SUCCESS MAKING

2. Preparing Your Success Stories for an Interview -

The more reflection, the more you are able to highlight your strengths and real market value in your cv.

Step 1:  Write out a list of your top 10 success stories in a professional context. 

The easiest is the do a flash back, identify the ‘feel good’ moments you have had at your work and then give each one a title, like the title of a film short. 

For example, here are a few of my own from my teaching and coaching: 

created QA sales call checklist (for Sales Rep’s), created ABC Excel dictionary (for English learners), created and taught accelerated decoding method (for English learners with little English), organised creative writing workshops with local workshop (for Grade 7′s), organised visit from Japanese college students (for Grade 7′s), organised stone carving workshop (for Grade 7′s), organised hip hop classes (for Grade 7′s), motivated drama and danse performance (Grade 7′s), motivated publication of Sandler Sales newsletter (BDG group) 

Step 2:  Rank them in order or group them somehow. 

I grouped, according to ‘what I did’ and ‘what I motivated others to do’.

For example:

Created: QA sales call checklist (for Sales Rep’s), ABC Excel dictionary (for English learners), Accelerated decoding method (for English learners with little English)

Organised: Creative writing workshops with local workshop (for Grade 7′s), Visit from Japanese college students (for Grade 7′s), Stone carving workshop (for Grade 7′s), hip hop classes (for Grade 7′s)

Motivated: drama and danse performance (Grade 7′s), publication of Sandler Sales newsletter (BDG group) 

Step 3:  Write a STAR statement your top 3-5 ‘feel good’ moments. 

Identify your top 3 ‘feel good’ moments.  If you are working on the computer, you might want to color code them – red: no.1, orange: no.2, green: no.3.

STAR stands for: situation or task, action, result. It’s easiest, if you break down systematically your STAR’s into 2 mini-sentences: 1- Situation, Action, 2- Result, 3- Revenue/real added value

To help you get started, here is the STAR structure: 

Sentence 1:  Situation & Action
Be as specific as possible.  List your job title, the company name and timeframe plus the action you executed.  Use the active voice (not passive), along with ‘I’ or ‘I, with the help of…’.
eg.  When I worked at X, in X year, …I…did this action
  
Sentence 2:  Result
List the outcome of the action you executed.
eg.  As a result, …  

For example:

When I worked as an Online Marketing Analyst (situation), I implemented a marketing campaign targeting new online users (action).  This increased sales by 25% over a 3 month period (result). 

Step 4:  Link each STAR with one of the strengths you want to highlight.

Step 5:  Practise sharing your STAR’s from memory, until they sound natural.

About the Author

Sandra is a qualified Canadian teacher who is orienting herself to coaching and recruitment. She is passionate about helping others market their strengths and excellences.