Keeping in mind that a successful story must be true and told in context, consider these ideas for story-framing so your collection of stories comes from various perspectives:
- A time in your life when this skill/characteristic was tested.
- A person/event in your life that taught you the importance of this skill/characteristic.
- A time when you failed to live up to this skill/characteristic and decided never to let it happen again.
- A movie/story/book/event that exemplifies this skill/characteristic for you.
- A turning point in your development of this skill/characteristic.
- A story about tasks and job functions related to this skill/characteristic.
- A timeline of how you developed and sharpened this skill/characteristic.
- An example from your personal life (as opposed to career) of deploying this skill/characteristic.
- Patterns that have emerged in your development of this skill/characteristic.
- Results you’ve achieved through using this skill/characteristic.
- Lessons you’ve learned while developing and using this skill/characteristic.
- Ways you’ve applied this skill/characteristic in diverse situations.
- A strength or vulnerability from your past that led to developing this skill/characteristic.
Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling that Propels Careers, Quintessential Careers Press, ISBN-10: 1-934689-00-9. Find out the ways you can own the entire book.
