The Chief Storyteller is a firm that helps businesses tell their stories. Visitors can download short PDFs of these stories.

What I found intriguing is The Chief Storyteller’s five-phase approach to telling a client’s story, especially Phase 1 (see below), which includes an elevator speech, Web site, success stories, advertising/PR, testimonials, marketing/development, and sales.

Each aspect of Phase 1 applies to job-seekers and how they tell their story in the job search:

• Job-seekers, too, need an elevator speech. See entries in my blog-within-a-blog, Tell Me About Yourself, beginning here.
• I recommend that all job-seekers buy their own name as a domain name if possible and craft a personal/professional Web site with a resume and/or career portfolio on it.
• Success stories must be stock-in-trade for any job-seeker, especially on a resume and in interviews.
• Advertising and PR are a little farther afield for job-seekers, but some certainly may want to send out press releases about their accomplishments.
• Testimonials can be included on a resume, cover letter, and in various social-media profiles, especially LinkedIn, which provides an accepted venue for recommendations/testimonials.
• I would characterize marketing and development as the things the job-seeker does to disseminate his or her message, such as direct-mail campaigns to employers.
• Finally, I equate sales to the way the job-seeker sells himself or herself in the interview and closes the sale at the end of the interview.

The Chief Storyteller also has a blog.