“I was churning through so many applications…”
Speaking to Sidney, his love of music is immediately apparent. When he talks about the startling amount of new music he’s listening to on a regular basis, you just want him to send you his playlists and keep you up to date on everything he finds. He breathes this stuff, and he makes you want to do it too. His enthusiasm is contagious.
When he first got in touch with me, he was struggling to break into record labels – despite having industry experience and a palpable love of music – and he’d already identified what wasn’t working:
The [roles] where I’d get a response would be the ones where it was an unconventional submitting format and you wouldn’t do a CV, you’d answer specific questions about your experiences and skills.
Whenever he applied for roles that didn’t require a CV and could articulate himself freely, he could get interviews. But the moment a CV was involved, silence. For Sidney, this was beyond frustrating; he was questioning his value and capability. It was affecting his wellbeing.
We looked at his CV together, and it revealed a major discrepancy. I’d been speaking to a passionate, creative and engaging person. On the page, though, the experience he’d been most excited to tell me about – his artist interviews, his community building, his most rewarding creative endeavours – all sounded just like bland corporate work. As Sidney put it:
Despite having three years of experience, it was not translating to music industry experience at all […] it was really hard to put across that I knew a lot about music and I could pick up stuff very quickly […] I was kind of embarrassed by my old CV because it’s just such a flat version of what I knew I could do and what I knew I could bring.
The work became obvious: get the person I’d been speaking to onto the page.
Rewriting the Story
The first step was a fresh line of questioning. Rather than focusing purely on employment, our consultation treated his passion projects with equal weight. Instead of exploring where he’d added revenue or cut costs, we talked about which aspects of each role and project he’d enjoyed. When he lit up, we talked more. When the energy dissipated, we moved on.
This uncovered brilliant information – his thoughtful approach to interviews as a freelance journalist, for example, had won him excellent feedback and built a strong reputation among artists and their management – but it also boosted Sidney’s confidence in his skills and capabilities:
You helped me talk about my interests outside of work and the things I’m passionate about […] You really helped build up my self-esteem via the avenue of professional skills.
The next step was to overhaul the CV. Instead of forcing Sidney into a set template, we started from a blank page and let his experience form the document. Here, that meant making the tone as lively and engaged as Sidney was, and shaping his career history around the things that were meaningful to him, not just the things he thought other people might want to hear.
We also built in an “industry contributions” section for the work that didn’t fit neatly into his career history, and highlighted testimonials from people who had worked with him – concrete evidence of impact that’s otherwise hard to quantify.
This is deep work, but it all came back to Sidney’s genuine enthusiasm for the industry. As he put it, “All you did was just re-polish and tee up the stuff that was already there.” Career storytelling isn’t about writing fiction – it’s about making the real story obvious and enticing.
The Domino Effect
The changes worked: “almost immediately my interview offers shot through the roof.” Crucially, these weren’t just any interview offers – they were for the roles Sidney wanted and deserved.
Since we worked together, he has achieved his goal of breaking into record labels. He got his foot in the door at Red Bull Records and has been offered subsequent roles on reputation and recommendation:
There was such a tangible impact on my job prospects. I obviously, in a measurable way, got the Red Bull job, and now both the two label jobs I’ve got since then, I know for a fact I would never have got the Decca job had I not worked at Red Bull, and I would never have got the BMG job had I not worked at Decca. So it’s had this domino effect on my career […] None of the career that I have had so far would’ve been possible had I not got in contact with you.
This is the power of finding and articulating your career story. On the face of it, all we did was have a chat and rewrite a two-page document. But it was never just about the CV. The story-led approach shifted how Sidney thought and talked about himself professionally, and it set a career trajectory he’s been following for two years now.
And in a fast-shifting industry, he’s still using the same CV framework we built, both when he needs to apply for new positions and as a point of reference for his overall career story.
Sidney’s story is a perfect example of something I see a lot: when you’re passionate about a career path but documents aren’t opening doors, the issue usually isn’t your experience – it’s how you’re telling your story.
I asked Sidney who he felt would benefit the most from my career storytelling services, and he said:
People who do not have necessarily the right hands-on experience, but have a lot of passion for their industry.
If that sounds like you and you’re interested in how your professional documents could help you chart a course to the career you want, rather than the career you’re sleepwalking into, get in touch.
