In a blog posting called Using Stories To Sell: What Makes A Good Anecdote? (free registration required), Ford Harding lists 10 guidelines for stories used to make sales. It’s not too big a leap to see how these apply to the stories you can tell when you are selling yourself. My suggestions for using these in job-search situations follow each point:
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- Make It Relevant: Choose stories that relate to the specific job you’re applying or interviewing for, and more specific to the interview, pick stories that help illustrate skills and experience the interviewer asks about.
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- 2. Select An Anecdote With Which The Listener Can Relate: When stories convey moving content and are told with feeling, the listener feels an emotional bond with the storyteller. Often the listener can empathize or relate the story to an aspect of his or her own life. That bond instantly enables the listener to invest emotionally in your success.
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- 3. Emphasize the Similarities: Be sure to draw clear parallels between your accomplishments in other jobs (or other aspects of your life) and what you would be doing in this job.
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- 4. Every Good Story Has A Plot, Character, Action, and Outcome: In job-hunting, these stories are known by various acronyms, such as: P-A-R: Problem, Action, Result; S-A-R: Situation-Action-Result; and C-A-R: Challenge-Action-Result.
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- 5. Use Only One Plot Per Anecdote: Keep it simple.
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- 6. Use A Character With Whom Your Prospect Identifies: You, of course
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- 7. Tailor Your Character To Your Listener: Pick up clues that enable you to tell your stories so that your actions sound like something the interviewer would do.
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- 8. Describe Actions: Tell exactly what you did yo achieve results.
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- 9. A Good Story Must Have A Clear Outcome: The outcome is your result, which will often sound even better if quantified.
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- 10. Practice Your Stories: Along with other responses to interview questions, rehearse your stories.
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