2.2 Telling your story
A lifeline is a personal reflection and a useful starting point for you to explore what you want to do next. However, there are many ways to tell your story, and you will need to think about which bits are useful for you to help achieve your goals. As you work through this course you will be focusing on how best to present both yourself and your career history in order to create a positive impression on potential employers. If you’ve been out of work for some time it can take a bit of time and practice to decide how you want to present yourself.
Carol Fishman Cohen returned to her corporate job after a career break at the age of 40, and has written about this in her book Back on the Career Track (2008). She advises women on how to relaunch their careers by carefully picking out what they want others to see about them:
You are your own spin doctor. While you certainly want and need to be truthful about your experience, you have the ability to craft your own story. You can position yourself as you wish. The key is deciding how you want to position yourself. And before you can do that, you have to figure out what you want to go after.
(Cohen and Rabin, 2008)