How to Tell Stories on Your Resume

How to Tell Stories on Your ResumeHow to Tell Stories on Your Resume3Who doesnt love an engaging, well-told story? Instead of boring bullet points on your resume, try using the space to describe a real-life situation in which your talents made a difference. Youll bring your qualifications to life in a concrete, memorable way.Lessons from a story are remembered more accurately, and for far longer, than learning derived from facts, says Paul Smith, author of Lead with a Story A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire. According to one major study, facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they are part of a story.ConstructionBut resume space is limited, right? How can a job candidate get her katechese across without turning the document into a novel that will promptly be passed over by a busy hiring manager? With some thoughtful crafting, it can be done.I believe the basic structure of a business story is the same, regardless of length or if it will be delivered orally or in writing, Smith says. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end, which is more helpfully referred to as Context, Action, Result. Even on a resume where you need to tell several stories and can only afford space for a few sentences each, you should follow this structure. If you dont, its difficult for the person reading your resume to tell if what you did was impressive or relevant to them or not.ExamplesTo see this method in practice, consider this example Smith offers as an alternative to simply stating I developed a new type of plastic(Context) The last company I worked for almost went bankrupt because the plastics we used in our products were too weak and fell apart after a few months use. (Action) I was so frustrated that I developed a stronger plastic that was just as inexpensive. (Result) Now that plastic is used in every product we make, and the patent is considered best in class in our industry.In just three sentences, a wealth of informati on gets conveyed to the employer- the candidate is a problem-solver who is passionate about his work and has the skills necessary to produce valuable results.Smith notes that even weaknesses can be addressed on your resume in this structure when you make the lesson you learned the result of the story. For example(Context) When my last babo quit and took half the department with her, I was promoted to lead the strategy development team and assigned an entirely new staff. (Action) I tried using the same strategy development process my boss used in that role, (Result) but after six months we hadnt produced a single new workable strategy and half the team wanted to quit. I learned that leadership is both personal and situational. It needs to be adapted to the leader and those being led. Once I adapted my leadership style, our results improved and my team wanted to stay. This year I won an award for being one of the best leaders in the company under 30.Beyond the PaperA final thing that telling stories on your resume can do is mark you as personable- the kind of candidate a hiring manager would like to interview. When that meeting happens, keep the stories coming using the same construction people like to hear narratives as much as they enjoy reading themReaders, do you tell stories on your resume or do you use bullet points? Which do you prefer? Share with us below

