Tell Your Work Story Well. Land Your Dream Job. Storytelling for Jobseekers
“It’s not bragging if you can back it up.” So said Muhammad Ali — the late boxer, social activist, and cultural icon known as The Greatest. So true. And yet, many of us resist telling a compelling story when we interview for our dream job, update clients and leaders, write our self-appraisals, even introduce ourselves. We stay vague and general. We bury or omit crown achievements and main points. Or we think in work-flow vs. colorful sentences conveying the human impact. Sound familiar? Even the best and the brightest struggle to tell a compelling story about their work, self promote, or expand on victories in interesting ways. Part of it's our training as engineers, scientists, financiers, and technologists where we learned minimal explanations suffice. Barriers can also run deep, especially when we emerge from cultures discouraging prideful sharing of success. Together, in this workshop, we reveal those gems and quieten any barriers obstructing us. And we write your work story like it's never been written before. We’ll write together your one-liner, bio, and other work descriptions to sound clear, compelling, specific and non-pompous. They'll be grounded in facts with context, color, and woven together with narrative thread in ways AI cannot.
What's included
I deliver a lesson, coach with you throughout, and offer asynchronous edits of what we co-write. You gain feedback, kindly delivered, if you wish, on your oral and written delivery of your work story as you have it. You gain access to podcasts and interviews with other experts I've interviewed and frameworks you can apply to any descriptions of your work.
- Write a snappy one-liner you will love and want to use right away that distills decades or years of work into a gem that sits on the head of a pin.
- Write a concise About section you can repurpose for your LinkedIn, summary of your resume, and absorb as your answer to: Tell me About Yourself.
- Find the intriguing gems from your origin story, your firsts, and biggest achievements.
- Write excellent stories of your biggest work achievements, the gems in your crown. Practice delivering them.
- Learn your blockers to self-promotion or sharing your work story, which often emerge from our youth and then the work culture where we stay the longest.
Meet your expert
Debbi M.
Executive Communications Coach | 10,000 Sessions with F 100/500 Clients
I'm a former Economist-trained reporter and a former MBA lecturer of business communications who trained to become a communications coach. I'm also an ICF Master Certified Coach, a distinction held by the top 4% of coaches globally. My background combines 18 years in top-tier academia with decades of international journalism. I see big, exciting results in those I coach. Within five to ten sessions: -95% of my clients become confident, carefree communicators in front of a journalist, recruiter, a top client or the board. -99% become briefer and clearer, on paper and aloud. -70% become noticeably better storytellers. And even in this climate... -60% win a promotion or a lateral move that fuels their ambition, or get into the MBA school of their dreams. Most of my clients are non-native leaders at large U.S. companies who learned they need more “gravitas” or “executive presence,” especially with high-stakes audiences and for upcoming keynote presentations. They want to emulate the confident, direct style American companies invite and reward, without losing themselves. Together we define their own gravitas and re-find any lost confidence. Coaching with me, you'll: -receive live feedback (kindly delivered) on precisely how you communicate, what to change, and what to keep. -narrow your problem: a general fear of public speaking often becomes fear of specific moments, such as an executive’s question you can’t yet answer. -feel deeply listened to by someone who builds trust and does not judge. -understand your blockers and feel un-rushed to fix until we narrow the problem, or find the truer one behind it. Communication problems can run deep. I’m a New Zealander who lived in Asia as a child, worked in Japan and Singapore as a younger woman, and came to the U.S. alone in my mid-20s. I’m now in my 30th year here, based in the Midwest on Chicago time. I have reinvented my life and career often, going back to school at age 50 to train as a coach after 18 years in academia alongside journalism. Clients find that interesting and empowering. They also value a mix of skills AI cannot yet replicate: journalism, an ability to prepare them for media interviews, deep listening and curiosity, creativity, and years teaching business communication and journalism at top schools, including UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and Chatham University. I've interviewed some really fascinating people as a reporter for top-tier British publications including the Economist, the FT of London, and the Guardian (and in the U.S. NPR, Wired News, and Engineering News-Record). I've interviewed the c-suite at JPMorgan, the Property Brothers, met and written about the Dalai Lama's visit to Thunderbird University. For my own podcast show, the Sage Sayers, I've interviewed top MCC coach Marcia Reynolds and Ikigai's Hector Garcia. I bring these same ad hoc communication and media skills to my clients. If you’re ready to improve your communications, and to do the inner work that builds lasting gravitas, book a free intro call with me. I’d love to learn about your hopes and dreams, and how effective communications ties to that future.
