Boasting or Telling a Story That Shows Results - Pathfinder Careers

Boasting or Telling a Story That Shows Results - Pathfinder Careers Boasting or Telling a Story That Shows Results? This morning I met with a client who confided in me that she is not used to boasting about herself in her résumé, and that this entire exercise was very difficult for her.  Then she laughed uncomfortably. Too often, this is the case when people sit down to work on their most important career document. They DONT feel comfortable about boasting about themselves. And thats exactly the problem. They shouldnt be boasting. Instead, they should be telling stories where they are the starring character.   If done correctly, these stories arent all about boasting. You are just telling a story that shows how you delivered results to the company.  Take people down the road of how you got to those results.  And make it an interesting story along the way. People remember stories, not laundry lists of accomplishments. Remember: The top thing on every human resource / hiring manager, recruiter, headhunter, or decision makers mind is So what? you have to answer the question to make yourself stand out from other candidates.  They dont care as much about what you did; they want to know how you helped the company and what the end results were. Think about it this way: the hiring side of the equation is like a blank screen of a television, with the channel off the air. You know that annoying static fuzzy sound? Its all noise, and theres no rhyme or reason of what someone is seeing. Now if you start to add color to it, and start building shapes, and constructing a story, well, now you have a compelling reason to keep the viewer (read: human resource manager) glued to the screen to see how the story ends. So get over the uncomfortableness of talking about yourself. Instead, focus on the story of what the plot lines were, what challenges were posed by the lead character (you) and how you were able to solve them. Now youll be cooking with gas, and youll have a much better reception from the human resource viewpoint, who are hungry for people to give them what they are craving! *Photo provided by  User:Stan Shebs/August 2003