Narrative Resume Samples | Examples

A narrative resume tells a story, it isn’t just a bulleted list. If told well it’s an excellent way to engage a potential employer and give them an idea of you and your accomplishments in an interesting non-traditional way. When told well a narrative resume can set you apart from the rest. If you think that a narrative resume is a right approach for a job you are applying for, then before you start writing think about the overall message you want to convey in your narrative resume. Consider it a one-pager on your career and accomplishments. Think about where you want the story to go – do you want it to be an overview of your work achievements to date? Do you want it to give an idea of where you want to take your career with your future employer?

Brainstorm first and jot down some initial thoughts and ideas before piecing together the full narrative.

Narrative Resume Builder

Below is a short narrative resume sample example to give an idea of how they can be structured and the type of information to include:

How to Write a Narrative Resume

The above template shows how you can structure a narrative resume. It is important to figure out the story and building from there. A good way to break it down is to use the below narrative resume format:

1. Who you are
2. A challenge/challenges you have come across in your working life
3. How you overcame the challenge
4. The big picture outcome

Following this format is like any good story – there’s characters, a plot and most importantly – an outcome. Keep your paragraphs short and succinct and review the job posting before starting your narrative to make sure you are using keywords from the posting in your resume.

A narrative resume can be great but it’s important to remember it isn’t right for every job, do your research before starting your brilliant story and be sure to check out our other pages for more guides, tips, and tricks on resumes for any jobs.