Two weeks ago, we discussed some suggestions to support you in moving forward after a layoff, and last week, we provided some specific steps to help you create your core criteria.

Now that you’ve identified your priorities, the top skills you want to use, and the working conditions where you thrive, it’s time to pull it all together and craft your stories. Ones that highlight your skills, experiences, challenges, and learnings.

Today, we’re sharing some of our questions and thoughts to help you craft your stories. As you look through them, consider a variety that could describe who you are and what have to you offer.

When you think about situations when you were at your best:

  • What skills were you using?
  • What was the environment?
  • Who were the people?
  • What was the outcome?
  • What did you learn?

When you think about experiences you’ve had when you felt proud and accomplished:

  • What skills were you using?
  • What was the environment?
  • Who were the people?
  • What was the outcome?
  • What did you learn?

When you think about situations when you were NOT at your best (i.e. reactive):

  • Why were you feeling reactive?
  • What was the environment?
  • Who were the people?
  • How did you work through it?
  • What was the outcome?
  • What did you learn about yourself?
  • How did you grow?

When you think about situations when there was a challenge or obstacle:

  • What was the challenge?
  • What skills did you use to navigate that challenge?
  • What was the environment?
  • Who were the people?
  • What was the outcome?
  • What did you learn?

After reviewing these prompts, try to come up with 5-7 stories that tell some combination of your accomplishments, experiences, learnings, challenges, and areas of growth.

By pulling together your experiences into stories that you can tell, you’ll be positioned to talk about yourself and the work you’d like to do in an engaging way that helps to show the potential employer, how you can be a solution to their needs.

We know that it can be difficult to pull up and think about some of this when you’re out of work. If you’re struggling with any of these exercises, we encourage you to chat with a close friend, colleague, or coach, and go through them together.

Whether you’re out of work because you needed to do so for your mental or physical health or you’ve been let go (for whatever reason) . . . it’s a difficult space to be in. AND, we know that hiring a career coach can be challenging on a tight budget.

To support you, we’ve put together various options, in hopes of fitting your needs.

Please contact us today if you’re interested in learning more about any of our free or paid options:

Stay tuned for next week, when we’ll review some top suggestions for weaving your stories into your resume and cover letter.

If you’d like support
with next steps in your career,
contact us today.