Use Your Career Story to Show Your Value, with Connie Teng
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An open job can get hundreds of applications. To stand out, you need to show employers how you can solve their problems, and that starts with knowing your story. Career coach Connie Teng joins Find Your Dream Job to break down what recruiters are listening for when you walk them through your resume, and why your “why” matters just as much as your skills and experience.
Connie shares strategies for crafting a career narrative that connects your past roles, your motivations, and your strengths to the employer’s specific needs. She also digs into the role limiting beliefs play in holding candidates back and how to get unstuck. Whether you’re preparing for a recruiter screen or a final-round interview, this episode will help you walk in ready to show your value and make a lasting impression.
About Our Guest:
- Connie Teng is a leadership and career coach who helps mid-career professionals and emerging leaders land and thrive in their next role.
Resources in This Episode:
- Connect with Connie on LinkedIn
- Visit Connie’s website.
Transcript
Find Your Dream Job, Episode 552:
Use Your Career Story to Show Your Value, with Connie Teng
Airdate: May 20, 2026
Mac Prichard:
This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.
I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.
Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.
An open job can get hundreds of applications. Today’s guest says to stand out, you need to show how you can solve an employer’s problems.
Connie Teng is here to talk about how to use your career story to show your value.
She’s a leadership and career coach who helps mid-career professionals and emerging leaders land and thrive in their next role.
Connie joins us from Madison, New Jersey.
Well, let’s jump right into it, Connie. When an employer thinks about your value as a candidate, what are they really looking for?
Connie Teng:
They’re looking for a few different things. First of all, obviously, they want to make sure you have the relevant experience. They want to make sure you have the right skills. So, both technical skills and soft skills.
And then they’re also looking for your why. Why do you want this particular role? Why do you want this particular company? And it shows them that your goals and what you’re seeking to accomplish are in alignment with theirs.
Mac Prichard:
Okay, so skills, motivations, these are the things that matter to employers when thinking about value. Why does value matter more than credentials in hiring decisions?
Connie Teng:
Values are everything. And I don’t think enough people, when they’re job searching, think about their values. Values are what is important to you? What is important to you in your life? What is important to you in a job?
And that’s going to show whether or not you’re potentially successful in that role and whether or not you will work out, right? Because if you’re in the wrong environment or what you’re looking for isn’t offered by that particular role, it will likely end up not being a fit.
Mac Prichard:
Okay, so there are the values that matter to you as a candidate in terms of an employer’s culture and mission, and what matters to you in your own career. There’s also the value that you deliver to an employer.
Many candidates, instead of talking about what they can do for an employer, they do something else when they apply for jobs. What do you see them do instead of showing their value when they send out an application?
Connie Teng:
Well, when they send out an application, I think, assuming the resume is okay, sometimes the cover letter works in their favor, doesn’t work in their favor. But the first step is to get through the recruiter screen.
And when I was a recruiter across finance and healthcare, a lot of people would say things or present their career story and career history in a way that maybe raised some red flags.
And so I was always listening for those themes to see if there was anything that potentially concerned me.
Mac Prichard:
And what kind of red flags would you and your fellow recruiters look for when reviewing resumes and applications?
Connie Teng:
Well, for instance, something that came up quite a lot was between being an individual contributor and being a manager. So this came up a lot for me in tech.
A lot of tech folks have been in the industry for a while, and they naturally become managers, but they’re often not happy being managers, and they want to get back to a hands-on role. So that… ends up being a conflict if that value or that desire is not matched up for the role.
I think also when they’re looking for a certain freedom in what they’re looking to do with work, they want to be able to run a strategy, or they want to be a little bit more entrepreneurial, and the place they’re applying to is really more structured and bureaucratic.
So that’s where you start to see the environment differences and the differences in terms of what they want and what the employer needs.
Mac Prichard:
Okay, well, let’s talk about understanding what the employer needs and how you can shape your career story to show that you offer what the hiring manager is looking for. How have you seen people successfully tell their career story in a way that helps an employer see that you’re the right fit?
Connie Teng:
Right. So somebody who can walk me through their resume, I always ask, start from the beginning, give me a brief summary of each role, and why did you transition to the next role, and then bring me to present day.
Show me why you’re here now, what you’re looking for, and how that aligns with this job, because employers want to see that you are potentially successful for this role. Right.
So being succinct, having it down, if you’re going to do a summary, like having that down to about two minutes, knowing what are your highlights, what are your accomplishments, and having a story that makes sense.
Nothing that would cause us to think, well, they’ve had a lot of turnover, and they’ve had a lot of issues with past employers or bad mouthing employers, but their trajectory makes sense.
Mac Prichard:
So you’re doing a job search, you see a position, it interests you, and you want to prepare for the conversation you just described. What kind of homework do you recommend an audience member do to be able to tell that story?
They certainly have the job description, but what other steps would you suggest someone take in order to impress a recruiter and move on to the next stage?
Connie Teng:
Sure. First of all, you have to do the work. You have to get introspective and reflective, right? Because if you look inside and you think about, okay, what’s important to me? What is my why? Right?
