CAB Stories
Last week I introduced you to the concept of CAB stories. Let’s now talk about developing your first CAB story. As the subject for your first CAB, think about a situation in your career where you had the biggest impact on your organization’s performance. For managers this could be a significant boost in revenues, serious cost cutting or big gains in productivity. Specialist professionals might be more comfortable with innovative solutions to problems, fast-track project response or significant quality improvements. In any case pick one situation for your first CAB. Now we are ready for the most important part of the CAB story.
The CONDITION
What was the opportunity, problem or challenge that you faced?
What had/had not happened which caused you to act?
How bad was it? (Quantify if possible)
What was the likely outcome if things continued as they were? (Bottom line effects)
How were you involved in the situation?
The whole idea behind a CAB story is to involve the person hearing or reading your story. This introduction should be brief but still contain enough “setting the scene” to let people know what you were facing. You want them nodding their heads saying, “Yes, we have a situation similar to that right now!”
The ACTION
What specific actions did you take?
List these actions in the time sequence or structural order, whichever gets the message across.
Use active verbs and personal pronouns to make these sentences come alive.
“I formed a team of specialists…”
“I instituted tighter controls…”
“I developed a new system…”
Usually three or four sentences like this are enough to convey what you did. This is your opportunity to highlight special skills, knowledge or insights that are important decision factors in your job search. Use jargon or acronyms if they are appropriate for all the people who will be reading or listening to your presentation. Use action verbs.
The BENEFIT
Now it’s time to quantify the results you produced in $$$ dollars, percentages, or other real numbers like man-hours, inventory turnover, rejection rate, etc. Exact numbers are better if you know them, but good “ballpark” estimates are OK. Include timeframe when the benefit was realized by the organization. Here’s your chance to stand out by showing an “enterprise orientation” – concentrate on how your actions made a difference in the overall performance of the company.
Review
Now it’s time to write that first CAB story. When completed read it over and determine if it meets the requirements for a good story. Is it concise? Is it believable? Does it highlight important skills, knowledge, and understanding? Does it deliver a measureable benefit to the organization?
The Rule Is
CAB stories must give credence to your talents, skills and abilities while fulfilling the needs and wants of the interviewer. CAB stories must be logical, provide impact and sound good.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Communicating Your Accomplishments
In my previous blogs I have discussed common career liabilities and shared with you an approach for responding to them called the ARQS (Acknowledge, Redirect, Qualify, Satisfy) technique. I have also mentioned on several occasions to Satisfy with an accomplished based story. Today, I would like to share with you a technique for telling these accomplished based stories. I call them CAB stories.
The CAB Story
An effective resume, telephone conversation or interview relies on the ability to communicate clearly and concisely. You have to understand the audience – their needs, style and interests – and respond in a way that showcases your abilities. We have found that the best way to get the point across and be remembered by decision makers is to use real world stories about your past accomplishments and tie them to current or anticipated needs.
CABs – Stories that Work!
Rambling, disconnected reminiscences won’t get the job done. You need a story format that will be easily understood and remembered. The best structure is the CAB story. CAB stands for Condition, Action, Benefit – the three keys to successful communication.
Imagine an interview. The person you are talking to says “One of our biggest problems is accurate budgeting in a rapidly changing environment.”
How do you respond?
CANDIDATE 1: “Well, I’ve worked on budgets for many years. My tasks have included preparing annual projections, reviewing budgets for accuracy and following-up on actual results against projections.”
CANDIDATE 2: “I understand how that can be a problem. Condition When I worked for XYZ Corporation as a Regional Manager, we had difficulty with our budgeting because the industry was changing rapidly and historical data wasn’t enough. Action I took responsibility for developing better projections. I formed and led a team to investigate indicators that could be tied to our product lines. We researched regional and national trends, interviewed front line managers and increased the use of our sales force in collecting information. I created a spreadsheet analysis package which combined our best data to project sales revenues for the upcoming period and used that to generate operating budgets. Benefit The following year, we were able to reach a 95% accuracy level for revenue projections and succeeded in controlling spending well within budget limits. This effort saved more than $125,000 in excess inventory costs and $73,000 in vendor discounts. Is that the kind of performance you’re looking for?
Telling an effective CAB story like CANDIDATE 2 is your chance to really score some points. Most job seekers are focused on the tasks they performed: wrote procedures, trained salespeople, scheduled production. Make yourself stand out by showing an “enterprise orientation” – concentrate on how your actions made a difference in the overall performance of the company. Even if you can’t establish a direct cause/effect relationship with your actions, if you contributed to a positive outcome say so.
The CAB Story
An effective resume, telephone conversation or interview relies on the ability to communicate clearly and concisely. You have to understand the audience – their needs, style and interests – and respond in a way that showcases your abilities. We have found that the best way to get the point across and be remembered by decision makers is to use real world stories about your past accomplishments and tie them to current or anticipated needs.
