The Story of You

In my "former life," whether it was when I worked at a law firm or the court system or the county, I interviewed and hired people - and now and again set them free. As a realtor, I'm presently a one-person operation, with whatever help I can get from others when I need it. No one hired, no one "freed." In discussing what a great hire would look like for my business, I've been introduced to a "career visioning" tool - part of what Keller Williams recommends for building a solid team.

The material designed to guide an employer to visualize the best candidate and the interview questions are insightful. The questions are structured to force the employer to picture what behavior style, skills, experience and attitudes it'll take to make success happen in the position. And the interview questions - some are the routine stuff you'd expect (what are your strengths and give me an example of what that looks like in the workplace, and do the same with your weaknesses). And discovery questions get more challenging. I wish I'd had this back in the "olden days." I'm glad to have it now.

After the interviews and the reference checks, there's a process to get to the real you. The script (real estate professionals are REALLY BIG on scripts) is particularly powerful. It's written to guide the interviewer to pull out the candidate's life story. You may not be interviewing anybody, or you may not be about to be interviewed. But simply getting to your story may be good for your mental health. So ....

If you need a little gentle prodding to think about who you are and tell the story of who you are (without letting your mascara ruin your make-up in an interview), privately ask yourself questions like these and write down your answers. This is for your eyes only unless or until you want to share - if ever. Here are your five categories: Date, Event, Highs/Lows, What You Learned, and - if this applies - What You Earned. Here goes:

• When did you finish your formal education? (that's the first date)
• What happened (that's the first event)
• What were your "highs"? And what were your "lows"? (that's the first entry under the high/low column)
• What did you learn? (you get the drift - that goes under the "what you learned" column)
• If you were working, what did you earn? (that's the fifth column)
• Anything to add?

Then go to the next major event - you get to define "major" - and keep going. Run through all the columns. Then go to the next major event and work through all the columns. And so on and so on. Don't rush. Give yourself whatever time you need - this is just for you. When you get to the present, stop - and look at the story of you.

If you're honest (and why wouldn't you be), what's important to you - who you are - should come out loud and clear. Does your story surprise you? Do you wish you'd gone through an exercise like this with someone before you partnered up with them?