Entrepreneurial & Wealth Mastery
Elephants
A Story about two by Teri Hockett
What is your story? We all have stories to tell about our history, ranging from ones that we are proud to shout from the rooftops to other stories that we keep buried, hoping and praying they never come out. It is the stories in the second category that do the most damage to our confidence.
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ost stories fall somewhere between the two extremes, however, they still have power over how we show up in the world. For example, we tend to let our story tell us (instead of us telling our story) when it comes to re-entering the job market after an extended leave from the paid workforce. To demonstrate the power of telling a story or not, and reframing a story, let’s explore two scenarios for the story Ann has around the gap in her paid employment. Ann left the workforce for 12 years to raise her family after a successful ten-year career as a Project Manager for a large software company. When she was ready to return to work, she spent a year preparing by taking classes, researching, and getting recertified in project management. She then devoted an appropriate amount of time in preparation: IAE { 32
• Perfecting her resume • Creating a target list of companies for whom she’d like to work • Determining the key hiring managers to network with • Researching any problems and issues facing her ideal companies and identifying how she can have a positive impact on those problems/ issues. It appears that Ann has taken the time and effort to set herself up for success, and she starts landing interviews for her ideal job. Scenario One – Do Not Address the Elephant in the Room Ann decides to let her resume, current efforts coming up to speed, and getting re-certified become the focus of the interview. Ann follows the What’s For Work Interview methodology and is successful at interviewing the company about their success, issues, and how she can help them.
However, Ann chooses not to talk about the time she spent outside the workforce. This results in her being distracted by the thought of “Please don’t ask about the gap on my resume” throughout the interview. So the elephant sits there in the room and seems to get bigger with every passing moment. The interview seems to be going very well, the hiring manager is very engaged in the conversation and is thinking that Ann appears to be a really good fit for the company. However, from the hiring manager’s perspective there are several thoughts that are distracting. The hiring manager’s internal dialogue goes something like this: “I am impressed. Ann seems to be very prepared, knows a lot about our company and comes across with confidence that she could really be a valuable employee right now. BUT what about the gap in her work history? Can I ask her about it? Does it cross the line? Is it 12 years? March 2015