How to Write Compelling Pride Stories Competency based interviews are an increasingly popular choice for many employers and recruiters as they are an effective way to assess your skills and experience during the candidate selection process. During your search for a job it is vital to be confident in your abilities and accomplishments from your past experiences, and you need to learn how to present these in a way that enables you to sound interesting, informed and suitable for the position. An employer will not be able to figure out whether you have the right experience for the job, whether or not you have been in the types of situations that relate to the job that you have applied for. It is your responsibility to research what these things are and how you should present them. Being interviewed for a job is basically a sales process and you need to take full ownership and sell yourself sufficiently in order to make them believe you are the best fit for the opening. Do you know how to present your pride stories, your experiences and accomplishments that have enabled you to grow and develop as an individual, through telling compelling stories on your CV, through your covering letter, via networking opportunities and most importantly when being interviewed? The key to creating a good pride story is to focus on:
Problem – What problem or challenge were you faced with? Action – What action(s) did you take? Results – What resulted from your action(s)? What benefits did the employer see afterward?
Here’s an example: Problem: You assumed the leadership position in a class group project at university; the project was experiencing a lack of direction and slow development and in danger of missing its deadline. Action: You created new sub groups and delegated specific tasks to key individuals based on their skills and experience. Results: The team’s motivation and enthusiasm for the project grew as people better understood their roles, and the project was delivered on time.
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Now, turn this into a pride story to use on your CV, covering letter etc. Pride Story: Improved team motivation and grew enthusiasm, which lead to the successful and on time delivery of the project. This was achieved through creating sub groups and taking into consideration the skills and experience of individual team members. What have you done that you can use as a pride story? If you’ve had any work experience perhaps you saved your company money; implemented new processes and saved time; or increased brand awareness? Another way to discover your pride stories is through assessing any previous experience you have that relates to a competence, not necessarily to work experience, and working out what the result was. A good place to start is by using a STAR template and listing the: Situation Think of a time and place where you have used the particular competency and write it down in the Situation box on the template; use a trigger word to aid memory recall. Task What task or problem were you confronted with? Write a word or two in the Task box that allows you to keep telling the story. Action What action did you as an individual take? Write a word or two in the Action box that helps you recall the action you took. Result What was the result of your actions? This is the key part of the story as it highlights to employers the type of benefits you can bring to their business. Try and consider what commercial benefit was brought about by this story: About the author: Wayne Boardman is Founder & Managing Director of Journey To Work. Through individual career coaching and powerful skills training workshops, he helps jobseekers reach their potential and secure themselves suitable and rewarding employment. Got any specific questions? Email the author at wayne@journeytowork.net
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