Storytelling

When it comes to the world of career management these days, online or off, as we all know, the buzz word of the moment is "branding."

Translation: If I am looking to make a career change in this economy (either because I want to or have to) how do I make myself stand out from the rest of the tens of thousands who are trying to do the same thing?

It's a question that has been around for as long as I can remember no matter what the economy was doing. Sure it was easier to get air time when it was a seller's market, but that doesn't change the fact that the seller still had to "market" themselves and at the very least, make sure the interviewer walked away from that encounter with an impression that was not going to disappear by the time they got home for dinner.

It has often been said that fifty percent of getting a job is getting yourself across the desk from someone. I certainly would not argue that, and how one gets that opportunity is fodder for any number of posts down the road.

For this commentary however, I want to focus on the interview piece because I am fortunate enough to know someone who has come up with a concept that has helped a lot of her clients leave those interviewing situations feeling very comfortable that when that interviewer gets home for dinner they not only won't have forgotten you but may well be talking about you over dessert.

The "someone" is a woman named Judy Rosemarin. If you are interested in her background, you can check it out on her company website.

Suffice it to say that she has been in the career management world for more than 27 years. [Full disclosure: Judy has also been facilitating ExecuNet's NYC meetings for nearly 18 years, but the only connection that has to this post is that this is how I came to know her and hence became aware of her "storytelling" approach.]

I could take up a great deal more space here by trying to describe exactly how the "storytelling" approach works, but clearly Judy can explain it far better than I can which she did recently when she was interviewed on a radio program hosted by Dr. Zara Larsen out in Tucson, AZ called Circles of Change.

The interview runs roughly 20-25 minutes but is worth a listen if you or someone you know is still trying to figure out how to change an interview from an exercise of "been there, done that" into a memorable conversation.

Storytelling

After more than 45 years of being attached to the world of career managment in one way or another, it is pretty easy to think that you've heard it all and in some respects maybe you have. On the other hand, that doesn't change the fact that more often than you might imagine when you hear someone talk on a subject about which you feel you not only have "heard it all before" but think you know a lot about it yourself you realize yet once again that neither is true.

What I mean is that while the subject matter is not new to you, the way in which the presenter conveys a point all of a sudden resonates in a way that sharpens your focus on some critical concepts and helps you to internalize those concepts in a more impactful way.

Such was the case for me when I tuned into Peter Clayton's Total Picture Radio podcast that featured Judy Rosemarin talking about The Magic of Storytelling in a Job Search.

In the interest of full disclosure, I initally wanted to tune into this because I know Judy so well. We have been lucky enough to have her as our point person and facilitator for our networking meetings in NYC for 15+ years as well as a frequent presenter for both our FastTrack and Coffee Break webinars. Point being, as a "fan" I wanted to hear what she had to say.

What blew me away and prompted this post was the "learnings" I got from listening to her talk about "value and values" and "storytelling" in the interview process.

Peter's interview with Judy runs just over 20 minutes, but it is 20 minutes well spent whether you think you have heard it all before or not.

As the Brits would say, at least from my perspective, she was, as usual, "spot on."