The Power of Storytelling in Your CV | John's Tips 2024W40
Storytelling is a powerful tool that has shaped my career, and it can do the same for yours. Learn how to craft a compelling story within your CV to elevate your career journey and stand out.
In today's competitive job market, having a CV that lists your qualifications and job history isn’t enough.
You need to tell a story.
But more importantly, you need to tell your story.
One that connects your past experiences with your future ambitions and aligns with the roles you’re targeting.
The best CVs don’t just outline your professional background - they narrate a journey, highlighting pivotal moments or growth and how each stage has prepared you for the next.
Why Storytelling in Your CV Matters
If you can’t effectively tell your own story on your CV, how are you supposed to do it in an interview?
Your CV is often the first impression you make, and it needs to be clear, concise, and engaging.
Think about it this way - your CV should give recruiters and hiring managers a reason to believe in you and your fit for the role before they’ve even met you.
One key aspect of this is ensuring your CV isn’t just a static document, but a dynamic narrative. It should clearly articulate the why behind each career move, what you learned in each role, and how that positions you for the next one.
This not only makes you stand out but also gives you a foundation for the story you’ll continue to tell in your interviews.
Here’s a breakdown of how to infuse your CV with a strong, compelling narrative that tells the story you want them to see.
Step 1: Know Your Career Story
Ask yourself the following question:
“What is my career story?”
Did you hesitate?
Were you able to reel it off without any pauses?
If you hesitated, that’s a signal that you need to go deeper.
Your career journey likely follows a logical progression, but if you can’t articulate it quickly and clearly, as I’ve said already, it’s time to think through the why behind each decision.
Why did you leave role 1 for role 2?
What did you want to gain in your next position that you weren’t getting?
What did you not want to do or encounter in your following role?
How did role 2 prepare you for your current role?
If you can explain this in a few sentences, you’re already half your way towards having a CV that tells a compelling story.
Take the time to outline how each experience shaped your skills and guided you to where you are today. When you tell this story in a clear and structured way, it becomes easier to communicate in an interview, reducing stress and helping the conversation flow naturally.
Step 2: Frame Your Experiences with Purpose
Each role on your CV should build upon the previous one.
Instead of simply listing responsibilities, take a storytelling approach.
For instance, include a short blurb at the top of each role explaining why you took on that particular role, what you accomplished there, and how it set you up for the next step in your career.
Instead of just listing titles and responsibilities, frame each transition as a purposeful step forward.
Here’s a sample of my own story, along with the blurb I have on my CV & LinkedIn.
One thing to note when writing your blurb, it’s always good to add some metrics that you managed to improve or goals you achieved if you have them. There’s no point in hiding them in your bullet list, as recruiters may never read that far.
Role 1 - Support engineer: I wanted to learn how to solve my customer’s problems.
As the leader of the support team, I streamlined support operations and enhanced the user experience for a diverse, growing customer base, all the while working on escalated customer issues.
Role 2 - Product Manager at a Multinational: I wanted more control over what problems to solve, so that I could anticipate the problems before my customers had them, leading to higher customer satisfaction and growth.
As a Product Manager for XYZ, I led four development teams, contributing significantly to our expansion from X to Y customers, thereby enriching our customer ecosystem. During 2020, I navigated the challenge of being the sole Product Manager, designing and delivering 250+ features, which propelled a 300% customer growth in 2021, achieving our annual growth target by July.
Role 3 - Product Manager at a Scale up: I knew how to build product that solve problems for customers from my time in the multinational, but wanted to learn more about the entire product management lifecycle and gain the discovery experience I was missing.
During my tenure at XYZ, I embraced the multifaceted roles of both Platform and Feature Product Manager, where I honed my skills in delivering effective Product Operation processes that facilitated development team scalability and value delivery.
My passion for creating intuitive user experiences was realised through the development of two greenfield platform infrastructure features, with my main focus being on managing the delivery of XYZ and the two new UIs that were needed.
