Oct 24 (edited) • General discussion
Qualified Isn’t Enough: How to Tell Your Story and Build a Career Brand That Opens Doors
You can check every box on a job description and still get passed over.
You can carry 20 years of results on your back and still feel invisible.
You can be highly competent and still unknown.
I see it all the time: brilliant, capable professionals who have no idea how to tell their story.
And in today’s hiring climate, especially at the mid-to-senior level, that’s a deal breaker.
Being good at your job isn’t enough anymore.
There’s a quiet grief many professionals carry; the feeling of being overlooked despite doing everything “right.”
You deliver.
You lead.
You make things happen. And yet... someone less experienced gets the role, the raise, or the recognition.
It’s not that you're not qualified. It’s that your value isn’t clear, to them or to you.
That’s why storytelling isn’t just a “nice-to-have” skill anymore. It’s a strategic career asset.
Gina Riley, author of Qualified Isn’t Enough, says it plainly: people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. (Great book, btw. If you want to dive deeper into this I highly recomend reading her book)
Riley shows that your career story should not be just a list of duties and achievements. It should express your values and beliefs, your why. And your career experiences are the proof of those values in action.
Your actions, the way you lead, communicate, and create impact, reveal what you stand for. That’s what people remember. That’s what builds trust.
Storytelling is how you become memorable.
When Riley asked executive recruiters what made a candidate stand out, they didn’t say technical skills or credentials. They said presence, clarity, and self-awareness. The ability to bring their story to life in a way that feels real and relevant.
She calls out the “Tell me about yourself” moment as a critical turning point.
The strongest candidates don’t list roles or responsibilities. They hook people with their journey. They show who they are through the patterns they’ve lived.
Because our brains don’t retain bullet points. They retain stories.
And if you don’t know how to tell yours, others will make one up for you.
The 4-Step Process to Craft Your Career Story
(Inspired by Gina Riley's Career Throughline Method in “Qualified Isn’t Enough”)
This isn’t about writing the perfect pitch. It’s about understanding the thread that runs through your career so you can show up with clarity, confidence, and alignment, whether you’re job-hunting or advocating for growth in your current role.
Step 1: Gather the raw material
Start by collecting everything that reflects your journey. Résumés. Past reviews. Key accomplishments. Leadership wins. Feedback that stuck with you. Think across your whole career, especially those pivot moments where things shifted.
Riley invites us to go even further. Ask yourself:
- How did your upbringing shape your career choices?
- What prompted your transitions, burnout, boredom, or belief in something better?
- Were you recruited, promoted, or passed over? Why?
- When were you most energized or most depleted?
The patterns are there. You just have to go looking.
Step 2: Reflect and write out your story
This part takes time. And that’s the point.
Walk back through your career, starting from your early roles to your current work. For each phase, explore:
- What did I learn here?
- What was I proud of?
- What did this teach me about how I lead, grow, or create impact?
Write it out in long form, not for perfection but for clarity. This is your chance to stop doing your career and start understanding it.
Step 3: Identify your throughline
Once you’ve written your story, zoom out.
What themes come up again and again?
- Do you thrive in the midst of chaos?
- Do you build high-performing teams from scratch?
- Do you restore broken systems and lead cultural change?
Gina Riley calls this your “career throughline.” It’s the thread that ties your story together and signals to others who you really are, beyond titles, tools, or technical expertise.
This is what makes your brand portable. Whether you're networking, interviewing, or leading inside your company, your throughline is your compass.
Step 4: Craft the narrative and practice it out loud
This isn’t your LinkedIn headline or your 90-second elevator pitch.
It’s the story that anchors your professional identity, the one you adapt for:
- “Tell me about yourself” moments
- Performance reviews
- Internal promotions
- Informational conversations
Gina Riley, in Qualified Isn’t Enough, introduces a framework called the Three-Thirds Exercise to help structure this narrative. It’s a simple way to turn reflection into a story that flows and connects.
Here’s how to create it:
- Open a blank spreadsheet or notebook page.
- Across the top row, add these column headers:
- Midcareer Phase 1 often reflects your rise, the years when you were mastering execution, proving competence, and stepping into greater responsibility.
- Midcareer Phase 2 often reflects a pivot in how you lead and contribute, when experience deepens into perspective. It’s where purpose, values, and leadership philosophy begin to take shape.
For many people, this second phase includes a major inflection point: a promotion, a layoff, a new industry, a move into leadership, or a redefinition of what “success” even means.
By separating these two midcareer chapters, you begin to see not just what you’ve done, but how you’ve evolved — and that evolution is the heart of your story.
- Recent Career
- Down the left column, label three rows:
You’ll end up with a simple grid.
Now fill it in one phase at a time:
- In the Early Career row, jot down where you started and what shaped you.
- In the Midcareer row, add how your leadership or expertise evolved.
- In the Recent Career row, highlight your current scope, results, and the value you create today.
When you’re done, look across the columns. You’ll start to see the thread that connects your choices, the “throughline” of your career story.
Then, use your spreadsheet to draft a short narrative:
- Spend about 30 seconds on your early career.
- A few minutes on your two midcareer phases.
- Then a few minutes on your recent and most relevant work.
- Lastly, write out the themes of your career and wrap your story with a clear “why” — why you do this work, why it matters, and why you’re ready for what’s next.
Your story isn’t just for interviews.
A lot of professionals only think about their story when they’re job searching. That’s a mistake.
Your story is just as powerful inside your current company as it is in the external market.
When you know your throughline, you:
- Position yourself for stretch roles and strategic projects
- Make it easier for your manager to advocate for your promotion
- Communicate your value with consistency and confidence
- Navigate transitions, layoffs, or pivots without starting from scratch
Most missed opportunities inside organizations aren’t about politics. They’re about positioning.
Your story helps others see the whole arc of what you bring, not just what you’ve done.
You don’t need to be the loudest. Just the clearest.
This isn’t about marketing jargon or manufactured spin. It’s about alignment.
When your story is clear, everything else falls into place:
- Your résumé becomes easier to write
- Your LinkedIn becomes easier to update
- Your conversations become more compelling
- Your decisions become more values-aligned
Clarity creates momentum.
So if you’ve been feeling stuck or like you’ve outgrown the way others see you, take the time to write your story.
It may be the most strategic move you make this year.
Want to explore your own story and brand?
Start by answering this:
What’s the throughline that ties your career together? What kind of leader are you becoming?
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Qualified Isn’t Enough: How to Tell Your Story and Build a Career Brand That Opens Doors
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