And then you start to look through your resume, craft your story, really map it out, and then rehearse it, know that you can do it in a short amount of time, and then run it with somebody, whether that’s a trusted friend, a mentor, or a coach.
And then I’d also encourage people to really research the company. Make sure it’s a match. You don’t want to waste anyone’s time. And it’s surprising. It surprised me how many candidates didn’t really do the research and didn’t do a lot.
It didn’t know a lot about the company. And so their questions weren’t particularly thoughtful. And that was something I would consider too, because that shows me you don’t potentially care.
Mac Prichard:
Okay, so in organizing the story, the structure is known where you’ve been and why, and where you’re going next, and why this job, and what you can do for this employer. Are those the basic elements? Okay.
Connie Teng:
Yes, exactly. You don’t want to make it hard for an employer to see you in this role.
Mac Prichard:
Okay, so answer those four questions and do it in two or three minutes. Practice beforehand. Look at the job posting. What other homework do you recommend someone do in order to answer those questions successfully and tell that story besides studying the job posting?
Connie Teng:
So, well, if I may, I think when you think about the job posting, so obviously you don’t want to sound too rehearsed. You want to be able to get in a space where you’re comfortable with spontaneous questions and answers.
But you do want to, when you look at what they’re looking for under responsibilities and traits, you do want to think through those business examples where you’ve demonstrated that you’ve run a team, that you had a successful, you ran, you know, successful metrics or your revenue or whatever it is, and that you are strong in communication and you’re excellent at stakeholder management, but you really want to have examples of those.
So I would encourage people to really take the time to think about that, write it down, right? So that it can come to you easily. And I would also say, think about your strengths and how they tie into this role, and be able to talk about that with relevant examples, because you really do want to tie it back to how you can help this company fulfill this business need.
Mac Prichard:
Okay. Well, let’s pause there. I want to take a break and stay with us. When we come back, we’ll continue our conversation with Connie Teng.
We’re back in the Mac’s List Studio. I’m talking with Connie Teng.
She’s a leadership and career coach who helps mid-career professionals and emerging leaders land and thrive in their next role. Connie joins us from Madison, New Jersey.
So Connie, before the break, we’re talking about how to use your career story to show your value to employers, what you can do for the person who’s considering hiring you. And we talked about
At the start of the first segment, the importance of skills, understanding your skills, and your why.
Thinking about that in preparing for that first conversation with a recruiter, where you have to explain where you’ve been, where you’re going, and why this job is a good fit for you, and why you can make that employer’s life easier by getting hired.
Let’s go back to your why. Say more about why it’s important to understand this, because I think many applicants, when sitting in a job, think, well, I just want to figure out what matters to the employer and show that.
But why should you think about your own motivation? And how is that appealing to an employer when you do that successfully and communicate it in your career story?
Connie Teng:
Motivation is everything. It’s what drives you. It’s what gets you up in the morning. It’s what helps you reach your goals and ultimately find career satisfaction.
And so nine times out of 10, when I talk to people who are not happy, it’s because their why, their motivation, their values, all of these things, something is being suppressed. Right. And an employer wants to make sure that this hire is going to work out.
So if your motivations are aligned with what they’re looking for in this role, it’s hopefully going to be a match, and hopefully you’ll stay longer. It’s a very, know, interviewing can be, a hiring process can be very arduous, long, and stressful. So when an employer has found someone who seems like a fit on all of these levels. That is a success, and they don’t want to start all over again.
Mac Prichard:
So you’ve worked with so many applicants, both as a recruiter and as a career coach. What’s your best tip, Connie, for if you’re struggling with figuring out your why? What would you say to somebody? What is an easy first step they can do take to answer that question?
Connie Teng:
Right. Well, I would say a couple of things. If you can afford it or even if you can’t afford it because there are a lot of coaches in training, start working with a coach who has a lot of different exercises that dig into things like your value, what’s important to you, visions, all of these things, because really it starts with introspective work.
But there’s other free tools you can use. One I really like is 16 personalities related to MBTI and it’s free.
Mac Prichard:
And tell us what that acronym means, MBTI.
Connie Teng:
Myers-Briggs. Myers-Briggs is something, an inventory, I want to say. But the reason why I like it is that, first of all, it’s free.
It’s a very easy quiz that takes, I don’t know, 10, 15 minutes, and it spits out your personality, your strengths, your weaknesses, some about your why and how you show up in life.
But also in careers and certain things that could work out for you and why, because why is it important, because you are this type of person, introverted, extroverted, analytical mind, strategic mind, so that’s a tool that you could potentially use.
Mac Prichard:
So you need to share why when you’re telling your career story. Another point you made in the first segment was the importance of understanding your strengths.
How many strengths should you be emphasizing in your conversations with employers? And what’s the best way to get clear about what your strengths are?
Connie Teng:
Right. So a lot of times, employers will have behavioral questions around these competencies. So I would be prepared with anything you have communicated about or on the JD to be able to talk about those, but probably roughly somewhere between three and five.
If you’re not sure about your strengths, there are a couple of different things you can do. First of all, you can think back to any feedback you’ve gotten positive feedback you’ve gotten in your course of work.
