I recently conducted a workshop for a graduate program at the University of Washington. It was a cohort with a range of professional and life experiences, but they universally had anxiety over what comes next. My workshop marked the first of a series helping them through that anxiety, complementing their program’s other career resources.
One of the big themes I wanted to get across in this workshop boils down to the difference between plot and story when considering your professional narrative, connecting the dots between experiences. Plot, in storytelling, is the events that happen. Story, on the other hand, includes the settings, characters, motivations, and changes. So, “Superman saves the day” is plot but “Superman saved Smallville from Lex Luthor’s kryptonite death laser despite needing to protect his loved ones and his secret identity,” is more of a story. Note that a story is more compelling because of the fleshing out and multiple stories can fit the same plot.
Let’s relate that to your career. Your resume or CV isn’t your professional narrative. It should capture your facts and accomplishments, yes, but it doesn’t have the “glue” that connects it all (nor should it). It’s plot, not story. There are ways to mitigate that but broadly speaking, there other places to pull it together (shout out to my favorite thing, cover letters, as well as interviews). So many people focus so intently on the “whats” that they forget that the “whos” and “whys” can be the real draw. Whether it’s a career audit or explicit interview prep, this is a common area of emphasis in my client work, going beyond a generic plot to develop their unique story, which can then be used in cover letters, LinkedIn, in interviews, and more broadly to contextualize their professional lives.
To illustrate this point I asked attendees to share one fun fact about themselves as the icebreaker. I didn’t share that we’d use this information elsewhere. Answers ranged from excellent breakfast-making skills to love of singing to ambitious gardening aspirations. A second ask was about their next academic and professional goal, usually a specific role or industry shift. Finally, I asked them to describe how their fun fact could impact their desired goal (weird answers welcome).
Obviously it was a little easier to connect the dots with some answers than others, with prevailing themes of curiosity, perseverance, and openness. However, the point wasn’t to wordsmith ourselves to a “perfect” answer, the goal was to be more flexible, to inject creativity into the way people think about themselves, their life experiences, and to embrace their uniqueness. I wanted them to discover that there’s fun and utility to be had in making those “weird” connections and looking at themselves with a different lens.
My own example:
I spent weeks last year customizing a toy dinosaur so it could be part of my larger Spider-Man variants collection (Spider-Rex), which required exploring an entire suite of new skills. It’s a demonstration of my enduring enthusiasm and willingness to dive deep and learn new things, which will serve me well in a senior People role as I gain familiarity with a new organization and its practices to help it and its employees thrive.
Our last group exercise was to work on everyone’s elevator pitch, acting through a scenario in which they were in a skyscraper elevator with someone of influence at an organization of interest. People didn’t need to use their weird fact in this case, but I did want them to go beyond listing facts and give a more complete view of themselves. These pitches they can now refine on their own as they go and discover what’s next for themselves.
The bullet points on your resume don’t define who you are or what you’ve done despite their importance. The context around them matters just as much and you’re the only one that can provide it. Take the time to consider your beginnings, motivations, interests, and more aspects of yourself and explore the connections between those things, what you’ve done, and what you’d like to do next. Self-awareness is inherently useful but those connections can inform more compelling cover letters, set up your elevator pitch, and form the basis of your interview examples, making them an indispensable tool. They’re a way to present more of the real you, the singular you, the you that can’t be replicated by AI or another candidate.
If you need support framing your experience and career or coming up with your “pitch,” please reach out or set up a call. I’m here to help.