It’s Josh again!

Welcome to Day 2 of Job Search Breakthrough: 5 Steps to Landing Your Next Role Fast.

A few months back, I was up late playing D&D with some friends. Yeah, I play D&D… I love spreadsheets, too. #nerdpride

Anyway, I was about to get my butt handed to me.

Some giant troll thing had nearly wiped our whole party, my character was down to his last sliver of health, and the group was looking at me like, “Dude, do something.”

Now, I could’ve swung my sword like an idiot and “hoped for the best.”

But instead, I did something else.

I convinced the troll that our party wasn’t here to fight… we were sent as an offering from the Great Lava King (which I made up on the spot).

“Roll Deception,” said the DM. So I rolled the dice.

Natural. Freakin . 20.

The troll bought it. We walked right past him, alive, without anybody biting the big one.

📷

And right there, at 1 AM, I had an epiphany…

… What’s the one thing that’s been around since before the bible, before kings, before empires, before people even knew how to wipe their own rear ends?

… What’s the real reason Netflix has hundreds of millions of people willingly handing over their hard-earned cash just to sit on their couch and stare at a screen for hours?

… And what’s the undeniable, inescapable, “can’t ignore it even if you tried” reason someone actually remembers you?

STORIES.

Stories that burn themselves into memory.

Stories that pull you in so deep, you forget the world around you.

Stories so damn good the hiring manager would beg (well, maybe not literally, but close enough) to have you on their team.

Look ,if you want to escape job search limbo and land the best roles, here’s the thing:

You don’t need to be the most skilled person in the room.

You just gotta make the idea of hiring you a no-brainer.

Most job seekers do the exact same thing.

They’ve got the skills, the experience, the potential.

But when it’s time to bet on themselves, they freeze.

They doubt. They settle. They let opportunities slip away.

And the worst part is, they lose to people who don’t even measure up to them.

Because when you don’t have a clear game plan… you’re not actually competing.

You’re just showing up and hoping for the best, and…

I’m glad you asked.

You see, getting hired takes one hell of a story in your arsenal. Usually more than one.

And that’s where this “3-Step Narrative Formula” comes in.

📷

It’s dead simple:

Set the stage: Every great story starts with a problem. What was broken? What was slipping through the cracks? What disaster was looming if no one stepped in? The clearer you paint the picture, the more they see themselves in it… because odds are, it’s the same problem their company is facing right now.

Show your thinking: This is where you step up as the hero. What did you do to fix it? Did you overhaul a clunky process? Rally a team that had lost all motivation? Learn something on the fly and pull off the impossible? It’s less about what you did and more about proving that when things go south, you’re the one who figures it out.

Bring it home: What changed because of you? Did you save time? Cut costs? Land a major deal? Hiring managers love numbers, but even if you don’t have hard data, sell the impact. Make them see how you took something broken and left it better than ever.

That’s it.

At the end of the day, that’s what every hiring manager wants…

Someone who gets it, fixes it, and makes sure it never breaks again.

Imagine you’re a hiring manager trying to find someone to lead a new marketing campaign.

Two candidates… A and B… comes into your office.

Candidate A says:

"I’ve worked on marketing campaigns in the past."

Candidate B says:

"Yeah, so at XYZ Company, we ran into a problem… our Instagram engagement tanked completely. We were down 30%, and nothing we posted was getting traction. If we didn’t fix it, we were basically just talking to ourselves.

(Setting the stage)

So I started digging into what was actually working on the platform. I noticed short, shareable videos with trending audio were blowing up, so I pitched the idea to the team, got everyone on board, and we shifted from regular posts to a more video-focused strategy.

(Showing your thinking)

Three months in… Engagement shot up by 42%, we gained 5,000 new followers, and people actually started interacting with our content again… sharing, commenting, the whole thing. It completely turned things around.”

(Bringing it home)

So, who’s getting the call?

It’s obvious.

Why?

Because Candidate B’s story does three powerful things:

• Shows they understand the problem.

• Proves they know how to solve it.

• Confirms they’ve done it before (and can do it again.)

That’s the power of a good story. It doesn’t just tell… it shows them you’re the only person for the job.

Look, nobody’s asking you to have saved your company millions.

You ever stopped a project from going off the rails? Ever clean up a mess your boss ignored? Made someone’s life easier at work?

Yeah?

Well, that’s a WIN.

And a win is a story.

You don’t need a six-figure revenue bump. No mind-blowing innovation.

Just a real problem… with real solutions… that brings real value.

That’s what you need.

📷

Now, picture this…

What happens when you DO have something huge to share?

At that point… you’re literally holding the career equivalent of a red button on the president's desk.

Press it, and entire hiring teams scramble to get you on board before someone else does.

Game over.

See, you can’t just let all this sit in your head.. where you are already fighting your career demons.

So, here’s the deal:

Take 10 minutes and write down three stories using the Narrative Formula.

For each one, spell out…

… The problem you solved (set the stage)…

… How you approached it (show your thinking)…

… The results you achieved (bring it home.)

This alone will set you apart… because, if I’m being honest… most candidates sound boring af.

They list skills.

They regurgitate job descriptions.

They mumble something about being a “team player.”

And recruiters forget them before the interview even ends.

(What a big waste of an opportunity.)

But you?

You’re about to be unforgettable.

Because a damn good story doesn’t just make them listen…

It gets you hired, paid, and puts you miles ahead of everyone else fighting for the same spot.

And tomorrow, I’m going to show you how you can make recruiters chase you, get hired before you even apply, and pass one of the biggest hidden tests standing between you and your next high-paying job.

Your bald, bearded, no-BS career coach, Josh

Head Coach, Career Vision Coaching