You could think about successful projects and what about you made those projects successful. I would encourage you to look at past performance reviews, and if you’re still stuck, I would ask. I would ask a mentor.
I would ask someone you work with, or you used to work with, and you should be able to find something from there and be able to tie it in with this job without being disingenuous. So hopefully you’re applying for a job that really is lined up with what you do well.
Mac Prichard:
You mentioned behavioral interview questions, and those many listeners will probably know are questions that begin with the phrase, tell me about a time when you did blank. And you said that’s one way that employers will draw you out about strengths that matter to that hiring manager.
Are there other clues about what strengths employers will care about that you can get clear about before you walk into the interview room, so you can prepare for those behavioral interview questions?
Connie Teng:
Well, you know, it’s interesting. And I don’t know if I’m quite answering your question, but I just wanted to relay a short story. I was talking, and I was coaching with somebody who had actually worked with it before. And she was very frustrated.
This job market is very competitive, and she was a star. She was a star. She still had employment, but for six months, nothing. She wasn’t even getting to the final rounds. And part of her problem was, I don’t know how to communicate my strengths.
And I remember being baffled because she was so strong, and she had a lot of agency to do different things at the firm. Her issue was limiting beliefs. She just didn’t have an awareness, or whatever she was good at, she didn’t believe in her strengths.
So sometimes it’s about those limiting beliefs. It’s that, you know, I would say, well, tell me what have you heard in feedback? And in quick order, she rattled, you know, five or four different things, but then she would question herself and say, well, is that a strength?
And I would challenge her. Well, is it a strength? You tell me. And then we would kind of, I would challenge her through her thinking until she realized that it is a strength. And this is something I can talk about. Cause some of these things are universal.
But a little bit back to your question, I think the way to talk about it for an employer is to think about those strengths, think about what’s needed for that particular job, and create a scenario where your strength is gonna solve a business problem for them.
Mac Prichard:
I do want to go back to your point about limiting beliefs. I appreciate you sharing that story. How can people be clear if that’s what’s happening to them? What are the signs that you might be struggling with limiting beliefs?
Connie Teng:
That’s a good question. I think if people are feeling stuck, I think if they’re feeling in a negative space and they are not progressing in a way, they have to start being a detective and start thinking, okay, where are things going wrong? I spoke with someone who said, I do really well through the first one or two interviews.
But I can’t get past that. And I said, “Well, why do you think that is?” And he really had to think about it. For him, in his particular case, it was about I will prepare, over-prepare for these initial conversations based on the JD, but after that, it becomes more spontaneous.
Mac Prichard:
And when you say JD, you’re talking about the job description.
Connie Teng:
Yes, the job description. So when you find yourself in a loop and you feel like you’re not progressing, start to think in detail about your journey. Where are you getting stuck?
Then again, employ someone you know, whether that is a good friend, a good colleague, you know, even an outside recruiter, because sometimes you get feedback as well. And then you can start to work on the things where you feel like you are tripping up.
Mac Prichard:
When you’re in the interview room, and you’re sharing your career story, again, following the outline you shared with us earlier, where have you been, where are you going, how can you help this employer solve the problems that they need solutions to, how do you tell that story without taking over the conversation or seeming too confident?
Is that an issue in interviews, in your experience?
Connie Teng:
That’s another good question. I think that really comes down to communication and tone, and also the words you’re using, right? So if you’re talking about accomplishment and say, you know, I came in, it was a chaotic environment, you know, there was no process, but I created a process. I met with all the stakeholders.
And in the end, we were able to hire 20 people within a three-month span. Sounds very different from, well, they had no idea what they were doing. So I came in, of course, I had all of this experience. I fired this person. I did this. And, you know, I was successful in leading when no one else could. So.
Mac Prichard:
Same story, two very different candidates, aren’t they? Yeah. Yeah, well, terrific. Well, it’s been, we could talk on and on, but we’re gonna have to bring it to a close. So it’s been terrific, Connie. Now tell us what’s coming up next for you.
Connie Teng:
Yes, well, I will still continue to coach my private clients primarily in career transition, also navigating the workplace and executive presence.
And I’m also doing classes around executive presence and communication, but from the performance angle. So, using tools and techniques from acting, improv, and storytelling.
Mac Prichard:
Well, I know that our audience can learn more about you by visiting your website, and that URL is www.acuitycandc.com, and you also invite listeners and viewers to connect with you on LinkedIn.
So be sure to include both of those URLs in the show notes in the website article. And when you do reach out to Connie on LinkedIn, please tell her you saw or heard her on Find Your Dream Job.
Now, Connie, given all the great advice you’ve shared, what’s the one thing you want our audience to remember about how to use your career story to show your value to employers?
Connie Teng:
I cannot emphasize how much you need to get reflective, be introspective, do the work, really do the work, and know your why, know your values, and then be able to talk about it with ease and tie it into the employer’s needs.
Mac Prichard:
Thank you for listening to Find Your Dream Job.
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Our sound engineer and editor is Megan Hattie Stahl. Our music is by Freddy Trujillo.
This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.
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