I tweeted last week about this blog entry from Michael Long (The Red Recruiter), but I haven’t blogged about it till now.

Long writes about five skills recruiters will need in 2025, including storytelling, which he frames as “vision.” Sorry, Red, but 2025 is 16 years from now. Why do recruiters not need storytelling skills before then. Why don’t they need them …. now?

Read his description of vision/storytelling skills below and see if you agree there’s no need for recruiters to wait to develop these skills.

There’s also no need for job-seekers to wait to use these skills. Everything Long envisions in the passage below can be turned around to apply to job-seekers.

Long’s words:

Vision — This could also be called “Storytelling Skills” but, “Vision” seems easier. The bottom line is this… can you paint a picture in a person’s mind? Can you show them through words what their future looks like? In exploring someone’s career path, it becomes vital that you share a vision of the future. What are their next career steps, strategic moves, compensation angles, etc…

You don’t wake up one morning with the ability to convey vision. Well, perhaps some people do… but, that was not my fortunate tale. I had to work on it.

Read stories, listen to stories, write stories… explore, travel, meet new people. Get exposed to things that are completely foreign. Take so much in to your mind that you can’t take anymore. Then, do it again. Experience and exposure are the parents to good storytelling. The life narratives that you are exposed to in recruiting, coupled with the life experiences that you should be pursuing, will result in a much richer experience for your candidates. Let’s face it… given the option… wouldn’t you want your recruiter to have some perspective on the world? So, go get it!

Here’s how the first paragraph might look from the job-seeker perspective:

Can you paint a picture in a hiring decision-maker’s mind? Can you show him or her through words what the future looks like with you in the job you seek? Can you describe the story of your career path so that it’s clear you share a vision of the future with the hiring organization? What’s your future story of next career steps, strategic moves, compensation angles, etc.?

All the advice Long applies to learning storytelling skills applies to job-seekers — plus many more techniques that I’m sure readers of this blog could share.

Just remember, 2025 is way too late.