Role 4 - Current Role back at a Multinational: Now I knew a bit about most parts of product management, I wanted to focus on my SME areas, User Experience and Product Operations, helping to drive organisational change while building great products for my customers
I aim to leverage my expertise in UX, platform, and support practices to ensure that internal stakeholders are considered at all stages of the product development lifecycle. This approach ensures that we not only meet R&D requirements but also support the long-term scalability of CX and payment operations at Toast while delivering solutions that make our stakeholders’ lives a bit easier.
This connects the dots for the reader, showing progression and intention behind each role.
This narrative framing makes it clear that each role was a deliberate move forward in my career, not just another job on a list.
Step 3: Align Your Story to the Job You’re Applying For
Your CV story should tie in with the job you’re currently seeking. This is what I had to do earlier this year when I was made redundant, and the above examples are the output of that re-alignment of my own goals in the role I was looking for.
I wanted my past experience to tell the story of the UX and product operations job I was looking for before I joined Toast. I have a short guide here showing how you can do this in ChatGPT and rewrite your bullet list.
For the blurb, here’s a prompt you can use:
“I am a <job title> and I want to get roles more closely tied to <Operations/UX/Devops etc.>. I want to add a 2 or 3 sentence blurb to my experience for one of my past roles. Please use the following bullet responsibility/achievement list as context when creating the blurb”
Once you have each of your individual blurbs complete, you can work on your About me section, which is like a mini cover letter for your CV. It will also double as your “About” section on Linkedin.
Another prompt you can use here is below. Feel free to copy the “About” section from my own LinkedIn. I’m quite happy with how that presents. You can get that from the link below.
“I am a <job title> and I want to get roles more closely tied to <Operations/UX/Devops etc.>. Here are the blurbs for each of my past X roles. can you craft that into a narrative that explains what I am about, and what I’m seeking in a career.
Job 1
Blurb 1
Job 2
Blurb 2
…This is an example of the format I want, so please emulate that in your response.“
As you progress through or prepare for the interview process, you need to be thinking about how your past experience connects with the role you're aiming for. Your CV should set up the interview as a continuation of that narrative.
Your career story should naturally lead to the role you're applying for.
Update: This blog from Melissa Appel verbalises a deeper element to this really well - “Can I imagine this person succeeding at my company?“. This is a really good way of thinking in your interview prep and will help with framing your story with the next line in mind.
For PMs - This one from Jenny Wanger explores the stories and details you should be sharing from a product management lens, showing how to share your successes through a data-driven and impact focus with good examples
The goal is for the recruiter or hiring manager to think, This person is perfect for this job. They’ve been building towards it their whole career.
Step 4: Keep It Current and Consistent
If you keep your CV and LinkedIn profile updated regularly, you’ll never have to scramble when the time comes to apply for a new role.
It’s tempting to wait until you're actively job-hunting, but keeping everything current ensures that anyone who looks you up at any time will see your latest accomplishments and responsibilities.
Additionally (and maybe more importantly), maintaining your professional story in real-time helps avoid any awkwardness with current colleagues noticing sudden updates when you do start to get itchy feet in a role.
Regular updates also projects confidence in your career progression and commitment to transparency.
Final Thoughts: Why Your Story Matters
If you can’t effectively communicate your story in your CV, it’ll be much harder to do so during an interview.
Your CV is not just a document of your qualifications; it’s the script for your interview.
When you tell your story clearly, it will naturally lead into why you’re interviewing for this specific role and how you’re a perfect fit.
Most importantly, crafting your narrative empowers you to take control of how your career is perceived. It shows intention, growth, and alignment between your past and future ambitions. And when done right, it’s the key to standing out in both your CV and your interview.
So, next time you're updating your CV, don’t just list what you’ve done - tell your story.
Make sure every experience connects, and you'll create a lasting impression that sets you apart.
Do you need other help on the job hunt or career progression? - See here for other articles and media on this topic.
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