Struggling with Showing Impact? Record your Story
Recently, I met with a client who was struggling to articulate their impact at an organization. They had been there for 10 years, received great performance reviews, promotions and accolades, but their resume read like this:
-Responsible for overseeing employees and ensuring objectives were met
- Helped create new program to achieve divisional goals
-Collaborated on strategic plan to forecast 10+ year company goals
When I pushed the client for additional details in regard to these general bullet points, they expanded a bit, but kept stopping and saying “I mean is this that impressive? Is it worth even mentioning?”
This sentiment is all too common writing resumes. What the heck do people care about? Am I all that unique?
In response to writers block, I challenge you to try something new: Record your story. This may seem unnatural or strange, but hear me out. So many times clients (especially women) feel constricted by a resume, linkedin profile, cover, letter etc., that they cut so much of what makes their story unique, it comes across as a general blurb about job responsibility. This leads to your first impression to get passed over, and you miss the story telling (Interview) phase of the process. By taking the time to verbalize your story, you have another perspective of what matters, AND it gives you practice when you are tapped for an interview.
Not sure how to begin your story? Start with these prompts:
Describe a project, program or initiative you are most proud of? What was the result?
Why do you enjoy working in this industry?
Name a time you identified a problem in your work? How did you go about tackling the problem?
What about the job you’re applying for resonates most with your past work?
The most important thing you can do is to record without worrying about perfection. The recording is merely for you to reflect upon your story and help you expand upon your impact. Once you have the recording, watch it or share with a loved one while having your current resume out. Ask yourself the following:
Does my spoken story align with my resume?
Are there big gaps?
By allowing yourself space to reflect without an audience, or at least a trusted audience, it welcomes an opportunity to better reflect a snapshot of your story, without diluting it to sound generic.
Reflection can feel scary, unnatural and uncomfortable, but it is the springboard to alignment and confidence. Why not give it a try?
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