Crafting Your Career Story
By Sara Madera, career coach
Are you looking for a new job, but nervous to get started because you have taken a couple of sharp turns in your professional journey? Or perhaps you are changing careers and want to make sure your previous experiences aren’t discounted. Or maybe you are returning to the workforce and need to talk about your gap in service. These are normal challenges that nearly everyone faces when they are job hunting! Easily surmountable, they can even be advantageous, if you frame it well. Here are a few ways you can use these “issues” to work for you.
Find Your Theme
Identify a strength or value of yours that is important for this new role and was also crucial to your success in your past experiences. By choosing a word, phrase or idea, such as ‘Community Creator,’ ‘Selling a Dream,’ or ‘People-Led Leader,’ you can start to create a bridge for the hiring manager between your past experience and this new position.
Start by listing your skills that made you great at your last job. Then make a list of the strengths you would bring this job. Where are the similarities? Is there a word that stands out as most important, or a couple words that you can bring together in a phrase that both defines you and connects you to the past and current roles? Use this word or phrase in your cover letter and interview.
Weave Your Story
Interviews are full of questions, to be sure, but rather than answer a simple yes or no, take the opportunity to paint a picture of yourself and your approach. By telling a story with your answers, your interviewer can get a better sense of you, creating a connection and letting them envision you on the team.
Here’s the format for a good story: (situation or context) + (action or approach) + (outcomes, learnings or successes). Not every story has to be one that you knocked it out of the park, as long as you clearly explain what you learned or what you’d do differently. And if it is a success story, the listener will root for you if you give them the context or the challenges you were up against, making the victory that much sweeter. Bonus points if you can work in your theme to reiterate your strength into the story as well!
Own Your Differences
Companies often schedule interviews back-to-back, so stand out by being different! Many of the people being interviewed are a sweaty mess. Being confident is a great way to stand out, but can be easier said than done. Practice telling your stories, describe your theme to yourself in the mirror, and take a moment to picture yourself in the job, high fiving your colleagues after another great idea. By imagining yourself in the role already, you can project that success in the interview as well.
Embrace the things that make you special. Wear bright colors, if you love them. When they ask about you, bring their attention to your theme or, if you are brave, mention the elephant in the room by saying, “I bet you were surprised to see an electrical engineer applying to be an events manager, but it’s always been my dream to throw great parties.” You will have their attention immediately and they will be rapt to hear more of your story.
With these tips, you will be able to connect your potentially unconventional past job experiences to this new role, and showcase how you would successfully manage tough situations by playing it cool while in the interview hot seat. By altering your perspective to embrace your differences, the dynamic changes – from dreading these conversations to enjoying the opportunity to talk about yourself and what you can bring to the role. Through these authentic exchanges and sharing your message and stories in a way that aligns with the new position, you’ll be accepting an offer in no time.
Additional Tips for Tricky Situations:
Research shows that becoming a parent changes your brain in beneficial ways that reflect leadership skills: becoming more present, empathizing with others, collaborating more effectively, and responding to stress in a more adaptive way. While taking maternity leave used to be an obstacle for careers in the past, this attitude is slowly changing, so highlight the new skills you have gained through your new experiences.
Changing Industries or Careers
Have you decided that you no longer like tech and want to follow your passion for something else? It’s possible, but it’s not easy. You should expect to perform a lot of informational interviews. It’s also unlikely that you will command your former salary in this new role. But by connecting your experience and showing its value to the new industry or role, you’ll be in your dream job in no time.
Sara Madera
About Sara Madera
Sara led organizations and teams across the globe before founding Plan Creatively to provide career coaching to working moms through corporate and individual programs.
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