Customer Reviews

Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career

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4 star:		(1)
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In her new book Tell Me About Yourself, Katharine Hansen provides actionable advice for incorporating storytelling in cover letters, resumes, job interviews, and conversations with the boss. As someone who is on the hiring end of the equation, I can vouch for the effectiveness of strategic storytelling (see my posts, What I look for in resumes and What I look for in cover letters).

Katharine, who writes my favorite blog on applied storytelling, interviewed job seekers and studied reams of resumes while earning her doctorate. She supplies step-by-step story construction tips and illustrates her points with actual resumes and cover letters gathered in her research.

She clearly did an exhaustive literature search to gather a wide range of expert opinion on the subject. My only criticism is that Katharine could have synthesized the academic literature a bit more and taken a few risks by providing her own opinion.

Katherine puts the issue well for all of us, whether we are in the job market or are building our careers where we are: We should carefully nurture our own personal brand. And we know the best brands are those that evoke intrigue and emotion through the story that they tell.

This book will be most useful to people new to the job market, to give them illustration upon illustration upon illustration that it's ok and even desirable to tell pithy stories as they represent themselves during the hiring process.

I've been at this for a while, but I did find the section on story structures useful, though overlong. In particular, tying the moral of the story - the lesson learned - to future action can be very powerful.

But there are too many stories, and too little analysis and structure, and too many of them are couched in a way that would make me either wince or guffaw if I were the hiring manager. E.g. "At the very instant I read your ad for a Merchandising Specialist, everything clicked. The description of the job became one with my passion, and I knew the match between me and this job was perfect." Please.

"So, tell me about yourself?"

Is that not the most obvious interview question? The one that every job seeker should anticipate and prepare to answer? Unfortunately, it may seem so obvious, many don't spend the time they should focusing on how to answer it.

In fact, most aspects of the job search rely on being able to tell your own story.

Networking (the all important elevator pitch)
Your resume - connecting your accomplishments with the employer's needs
Cover letter - another opportunity to sell your skills to a targeted employer
Portfolios - online opportunities to connect with people
Interviews - sealing the deal
On the job - to connect and advance
I highly recommend that job seekers take a look at Katharine Hansen's new book, Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career.

Her book is organized into several sections:

Part I - Career propelling story basics
Part II - Using storytelling in your job search
Part III - Continuous storytelling
Katharine explains how stories can help you get a job by demonstrating your personality, helping to make you memorable and establishing trust. People who know how to tell good stories can communicate their value proposition, which is key for job seekers and careerists.

This book helps you with every aspect of telling your story - from figuring out what the story should be through tips for how to recall stories stored in your brain! (For example, give your stories names.) It is full of samples of stories and many, many ideas that are critically useful for job seekers and all professionals.

If you're engaged in a job search - or maybe you should be - don't miss this great resource!

This book was surprisingly fun to read, mainly because it's full of true employee stories, which are always interesting. I think the book would have been more appropriately titled if it had something--anything--in the title about interviewing. Really, this book is about how to interview successfully and make yourself really memorable.

The book also has numerous examples of successful resumes, cover letters, bios, and other correspondence to help "sell" yourself to a prospective employer.

Here's my take:

1. The book is an excellent book on interviewing, and also how prospective employees should present/introduce themselves to employers

2. The book is more suited to people who are trying to obtain a management, supervisory, or white-collar job. The author already assumes that you know the basics, (like, don't show up in jeans and flip-flops). She assumes that you have some skills and education, so this isn't a book for someone trying to get a job waiting tables. It's geared towards working professionals.

3. The book's best points are the cover letter tips & examples, as well as the story examples, of which there are many. She also goes over how to handle a termination with dignity so you don't burn any bridges.

Overall, I think this is an excellent guide, especially for the price, which is quite reasonable for the material provided and the page count. I felt that the title was a poor choice, and maybe even a little misleading, but I don't feel that's enough of a reason to give this book less than 5 stars, considering the quality of the material.