Category Archives: Storytelling and Career

Want to know what a certain job is like? Listen to the story of someone who’s in that job. Goldman Sachs makes that possible with videos of what various aspects of working for the organization are like. Text stories also are available.

A blog entry that captures the need for telling your story in the job search is Chris Pearson’s The Only Thing on Your Resume that Matters to a Smart Person. Pearson writes: Intelligent people really don’t care what’s on your resume. In fact, intelligent people don’t really give a damn … Continue reading →

In a convergence between storytelling and career, Filcro Media Staffing offers case histories of successful search assignments.

Inspired by the Social Media Resume of Bryan Person, described in the previous entry – though more modeled on Rohit Bhargava’s Social Media Bio – I’ve created my own, another step in socially constructing my online identity. I still need to fill in lots of details at the various social … Continue reading →

Here’s an article I recently wrote for Quint Careers:

If you’re confused about what to do with your career — or what to do next with your career — and you haven’t gained insight from taking assessments , there is another way. You can learn more about yourself, gain insight into the best career for you, and plot out how to get there through creating stories.

A small but growing collection of research, for example, has looked at using story and narrative in career counseling. “Psychotherapy is based on the premise that we each create our own life story from the time we are born,” wrote Jack Maguire in The Power of Personal Storytelling. Career counselors are increasingly using narrative approaches to encourage clients to build their career stories.

Authors Christensen and Johnston suggested in the Journal of Career Development that developing narratives can significantly help individuals to know what to emphasize in their career planning. They proposed that counselors perceive clients as both authors and central characters in their career stories, which they are “concurrently constructing and enacting.” Constructing their career story, the authors said, enables clients to discover connections and meaning in their careers that they might not have otherwise. When individuals imagine their desired future stories, they facilitate their belief that their storied, envisioned future will play out in reality. The authors’ research indicated that, indeed, clients who could tell these future stories tended to be “more effective in bringing those plans to fruition,” while Maguire characterized the narrative-therapy process as revising or replacing negative stories with positive ones.

Instead of answering the question traditionally explored in career counseling, “Who am I?” by listing traits such as interests, skills, aptitudes, and values, narrative approaches articulate the job-seeker’s preferred future. Larry Cochran, who has devoted an entire book to the use of narrative in career counseling, notes that the narrative approach emphasizes “emplotment,” which refers to how a person can cast himself or herself as the main character in a career narrative that is meaningful, productive, and fulfilling. Plotting out a career story can also help a person conceptualize the steps needed to attain his or her desired career, remind the narrator of career goals, and enable him or her to stay on track in achieving the envisioned career.

Following are a number of approaches to exploring your career desires and passions through storytelling. Considerable overlap exists among these story exercises, so don’t feel you need to use all of them. But pick a couple that resonate with you and use them to examine meanings, themes, and patterns in your career to date, as well as to plot out how to attain your career dreams. Continue reading →

Steve Denning provides a good rationale for the disagreement with Mel Kleinman’s article on fact-based hiring that I voiced in this entry. Discussing his work on a chapter on changing minds in his forthcoming book (to be published by Jossey-Bass in September 2007), Denning writes in his newsletter: I looked … Continue reading →

I could not disagree more with an article on HR.com by Mel Kleinman entitled, “Just the Facts, Please”. (Free registration may be required to read the article). Kleinman’s premise is that hiring should be fact-based because “Unlike impressions or gut reactions that might have been caused by what you ate … Continue reading →

Now I turn to Scobleizer, the blog referenced in the two entries below and some of the thoughts and ideas raised therein.

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In a comment posted to the article referenced in my previous entry, a poster wrote: Resumes fail to show passion or adaptability in two pages. They also fail to show how a candidate may perceive dozens of different complex topics. To say I have ten years in project management would … Continue reading →

MEDIA RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Randall S. Hansen
Quintessential Careers
Phone: 386-740-8872
Fax: 386-740-9764
Email: randall@quintcareers.com

November 13, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF: STORYTELLING THAT PROPELS CAREERS
New book and doctoral research reveal value of storytelling in the job search

(QUINTESSENTIAL CAREERS: DeLand, FL) -– Job-seekers become memorable and trustworthy to prospective employers when they tell stories, according to a forthcoming book and doctoral research conducted in conjunction with Quintessential Careers, one of the Web’s oldest and most comprehensive career-development sites, celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.

The forthcoming book, Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling that Propels Careers, extends the ideas of current authors who tout the value of storytelling in organizations. It focuses on a narrow yet powerful use of storytelling – telling stories to advance one’s career, whether by moving up in a current organization or landing a job in a new organization. The title comes from the most commonly asked “question” in job interviews, “Tell me about yourself.” Composing stories to reveal personal and professional identities in response is just one way job-seekers can use storytelling to propel their careers.

Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling that Propels Careers, which was developed to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Quintessential Careers, establishes that stories paint vivid pictures and help a job-seeker to stand out, as well as explain key life/career decisions, choices, and changes. Stories told in resumes, cover letters, career portfolios, job interviews, and personal-branding campaigns help portray job-seekers as strong communicators and illustrate skills, accomplishments, values, characteristics, qualifications, expertise, and strengths.

“Through telling stories, job-seekers can establish identity, reveal personality, enhance self-knowledge, and build confidence,” explains Katharine Hansen, creative director of Quintessential Careers and lecturer of management at Stetson University. Hansen’s doctoral dissertation research, which included qualitative interviews with workers and focus groups with recruiters, formed the scholarly underpinnings for the book. “Job-seekers who tell stories also establish an emotional connection between storyteller and listener that inspires the listener’s investment in the storyteller’s success,” Hansen notes. Continue reading →