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.

Circles of Change

Maybe it's a generational thing but I have to say that after having been interviewed so many times over the years be it TV, radio, face to face or via (would you believe) email, I really like radio the best. I think the reason why is primarily because it seems to give you the best shot at really being able to respond in some reasonable depth. In the sound bite world of TV, not to mention the editing that goes on, anything beyond 20 seconds seems to end up as they say on the cutting room floor or worse sometimes, on the air!

So why I liked radio so much surfaced again at the end of June when Zara Larsen who has not one but two radio programs that air on KJLL in Tucson, Arizona contacted me and asked if I could join her on her show called: Circles of Change: Conversations with Dr. Zara Larsen on Change Leadership and Career Fulfillment.

Five minutes on the phone was enough to see that clearly Zara had lots of experience in both the career management and radio show interviewing worlds and that was enough for me to immediately say be it a Sunday or not, sign me up.

After our initial conversation, I went to her website to find out a bit more of what I was getting myself into and specifically to see how Circles of Change was described so I could better understand. The short version was this:

“Circles of Change” refers to an arc on a trajectory, taking all of life’s experiences to bring us full circle to recognize and celebrate who we are as unique individuals. The goal of our weekly conversations is to help you take the right steps to make more of where you are in your current career and life, or how to discover, strive for and achieve “what’s next”.

When the show aired, we talked about a wide range of career related topics, and all in all it turned out to feel exactly as I felt it would after that first introductory conversation we had had - relaxed with an eye to trying to help those who were listening.

Her programs are also streamed to the web, so if you want to get a flavor for both the program and her style and think you might want to tune into future programs, the link to the June 29th show is here.