Feeling confident about job prospects because of your extensive work experience? According to researchers at Ohio State University, previous work experience may be a downside if you don’t also possess the adaptability needed to fit into a new workplace. If you are well into your career or have spent years with one organization, it would be advisable to consider addressing these new findings.

“Organizations pay a premium for workers with job experience that will allow them to just step in and start contributing immediately,” said Steffanie Wilk, co-author of the study from Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. “But what employers don’t realize is that some of what their employees learned in previous jobs will end up being a negative.”

“Employees need to realize that not everything they learned in previous jobs is going to help them in a new job,” Wilk said. “They need to be sensitive to the context of their new organization and be willing and able to adapt to their new surroundings, even if that means unlearning techniques or ways of doing things they have developed in prior jobs.”

“Managers tend to assume that employees with previous experience don’t need as much guidance and hand-holding as inexperienced workers,” Wilk says. “But experienced workers may actually need more help, because they have to shake off the ineffective habits from old jobs and learn how to best serve their new employer.”

The research also indicates that individual differences in workers’ personality traits–particularly adaptability–may be key in determining how successful they will be in a new job.

Another factor in how well employees do at their new jobs has to do with cultural fit: does their new company have a culture consistent with what workers knew from previous jobs?  If so, they will probably have a more positive experience, according to Wilk.

Wilk conducted the study with Gina Dokko of the Stern School of Business at New York University and Nancy Rothbard from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Published in:
“Unpacking Prior Experience: How Career History Affects Job Performance”
Gina Dokko, Steffanie L. Wilk, Nancy P. Rothbard
Organization Science Vol. 20, No. 1, January-February 2009, pp. 51-68

Press release available at Ohio State University.

These thoughts are on my mind because we’re beginning a new month in a new year. I’m also thinking about my goals and living my values because of the FutureStory 2008 project. Participants have been sharing their New Year’s resolution “word” and we’ve been discussing the challenges associated with “living in the moment” in a world that bombards us with information, responsibilities, and demands faster than we can blink. Sometimes, the challenge is simply “how to choose” when we have so many options. And too often we “choose” one more thing to do, commit to, engage in–when what we really need is time to think, reflect, and plan.

For many of us, our work–our career–consumes most of our time and energy. When we’re just beginning, we gladly focus on the job. As time passes and we become seasoned and competent in our field, we can relax our focus and spend more time enjoying other aspects of our lives. At least, that’s what many of us hope.

“The experts” say that we will experience between three and five major career changes in our lifetime. Some suggest between three and eleven! The point is, just when we think we’ve “got it,” and can ease up on the intensity of our work focus, it’s time to change lanes. If you’re in mid-life and experiencing either a self-initiated or an imposed career change, it can feel as if the world is crumbling around you!

“Living in the moment” can’t protect you from the upheaval of career change. But it can help you recognize and enjoy the things that bring you pleasure and contentment. The ability to filter the incessant white noise of today’s world and to appreciate the beauty of “now” may ironically be a catalyst for your career change. Whatever your career path, our lives are made of a stream “moments” and recognizing and pursuing the most rewarding way to “live in them” is, in my experience, far more satisfying that “living for the future.”

If you are anticipating or are in the midst of mid-life career change and are willing to share your story, please contact me. I am developing a profile of survival tips and techniques and would love to hear about your experience.

Career Kick Start for Recent or Soon-to-be Graduates Program
December 18, 2007 (Vancouver, BC)
In a five week one-on-one training program, story and communication facilitator Shelley Hourston guides recent or soon-to-be graduates through a process that highlights their strengths and expertise, significantly increasing their confidence. Participants develop a ‘portfolio’ or collection of stories demonstrating their experience and skills. They can then use these stories to communicate their strengths to potential employers. In the words of one participant: “Today’s interview was such a testament to our sessions! I used story examples to answer a lot of the questions and did not have any problems with the ‘big’ questions as I usually do.” Gift certificates for Career Kick Start for Recent Graduates are now available. [more]

Christian Buckley agrees. He says:
Both hiring manager and job candidate have a story to tell. The interview is just as much about the hiring manager telling a compelling story about why the candidate should want to come to work for that company, as it is about the candidate wanting to tell a compelling story about why she should be hired. People need to do more than answer simple questions, and provide basic responses–they need to provide a narrative around their experience. They need to engage the listener, express some passion, and make it a memorable experience. Whether interviewing for a job, talking to potential investors about your company or idea, or conducting a project meeting within your company–make sure your story is compelling, and people will pay attention.

