Get your story together.

Create a professional narrative that helps people understand you.

Be the star of your story. Make it make sense.

A professional narrative helps people understand you.

As a professional, you need to have a coherent story that pulls together the pieces of who you are, and more importantly, where you want to go. Many of my clients can be worried if their resume has a gap, or a job title from their past that isn’t aligned with the experience they gained. They have ideas about where they want to go, but get discouraged when those around them don’t seem to see the same potential.

You can own your narrative and decide how you share your story.
In fact, you should.

With many people are looking for new roles or thinking about where to go next, giving this some thought can help you plan and shape a better future.

• Fact is, life is rarely and orderly affair. We have strategic plans but then life has other ideas.
• Professionally we outgrow roles, our interests change, or we desire new adventures. What we did, isn’t want we want to do.
• Sometimes the practical comes into play — we get laid off, sick, acquired, merged, relocated or we just need to make some money! A story can get us positioned for a new role more quickly.

Mentors, managers, recruiters, and interviewers don’t put the pieces of your story together for themselves. People simply don’t have time to synthesize a cohesive understanding of who you are and what you’ve accomplished professionally. They can make wrong assumptions or may not see your talent or ambitions.

• We think our work should speak for itself, it doesn’t. Even excellent work still needs context, and clear illustration of challenges and what was accomplished in plain language.
• Humans still think and remember stories. If you can frame your work and work experience into a story, people are much more likely to remember you.
• This ultimately also helps you make sense of your past and focus on a future that’s exciting.

You own your story and deliver it with confidence.
Make it make sense.

Even if your professional background looks like a patchwork quilt of chance and chaos, there is a story to be crafted. Having a professional narrative that you are excited and proud of is empowering. By reflecting, you can pull the threads of each experience and weave them together in a way that makes sense.

Ask yourself:

• What did you love most about each of your jobs? Does what you loved reflect your strengths and talents?
• Did recognizing your strengths lead you to your next role?
  Ex: “The more I realized I loved brand, the more I leaned into marketing roles.”
• Are there common threads that connect what you did at each job?
  Ex: “In every role, I grew a team from 0 → x” or I’m someone that always makes friends with the research team early.
• Are there professional qualities you consistently brought to each job
  “I’m always the team organizer pulling people together!” “I’m a data nerd and I bring more quantitative measures to design standards in every role I’ve had.”
• Was there consistent feedback from team mates about your talent and contributions?
  Ex: “Everyone calls me the Craft Queen because of my attention to detail. Frequently, my attention to detail has been called out in feedback.”
• Start with the end in mind. If you know you want to move into Product Management, go through this exercise with a lens of what would be most useful to support a story about being a future Product Manager.
• Look at what you’ve learned or how you managed through tough times.

Your story can be short.
For example:

“I have a deep background in design, but realized that I’m talented in organizing systems and people quickly to help them rally through fast changing times. I’m looking for a leadership role that relies on someone with strong operational skills.”

“I worked in tech for many years. Now want to apply the lessons learned there about moving fast and doing lightweight research to a non profit where my experience could help budget constrained organizations make and measure progress.”

You are the hero.
Keep your goals, your talents and your desires front and center. What are you trying to achieve?

Today people frequently change jobs, switch industries, and adapt skills to opportunities that are a better fit for their values and goals. Learning to tell you compelling professional story helps you clarify where you want to go.

Life isn’t what happens to us, it’s how we respond to what happens to us and how we carve a path forward.

🌱 🌿 RETHINK! Spring is a time for growth! Let’s gooo!

Practicing everything I’ve talked about in my newsletters happens in my RETHINK group each month. Meet with us monthly, bring your biggest challenges and get some coaching and peer advice to untangle and move forward. Own your strengths and practice sharing your stories. Learn more and register here. — -> Join us!

🤓 Looking for a good book?
Check out my curated reading lists here.

Time to make big changes with a strong plan?
Book some time. Let’s talk.

Your coach,
CK