The Art of Story-Telling and its place in Executive Search

“We are hard wired to listen to stories and it is the ability to deliver a compelling narrative which is key to a good interview”

Says Richard Elstone, Partner at executive search firm Amrop Carmichael and Fisher, and Founder and Director of Executive Interview Coaching. With over 20 years’ experience as the trusted advisor to the top end of town, finding “unicorns” to lead and join the executive teams of ASX listed, Private Equity backed and Private companies across Australia, he knows what he is talking about.

In July 2020 I took a voluntary redundancy, using it as an opportunity to take a career break, regroup and reflect, and do some self-directed personal and professional development. As part of my sojourn I have reached out to a range of experts and had the privilege of their time and insight. Including Michelle Redfern, recipient of the AFR 100 women of influence award in 2018, founder of Advancing Women, and co-founder of A Career that Soars, a global platform supporting women’s professional progression, leadership, and so much more. Through Michelle I was put onto Richard, who generously sat down with me over zoom, to share his story, and along the way provided some absolute gems of advice for any job hunters out there.

Richard is a career executive search specialist, having landed in the industry early on and finding both a passion and knack for doing it well. It is an “addictive process” he says, “I love diving in to a pile of resumes knowing that one of the candidates could transform a company.” For Richard, this is highly satisfying, especially when you can literally see, sometimes in a matter of a few months, the positive change that the right person has made to company culture and its performance.

To find that right person Richard has to be able to interpret the brief from the client, draw on his encyclopedia of executive contacts, bring together a compelling shortlist and conduct screening interviews.

It is these interviews that bring an executive’s story-telling skills to the fore. So why is this skill so important?

• Stories demonstrate behavior
• Creates narrative and context
• Helps showcase your personality
• Makes you memorable to the hirer and/or panel

And importantly “people hire people”, with many studies showing that story-telling fosters human connection. Uncovering people’s stories and working with them to tell them in a compelling way is one of Richard’s super powers, having now globally coached over 200 people to secure their executive roles.

It is clear that Richard loves what he does and is extremely good at it, both the Executive Search and the Coaching, and in summary these are the gems that he imparted:

• Tell your story – everyone has a story to tell
• Always always prepare for interview questions – people spend too much time researching the company and not preparing for the most likely questions that they will be asked
• Don’t prepare by yourself – get a friend/colleague to help you, rehearse behavioral questions and so on
• If interviewing by zoom, think about your backdrop, have this ready ahead of time
• Thinking of setting up your own business/consultancy, ask yourself, “what do people commonly ask me to do” – herein lies your super strength and what you can offer

Lastly from my own experience and chatting to Richard, use your network, tell people what you are about and what you can do for them and their business. You never know when someone like Richard is going to be searching for a unicorn like you. 

Check out Richard's podcast for more advice.