[From "Mangosteens, Adhocracy and a Working Life: An Interview with Christian Buckley" by Aneeta Sundararaj on May 3, 2006. For the full interview, visit her website, How to Tell a Great Story]

Buckley was responding to a question from Sundararaj about what he meant when he wrote: “inteviewing is storytelling” on his blog called Life is Work (which unfortunately seems to be defunct) Read more from Buckley at buckleyPLANET: Musings on collaboration technology, marketing, and the evolving world of management).

Roger Carl Schank’s work originally focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and how computers could be programmed based on what we know about how human beings learn. Since then, he has shifted his focus from AI to human intelligence.

In the following quote from pages 84-85 of his book Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1995), Shank says:

It is all well and good to say that understanding means telling good stories and to say that we respond to stories with stories, but this leaves out a key question: How do we find the stories that we wish to tell? And from this question there follows another question: How does one know that one has a story to tell? The answer to both these questions is one word: indexing. [Music to a librarian's ears!]

No matter how the story of Artificial Intelligence is told, no matter whose point of view is adopted about how the mind works or how a computer mind might work, the problem always reduces to search. A mind must be able to find what it needs to find, and it must know that it has found it. To tell a story, you must have labeled it properly, stored it away with a name that will allow it to be found, possibly many years later, when some process calls its name. If there is no way to find a story, it might as well not exist. If it cannot be found by reference to its content rather than by reference to a number or unrevealing name, for example, then it might as well not be there.

How often do you think of a story about an experience in your past in
response to a conversation or event today? Sometimes we remember things that we haven’t thought of for years. Shank’s comments highlight the importance of preparing in advance the stories that illustrate our strengths and expertise. Walking into a job interview or meeting with a potential client HOPING that you’ll hear something that will spark a memory of a perfect story is VERY optimistic … and probably not very effective. If your goal is to convey your best self, don’t rely on your indexing system! Stress has a way of wreaking havoc on human indexing systems.

So what’s the answer? Have a collection of your stories ready to draw upon! Spend time identifying your strengths, attributes, and expertise
well before you ever meet someone who might be interested. This is an exercise that will take more than an hour at a cafe. Ask your colleagues and friends for their opinions–as difficult as that might be. It’s human nature to play down our strengths and knowledge.

Once you have a list of strengths and expertise, develop a portfolio
(written to start, but you’ll need to be able to recall them at will) of
stories–experiences that illustrate your skills in action–not a
shopping list of events. These should be interesting stories that
communicate your emotion and enthusiasm as well as your strengths. They need not be long and might be only a few sentences long. My favourites are the stories that can be used to convey a range of different strenghts or positives. In fact, I’ve been told that my use of a particular story more than once in a job interview indicated an ability to perceive different aspects of a situation [yes, I got the job].

When you’re preparing for an interview or meeting, knowing as much as possible about what the interviewer or client wants is key to being
prepared with your best stories.

Good luck! Let me know how it goes.

Don’t wait for the inteview to describe your motivation for changing positions. Instead of the typical bland job title and a date, Ryan suggests including an additional bullet point that describes a [positive] reason for leaving jobs you’ve listed. When you list projects or accomplishments, explain why they were important to your employer. Make connections between events and activities in your story to desirable attributes from the potential employer’s perspective. Ryan offers the example of linking your experience of playing semipro ball to cooperation and team experience in the workplace.

“You’ve got to paint a picture by putting a lot of yourself in your resume–not just your degrees and titles…”

• story establishes your identify and reveals your personality
• story makes you memorable
• stories establish trust
• stories illustrate skills, accomplishments, values, characteristics, qualifications, expertise
• stories paint vivid pictures

Tell Me about Yourself is based on Hansen’s doctoral dissertation research. She has written several other books on career development and writes for Quintessential Careers, a website with a wealth of career development information, and she has a blog called A Storied Career.