Managing and Motivating Your Team in Stressful Times

Managing and Motivating Your Team in Stressful TimesManaging and Motivating Your Team in Stressful TimesManaging and Motivating Your Team in Stressful TimesYour companys third round of layoffs is imminent, your anfhrer is barking out demands with heightened urgency, and your staff is tired, tense and afraid theyre next in line to be laid off. Its your job to motivate employees, continue to meet ever-increasing demands and bring your projects in under budget and on time.This all too familiar scenario is now a daily reality for many managers. Pressures from the top increase, while resources and staff available to meet growing expectations decrease. The keys to effective management in this uncertain work environment lie in understanding the fundamentals that motivate employees to perform, which means abandoning old incentives like job security and company advancement, and instead focusing on building a corporate culture of respect.How to Cultivate Employee MotivationAt the core, individ uals need to feel their work is valued and contributes in important ways to the organizations larger mission. This is no easy task, but nonetheless, a task demanded of managers.Recently, when making a reservation to fly on Southwest Airlines, I told the agent she had made my experience positive. She seemed genuinely unhurried and happy in herbei job, which is far from a highly paid or revered position. Her response reflected the outcome possible in a well-managed environment Were just nice to people, and we try to help them, she said. Its really basic.Implicit in her simple response welches a clear sense of her role within the larger team, and an understanding of the core principals that drive Southwests approach to customer service. Not formulaic or based on fear that our conversation was being monitored for quality assurance, she understood her role was turning one piece of Southwests mission into a reality, one customer at a time.On the other hand, a client who left a well-paid c onsulting position came to me to discuss plans for the next stage in her career. When asked about her bold decision to leave, she stated, The environment was toxic, bringing out the worst in my colleagues and me. Everyone blamed everyone else, played dangerous political games and acted increasingly cut throat. There was no sense of joy or satisfaction, no real meaning. I didnt like the person I was becoming. The money and promise of a relatively stable position, while compelling, were not enough to counter the alienation and lack of ethics that dominated the culture.James Henderson, the former CEO of Cummins Engine, summarizes the essence of motivation, Once people trust management, know they are responsible and are given the training, its astonishing what they can do for customers and, ultimately, shareholders.Creating a Winning Corporate CultureCreating a culture of respect, recognition and trust amid larger forces of chaos and uncertainty may seem daunting, but the process is act ually very basic. It simply involves a fundamental recognition that work needs to be meaningful, have inherent value and be valued by others.A culture of respect and trust requires managers to build relationships with their staff based on honesty and integrity. It may be tempting to be outcome-oriented because of pressures to meet deadlines, but investing in staff relationships will yield greater results. Be sure to communicate both the positive and negative news you hold as a manager. This straightforwardness will build trust that you are an advocate for your area. To the extent that you can, involve employees in decisions affecting them and their work.Another requisite for managers is to regularly communicate and prioritize their departments goals, while tying accomplishment of these goals to the organizations larger aims. Even if company-wide recognition processes have been eliminated, effective managers find ways to recognize their workers individual and collective accomplishmen ts and convey publicly how their work has advanced the larger agenda of the department and organization.Solid management skillsin todays world of work requires managers to return to the fundamentals that motivate people, especially within the sphere they influence. Restoring respect will ground you and your department amid the volatility.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs Steve Jobs Steve JobsHe was no engineer. Not much of a programmer. He was something the world had not quite seen before the technology business superstar. And perhaps, in our digital, corporate, and OEM world, its just such stars that are todays inventors. It was Steve Jobs (1955 2011) that showed us how.Jobs the baby was given up by his graduate student parents. This was, perhaps, his first great move. His adoptive parents, brought together thanks to a bet Paul Jobs made that he could find a wife in two weeks, settled in Silicon Valley. Father Paul was a mechanic and in the garage he and Steve would tinker endlessly.The bright young Steve was a prankster. He hung posters in school advertising Bring Your Pet to School Day, and set off explosives beneath his teachers chair. When sent home for such deeds his father blamed the school for not keeping him engaged.Steve Jobs vision gave the world the Apple computer.His best friend in high school was, famously, Steve Wozniak, an electronics maniac. When Wozniak first discovered the early hackers device known as the blue box, which allowed the nutzer to make free phone calls, he called Jobs in a frenzy. They had to make them. And they did. The experience taught Jobs more than just how make free calls. He learned how to work with his friend to build an electronics product.But before the pair would do that, more famously, in the family garage, young Jobs had some inner searching to tackle first. He dropped out of Reed College after six months, then took up a job at Atari and quit that, too. He had too much consciousness exploring to do primal scream therapy, LSD, a trip to India.Jobs sense of being allowed him to force his will on workers and products alike.Upon his return, he started attending the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak. Impressed by the assemblage of parts that Wozniak had put together, which would display a character on a screen after a tap on a keyboard, Jobs proposed making and selling comp uters together. Wozniak sold his prize calculator, Jobs his VW bus, and with the resultant capital$1300Apple was born.Wozniak had the technical ability, Jobs the business sense. Together they made $774,000 with the Apple I, then $139 million with the Apple II. Jobs lured Coca-Cola CEO John Scully to join them as president.Scully turned Apple into big business, but, after some less successful products, and with the company trailing IBMs PCs in the marketplace, Scully edged Jobs out.Jobs retaliated by starting NeXT, where he could build computers according to his vision. He also bought Pixar from George Lucas for $50 million of his own money. While Pixar went on to triumph with its Toy Stories and Nemos, NeXT didnt quite appeal to the masses.Wozniak and Jobs made $774,000 with the Apple I.Appealing to the masses, though, would be a good way to describe Apple products after Jobs rejoined the company, officially in 1997. Better yet would be dictating appeal to the masses. Jobs taught th e world how to lust after electronics with all things i. iMacs, iPods, iPads, and iTunes turned the company into one of the most successful and the most loved. Few other corporations have fans.His business was on the rise, but his health was not. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, he spent nine months trying alternative health remedies before agreeing to the surgery that his family begged him to have. Arguably, the delay cost him his life. Seven years later, he succumbed to the disease.He might have died sooner had he not made certain demands of his body, or of God. Having yearned to see his son graduate, he made a deal with God or whatever, which was that I really wanted to see Reed graduate, and that got me through 2009, he told his biographer.Demands were what defined Jobs career, and the excellence of his products. He demanded that his designers bring him efficient, beautiful designs, demanded that his programmers make his visions become reality, demanded that his factori es, products, and home conform to the precision of what he had in mind. Sonys Jonathan Ive said, when frustrated, Jobs way to achieve catharsisis to hurt somebody. And I think he feels he has a liberty and a license to do that. The normal rules of social engagement, he feels, dont apply to him. Though it may have been less than pleasant for those around him, it was his sense of exception, of the rightness of his demands, which gave us our iPads.Michael Abrams is an independent writer.Wozniak sold his prize calculator, Jobs his VW bus, and with the resultant capital- $1300- Apple was born.