Tell Your Work Story Well, Land Your Dream Job. Storytelling for Job Seekers
Debbi Gardiner (DG) McCullough
F100 Comms Coach. Ex Economist Reporter
Turn your vague wins into clear, specific, well-told stories that stand out
“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?
I find 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.
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 you’ll learn
Claim your victories. Back them up. Gain the job/promo you deserve via thoughtful frameworks I've co-created with Fortune 100 leaders.
Tell us what you do, for whom, why, where, and how. Also: How the world changes a little, because of it.
Discover brevity techniques and swap-outs for popular jargon. Add data, including total numbers of clients or customers.
Learn different frameworks, including the staccatto, the minimalist, and the storyteller.
Expand on the one-liner in more detail.
Add context, failures, conditions you prevailed over, and the deeper, true impact of your work. Bring in more compelling, showcasing data.
Add your origin story. If you came from a small village with one stop light, tell us; connect those roots to what happens today.
Apply the storytelling to your full resume, Website, or appraisal.
Learn more tactics and techniques to expand and tell your work story in ways where your audience gets it.
Weave in values, what you care about, and learn more storytelling tools to show vs. tell what results from your efforts and approach.
Coach, discuss, and train. To share our successes and failures well, we must address what's getting in the way.
Become more self aware of your self confidence, values, and how they relate to your work. Gain more self pride of your work and heritage.
Learn directly from Debbi
Debbi Gardiner (DG) McCullough
I've coached 9k sessions with 1k+ leaders & written for the FT and Economist
Who this course is for
Humble leaders and job or promotion seekers wanting to convey the true value of your work, without feeling awkward.
STEM leaders wanting to describe your work beyond work flow, to include the human impact, and bring the main points up top.
Rational-thinking leaders wanting to replace vague, jargon-y descriptions of your legacy work with specificity, but struggle with how.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Debbi Gardiner (DG) McCullough in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals. Gain me as an on-call coach for life.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
AMA
Ask me anything you want about bolstering and sharing the story about your work and life that you hope and need to tell.
Coaching and editing
Gain coaching on your blockers getting in your way of self-promotion. Gain edits & training to write with confidence, brevity, and clarity.
Maven Guarantee
This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.
Course syllabus
Week 1
Jan
15
Session #1. Tell Your Work Story Well, Land Your Dream Job. Storytelling for Job Seekers. The One-Liner.
Jan
15
Ask Me Anything. (Optional)
Week 2
Jan
22
Session #2. Tell Your Work Story Well, Land Your Dream Job. Storytelling for Job Seekers. The Bio.
Jan
22
Ask Me Anything. (Optional.)
Free resource
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Specifics are in vogue. Let's add some to your work story
Gain more notoriety and recognition. Improve your brand
Replace vague, ambiguous descriptions of your work with intriguing specifics which help us get it—and celebrate it
Employ 5 journalism tactics to add specificity to your work
Learn crisp ways to apply data, details, and context from a former reporter at the Economist, FT of London, & Guardian.
Coach to our blockers. Discuss how vagueness helps & hinders
Vagueness disconnects. Specifics connect. Get more comfy adding colorful gems, meaningful facts, and depth. Worry less.
Schedule
Live sessions
1-2 hrs / week
1.5 hour live sessions. Once weekly over three weeks.
Thu, Jan 15
5:00 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)
Thu, Jan 15
7:00 PM—8:00 PM (UTC)
Thu, Jan 22
5:00 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)
Testimonials
- Working with Debbi has been life-changing; she helped me understand and communicate my professional value authentically. Debbi's coaching bridged the gap between my cultural values of humility and the need for confident self-promotion, showing me how to be true to myself while effectively communicating my work.
Stephen Lancaster
Vocal artist, baritone, Professor of the Practice at University of Notre Dame - Debbi is one of the best coaches that I have worked with. She has been my coach for the last 2.5 years, and I have learned so much from her. She is caring, wise, and extremely good at listening. I highly recommend her to aspiring leaders and professionals trying to be better communicators.
Ali Khodai
VP of AI Product - SandboxAQ - "I trust Coach Debbi with my communication goals and even with my story and positioning at work. She listens well, has empathy, and probes to help me articulate my wins clearly and with substance. She helps me realize and confidently express: I've driven meaningful outcomes and created real value."
Laura E. Jackson
Assistant Manager, Learning and Development - Coach Debbi has helped me make my course content and any other descriptions of my work--even products I'm building--clearer and more impactful, helping me build my business along the way. She helps me remember all the amazing feedback from Sales Rocket Fuel sellers & alumni and weaves them all together to sound memorable and colorful.
Chris Bogdan
CEO and Founder, Sales Rocket Fuel