Page 31 - FDI Alliance International Magazine. Spring 2021 Digital Interactive Issue

The easiest way to figure out your career story used to get us attention. If we repeat the same isn’t a snob and you can be yourself around. Perfect
is to create career stories cards. This exercise stories, people see us the same way. Our career for the first-time jewelry buyer.
is adapted from a playwriting exercise. Find a grows stagnant because we aren’t sharing our
quiet space and ask yourself, “When did I have strengths. When you’re planning your career stories,
an incredible time at work? What was a specific especially on a place like LinkedIn, think about your
moment that I felt alive and almost like time You can make any of your stories stronger by: audience and the story they tell themselves. If they
stopped?” When a memory comes up, write that • Starting your story closer to the action tell themselves an elite story—like they only work
moment down on an index card. Do this daily for with the best—you want to tell stories that confirm
seven days. After seven days, review your story • Adding in details that for them. Confirming that for them could look
cards and identify which strengths you used in • Making sure the character (often you) goes like writing about research you’re doing, sharing a
each story. Write those skills on the reverse side through a change client success stories, telling a tale about how you
of the index card. work to improve yourself, or a special project you
THE STORY PEOPLE TELL THEMSELVES were invited to be part of. All of these over time show
For example, if your happy work moment was you’re expertise and status.
collaborating on a sales presentation, the strengths The last part of a story strategy is to know who
would likely be: collaboration, strategy, customer you’re telling the story to, and what kind of story The stories we tell for career advancement aren’t
insight, visual thinking, and getting things done. they tell themselves. for us, they help others see how we can help
them. And since stories are so memorable, you
Do this for each card. There’s a jeweler in my city who makes radio ads want to be intentional about which ones you tell.
with his wife. In their ads, he plays a character who
Then compare the strengths lists and see which isn’t that smart. His wife is always correcting him.
strengths you use repeatedly. Are there three that
you used in almost every story? That’s your career The other day, I said to my husband, “I don’t know
brand. why he does ads like this—he sounds stupid. If I’m
going to drop thousands on jewelry, I want a
Which stories can you share in-person, on LinkedIn, competent jeweler.”
in a blog, or during a presentation that show you
using these skills. Try to tell stories that emphasize My husband said, “You’re not his target audience.”
these top three to four skills. That way when KERRI TWIGG
people hear about you, everyone says the same Right.
thing. career-stories.com
His target audience is people who don’t know
This stops you from relying on stories that are out- anything about jewelry and feel ashamed about info@career-stories.com
dated. We can get comfortable telling stories that it. The jeweler repeats the story of someone that

31. FDI ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL