7 Essential Storytelling Tips For Every Graduate Job Seeker

Looking for a job as a graduate and writing a story might not strike you as the same thing.

Still, let’s think about it. When you’re writing your resume or your CV, you’re looking to inspire, persuade, educate and bring a new light and frame of mind to your reader. Isn’t that exactly what you do when telling a standard tale?

Today, we’ll explore seven vital tips that you need to know, taking from the expertise of story-telling that can help you to secure those all-important job interviews.

Consider the length

Imagine you were reading a story that started two years ago and leads up to modern day when all the exciting action happened. The story would be far too long, and you’d probably lose your reader long before the end. Similarly, it’s important you monitor how long your resume is.

The same can be said for your resume. At the end of the day, a potential employer only wants to know about your experience, your work history and the education that got you to where you are today.

Keep your intros short and sweet and go into detail in the sections that matter. As a rule of thumb, try to keep your intros less than 200 words. You can track this easily using free tools like Easy Word Count.

Define your audience

When writing a story, it’s important that you know exactly who your audience is. “This is so you can choose the right kind of style, the right format and the right level of language so your readers will understand, engage and, therefore, will actually enjoy reading your story” – says Linda Gonzalez, a Career writer at HuffingtonPost.

It’s the same for job seekers. If you’re looking to secure a marketing position, you need to choose the right language that your potential recruiter can relate to and understand.

Analysis and revise

The Harry Potter series wasn’t written in one sitting. It would have taken countless read-throughs, edits and alterations to perfect it into what it is today. You need to practice this process and apply it to your resume.

Once you’ve finished your resume’s first draft, go through it again and again. Ensure all the sentences make sense and you’re communicating the message that you want.

Alternatively, you can use a professional service who can edit your resume on your behalf.

Communicate clearly

Book clubs exist because so many people can have different interpretations of a story. The speaker, the dialogue and the characters can all be understood in different ways, depending on who’s reading it.

However, a successful author will give their perspective so the story can progress in an understanding way. This is exactly what you need to do in your resume. For example, you’ll want to say something along the lines of I understand what your company is looking for, I know you work to strict deadlines, and you work with client budgets.

Seize every opportunity

Resumes are the first kind of communication you may have with a company, and it will be your first impression. This means you need to take every opportunity you can to prove yourself, much like a character would in a story.

This also relates to things outside of resume, such as your LinkedIn profile and during your interview once you secure it. You can use online services to write professional-sounding LinkedIn biographies that give you an edge.

Remain professional

It’s easy to get carried away with your writing in a very casual tone, especially if it’s what you’re used to. It’s important, in terms of language and sentence structure that you remain as professional as possible.

Even aspects of your resume such as your testimonials and references need to be professional.

Perfect your work

Once you’ve completed your resume, much like you would a story or a novel, it’s time to tweak and adjust your work till it’s perfect for sending. You wouldn’t read a book that’s riddled with mistakes and errors so why would your resume be any different? You want to keep an eye open for spelling, grammar, punctuation, typos, poor sentence structure and formatting.

Conclusion

There’s a lot more that goes into making the ideal resume that people think. If you can master these techniques in your writing, not only will you give yourself a better chance at securing that all-important interview, you’ll also be one step ahead of your competition.

Inspiring Interns is an internship and graduate recruitment agency. To browse graduate jobs, click here. For senior digital and mobile jobs, please see Inspiring Search.