53.

Hone Your Stories

As a culture, we've been watching movies for over 100 years because we all love a good story. I have my clients and students practice telling interesting stories about themselves in an engaging way. In the stories you tell, you become the hero of your own life. After all, everyone loves a hero.

For example, I recently worked with a student who had finished a couple of years of college at another school, but hadn't graduated. That could be a red flag to an employer. You never want to volunteer information—either in writing or during an interview—that might make the person doing the hiring nervous. If I had seen this student's résumé before I met him, I might have thought, “Hmm. This guy doesn't finish what he starts.” Odds are, employers—who are both busy and deluged with résumés—would have had the same knee-jerk reaction, possibly relegating his résumé to the “round file” (a.k.a. the wastebasket) and disqualifying the candidate. Employers are not inclined to consider that there might be extenuating circumstances; they have so many other résumés and candidates from which to choose.

This student had two options: to omit the time he studied at that school from his résumé or to include it and list some of the courses he did complete. The second option—which he chose—meant that in an interview, he would need to be prepared to explain why he didn't graduate from that college. The explanation, or “story,” he shared was that he originally thought he wanted to get a business degree but, after a couple of years of coursework, realized that his passion was music. So he put his business studies on hold, planning to complete them at a later date, and enrolled in a music college. This tells an employer that this young man isn't some flaky kid who just does whatever he feels like doing, but a thoughtful young man who is the architect of his career. That's the kind of person that people like to work with.

Be prepared to explain or defend everything in your résumé. Employers have every right to ask you about anything they read about you. To prepare for interviews, have a number of friends and/or coaches ask you to tell them two or three stories that explain the choices you have made and to describe the challenges you faced, the things you accomplished, and the experiences you've had in your life.