitude to Dr. Bobbi Kerlin for her methodology guidance. I’m
grateful to the “pioneers” of business storytelling such as Steve Denning,
Annette Simmons, Terence Gargiulo, and many others. Thank you to Dr. Jane
Johansen for editorial tutelage. Much appreciation to Dr. Monique Forte for
her mentoring. I greatly appreciate the support of my doctoral committee, the
late Dr. Kevin Sharpe, Dr. Sherry Eve Penn, Dr. Rebecca J. Oliphant, Dr.
Cindy Lovell Oliver, Dr. Cheryl A. Lossie, Dr. Alison Nordström, Dr. Elizabeth
Weir Weatherly, and former committee member Dr. Sandra Hurlong. I also
thank all the faculty, staff, and administration at Union Institute & University
who have supported my work as well as supporters at Stetson University, espe-
cially Dr. Paul Dascher and Dr. Roberta Favis. I appreciate the research sup-
port provided by the Business School Foundation and Dr. Judson Stryker at
Stetson. I thank the 11 members of the Resiliency Colloquium, especially
Anne Bedwinek and Becky Ridge, for being there for me. Thanks to Lori
Cates Hand and the folks at JIST for a painless editing process. Thanks and
love to my sister, Carolynn Hood, for her contributions, and to Brett Bayne,
my friend for more than 25 years.
Most of all, I thank Dr. Randall S. Hansen for his writing contributions, edi-
torial guidance, critiques, unfailing support, endorphin-producing bike rides,
partnership, and love.
01Introduction:Layout 1 2/12/09 3:22 PM Page 1
INTRODUCTION
W U S
HY SE TORYTELLING IN
Y J S ?
OUR OB EARCH
Once upon a time, a job seeker underwent a frustrating series of inter-
views over a five-month period with no job offer. Then the discouraged
young man read a book that suggested composing personal stories. Doing so,
the job seeker found, provided him with better interview preparation than
any coaching he had ever experienced. Using stories he hadn’t remembered
before he read the book, he said, made him more confident, convincing, and
persuasive in his interviews. Stories enabled him to present himself in a per-
sonable and powerful way to his interviewers. He again used stories during
the next round of interviews. The tale ends happily with his hiring in an exec-
utive position that represented a major advance in his career. The job seeker
in this story is a real person who posted a review on Amazon.com of Annette
Simmons’s 2006 book, The Story Factor.
Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career extends the
ideas of Simmons and other current authors who tout the value of story-
telling. The volume you hold in your hands focuses on a narrow yet power-
ful use of storytelling: telling stories to advance your career, whether by
moving up in your current organization or landing a job in a new organiza-
tion. The title comes from the most commonly asked question (which isn’t
even a question but a request) in job interviews: “Tell me about yourself.”
Composing stories to reveal your personal and professional self in response to
that “question” is just one way to use storytelling to propel your career.
Simmons writes that the natural reaction of an unfamiliar person whom you
hope to influence is to distrust you—until you answer two major questions.
The first question is “Who are you?” In resumes, cover letters, portfolios, and
interviews, job seekers attempt to tell who they are, but how often do you
think these communications really convey a sense of who the job seeker is?
Simmons’s second question, “Why are you here?” can be translated as “Why
are you contacting this employer?” “Why are you interviewing for a job
here?” and “Why do you want to work for this organization?”
01Introduction:Layout 1 2/12/09 3:22 PM Page 2
TELLMEABOUTYOURSELF
How Storytelling Can Help You Get a Job
But answering those questions is just the beginning of how storytelling can
springboard your job search and career advancement. Here are more reasons
that storytelling is especially appropriate in the job hunt.
Stories Establish Your Identity and Reveal Your
Personality
Stories satisfy the basic human need to be known. Clearly, being known
among employers is a major goal of job seekers, and it is in large part through
resumes, cover letters, portfolios, and employment interviews that employers
get to know candidates. Job seekers can gain the employer’s recognition by
integrating storytelling into these career-marketing communications.
In Training & Development magazine, Bonnie Durrance tells a tale that exem-
plifies the notion of revealing one’s personality through story. She describes an
aspiring dancer exuding happiness and a positive attitude while collecting tolls
in a tollbooth. Whereas many toll-takers might consider such a job soul dead-
ening, the protagonist in Durrance’s story radiates joy because he turns on
music and practices his true aspiration—dancing—in his tollbooth through-
out his shift. “We can feel the story move us,” Durrance writes, “opening win-
dows of possibilities, expanding our idea of work, and challenging our
thoughts about jobs, dreams, and tollbooths.” It’s not difficult to picture the
toll-taker/dancer interviewing for his next job and dazzling the interviewer
with his upbeat take on making the best of a dull job.
Stories Help You Know Yourself and Build Confidence
Not only can telling stories enable others to know you better; they can also
help you get to know yourself better. Developing and telling your stories can
become the underpinning for self-authentication. As you see common threads
and patterns emerging in your stories, you’ll understand more about yourself,
your goals, your best career path, and your ideal job—and this understanding
can’t help but boost your confidence and improve your ability to sell yourself
to an employer.
An emerging movement in career counseling involves constructing career
narratives that enable job seekers to uncover meaning and connections. They
become central characters in their own stories and plot their own futures.
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INTRODUCTION: WHYUSESTORYTELLINGINYOURJOBSEARCH?
Stories Make You Memorable
Simmons and many other experts extol story as a way for others to remem-
ber people and their messages. Tom Washington, who devotes a full chapter of
his 2004 book Interview Power to storytelling, asserts that “in less than three
minutes, you can tell a powerful story that will make interviewers remember
you favorably for days, weeks, or even months after the interview.” Similarly,
interviewing guru Carole Martin writes, “When someone comes into an
interview and begins to tell interesting stories, the interview becomes enjoy-
able and sometimes even fun. By engaging the interviewer with your stories,
you will have a better chance of being remembered and thought of as a seri-
ous candidate for the job.”
Author Peg Neuhauser writes, “If you want someone to remember informa-
tion and believe it, your best strategy in almost every case is to give them the
information in the form of a story.” Indeed, we remember people who tell sto-
ries because, as psychologists and neuroscientists tell us, stories form the basis
of how we think, organize, and remember information.
Stories Establish Trust
Trust has grown into a significant issue in recruitment. High-profile job seek-
ers who’ve been caught lying on their resumes are just one reason employers
are reluctant to trust job seekers. In 2004, outplacement firm Christian &
Timbers researched the resumes of 500 corporate executives and discovered
23 percent of executives lied about their accomplishments. Job seekers can
gain an employer’s trust by integrating story into a resume, cover letter, or
interview. As Simmons writes:
Before you attempt to influence anyone, you need to establish enough trust to suc-
cessfully deliver your message.… People want to decide these things for them-
selves … the best you can do is tell them a story that simulates an experience of
your trustworthiness. Hearing your story is as close as they can get to first-hand
experience of watching you “walk the walk” as opposed to the “talk the talk.”
… You need to tell a story that demonstrates you are the kind of person people
can trust.
Stories establish an emotional connection between the storyteller and the lis-
tener and inspire the listener’s investment in the storyteller’s success. When
stories convey moving content and are told with feeling, the listener feels an
emotional bond with the storyteller. Often the listener can empathize or relate
the story to an aspect of his or her own life. That bond instantly enables the
listener to invest emotionally in your success.
3