Sell Your Company Through Effective Story Telling

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What’s the quickest way to take center stage at a cocktail party?  Know a good story – and don’t hesitate to tell it.

What works after-hours works in the office, too.  To catch and keep the attention of top talent, hiring managers need to be able to tell a good story.

Think of interviewing as a formal “storytelling session.”  Top candidates will have prepared their own stories to demonstrate their best skills, sell themselves, and entertain the interviewer to create a good impression.  Hiring managers should meet these stories with stories of their own that portray the company’s best attributes and engage the candidate.  Engaging stories will sell themselves – and the company along with them.

Why Questions Aren’t the Answer
Interviews that stick to a question-and-answer format miss valuable opportunities to engage with top candidates.  Human connection and “flow” are sacrificed for format that goes in one ear and out the other.  How many question-and-answer interviews is a candidate likely to remember in a few weeks’ time – especially if he or she has several interviews in a short period?

Storytelling is the oldest form of human education, and for good reason.  Our brains are wired to retain information best when it is organized and structured into a coherent story.  Stories can help reinforce a message or create a new one in a way that stand-alone facts simply can’t.

How to Tell Your Company’s Story: A Quick-Start Guide
Every company’s stories are different, but every effective story shares similar elements.  When training hiring managers to spin the stories that attract top candidates, keep these elements in mind:

  • Tell the Truth.  Facts are always more compelling than fiction.  Your organization has a great story to tell; you just need to find it.
  • Add Personality.  Encourage hiring managers to tell their own stories.  How did they get involved with the company?  What made them decide they really belong here?  A story full of personal passion inspires candidates to join the organization that inspired the tale.
  • Use a Structure.  Stories don’t have to begin “Once upon a time,” but they should have a recognizable beginning, middle, and end.  Top candidates will use this structure to describe challenges (beginning), how they dealt with these challenges (middle), and what the results were (end); your hiring managers should do the same.

Need a “ghostwriter” to improve your storytelling power?  Contact ABA Search & Staffing.  Our experienced staffing partners can help you find the talent you need and tell a tale top talent prospects can’t resist.

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