CABs – Stories that Work!
Rambling, disconnected reminiscences won’t get the job done. You need a story format that will be easily understood and remembered. The best structure is the CAB story. CAB stands for Condition, Action, Benefit – the three keys to successful communication.
Imagine an interview. The person you are talking to says “One of our biggest problems is accurate budgeting in a rapidly changing environment.”
How do you respond?
CANDIDATE 1: “Well, I’ve worked on budgets for many years. My tasks have included preparing annual projections, reviewing budgets for accuracy and following-up on actual results against projections.”
CANDIDATE 2: “I understand how that can be a problem. Condition When I worked for XYZ Corporation as a Regional Manager, we had difficulty with our budgeting because the industry was changing rapidly and historical data wasn’t enough. Action I took responsibility for developing better projections. I formed and led a team to investigate indicators that could be tied to our product lines. We researched regional and national trends, interviewed front line managers and increased the use of our sales force in collecting information. I created a spreadsheet analysis package which combined our best data to project sales revenues for the upcoming period and used that to generate operating budgets. Benefit The following year, we were able to reach a 95% accuracy level for revenue projections and succeeded in controlling spending well within budget limits. This effort saved more than $125,000 in excess inventory costs and $73,000 in vendor discounts. Is that the kind of performance you’re looking for?
Telling an effective CAB story like CANDIDATE 2 is your chance to really score some points. Most job seekers are focused on the tasks they performed: wrote procedures, trained salespeople, scheduled production. Make yourself stand out by showing an “enterprise orientation” – concentrate on how your actions made a difference in the overall performance of the company. Even if you can’t establish a direct cause/effect relationship with your actions, if you contributed to a positive outcome say so.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Career Liabilities - Frequent job changes
Background
Unless you are in a career with extremely high demand or which has a tradition of movement, frequent job changes (two years or less at each of your past employers) can be a serious liability. If your level of responsibility has jumped significantly at each change, you may be able to characterize yourself as an aggressive, fast-track kind of person who will settle down for the right opportunity. If you can justify your moves by showing the progress in each situation, you can defuse many of the problems. Most hiring managers can understand the need to accept “an offer too good to turn down” because of substantial increases in pay, responsibilities or opportunity. A string of bad luck with mergers or closings is also acceptable, particularly in an industry which is contracting because of economic conditions or overseas competition.
Redirect
The biggest difficulty for a “job-hopper” is convincing a prospective employer that you will be around long enough to justify their investment in your training and break-in period. Most companies appreciate stability and the ability to complete long-term projects. Some interviewers may be worried that your moves are timed to avoid the consequences of poor performance or serious errors.
Qualifying
The best way to qualify a history of job changes is to present the advantages gained from each shift in terms that the company can understand. Accomplishment based stories illustrating your contributions can help, and good references from each of the past employers might show that there were “no hard feelings” because you left the company in a professional manner.
Additional Concerns
If your problems in repeated job changes are of a serious nature, now is the time to settle down to a more permanent position. You should take a look at the characteristics which create your need to make frequent changes and exercise extreme caution in selecting your next position. Establish that the company’s position is likely to be stable over the long term, with enough growth and the right culture to meet your needs for recognition and advancement.
Unless you are in a career with extremely high demand or which has a tradition of movement, frequent job changes (two years or less at each of your past employers) can be a serious liability. If your level of responsibility has jumped significantly at each change, you may be able to characterize yourself as an aggressive, fast-track kind of person who will settle down for the right opportunity. If you can justify your moves by showing the progress in each situation, you can defuse many of the problems. Most hiring managers can understand the need to accept “an offer too good to turn down” because of substantial increases in pay, responsibilities or opportunity. A string of bad luck with mergers or closings is also acceptable, particularly in an industry which is contracting because of economic conditions or overseas competition.
Redirect
The biggest difficulty for a “job-hopper” is convincing a prospective employer that you will be around long enough to justify their investment in your training and break-in period. Most companies appreciate stability and the ability to complete long-term projects. Some interviewers may be worried that your moves are timed to avoid the consequences of poor performance or serious errors.
Qualifying
The best way to qualify a history of job changes is to present the advantages gained from each shift in terms that the company can understand. Accomplishment based stories illustrating your contributions can help, and good references from each of the past employers might show that there were “no hard feelings” because you left the company in a professional manner.
Additional Concerns
If your problems in repeated job changes are of a serious nature, now is the time to settle down to a more permanent position. You should take a look at the characteristics which create your need to make frequent changes and exercise extreme caution in selecting your next position. Establish that the company’s position is likely to be stable over the long term, with enough growth and the right culture to meet your needs for recognition and advancement.
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