i used to think stories were just nice-to-have. then i started collecting peer anecdotes and using them as structured prompts: “tell me about a project you led that mattered” became a way to surface hiring managers who valued similar experiences. i now prep two brief anecdotes about classmates who made hires, and I ask about similar profiles. using peers’ success stories as conversation scaffolding helped me map vague chats to specific roles. anyone else use storytelling intentionally in outreach?
stories are fine but avoid sounding like a résumé audition. bankers don’t hire on narratives alone; they want evidence you can do the job. use anecdotes to find the person who cares about that evidence, then ask for a concrete next step. otherwise it’s just campfire talk and you’ll leave with warm feelings and zero outcomes.