I’ve written many times in this space about using story to communicate persuasively to employers to get jobs.
But the inner stories we tell ourselves also color the job search.
When I was teaching at the college level, I had a student who insisted she had no skills. Nearly four years of college had resulted in … no skills. Pretty sad. What sort of frame of mind do you suppose she took into the job search? With a belief that she had no skills, what sort of job would she pursue after graduation?
Then there are those who tell themselves they are too old, and no employer will hire them.
Ron Campbell underscores the importance of the inner story in this post, in which he writes:
Like the stories we tell ourselves, these stories have a major impact on our successes and our failures. The story you tell yourself will impact the actions you take. The story you tell others will impact the actions others will take in your behalf. Ironically, but absolutely, the story you tell yourself will play a major part in the story you tell others.
For job-search and career success, you need a self-story that inspires you with success. As Campbell writes:
It begins … with the story you tell yourself about your skills, your value and your greatness, and the story you tell yourself about the opportunities available to you…. In today’s age of social networking and ease of communication, once you have your story, the opportunities are limitless.