What Titanic Can Teach You About Career Storytelling
Get your facts, stories and lengths right.
What comes to mind when you think of the movie Titanic? A tragedy about a boat that sinks? A story of a forbidden and steamy love? Both answers are right. But the core truth? It’s about the biggest ship of the time hitting an iceberg and sinking due to the captain’s negligence.
This is the same as your career story. The facts are the facts—like the sinking ship. But how you tell that story is where the magic happens. Titanics’ director chose a romantic angle, but there are many other ways you could look at the same story—like a commentary on class divisions or the immigrant experience of the 1900s.
The facts don’t change, but the story and how you tell it do. And that’s what keeps you glued to the screen, eyes wide open curious about what comes next.
Here’s how you can apply this to your career storytelling:
1. The Facts: Which boat did you sink?
Start by mapping out the facts of your career: your roles, projects, and the impact you’ve made. These are the unchanging pieces of your story—the “sinking ship” part. It’s every single project and experience, what you did officially and unofficially, what you have to show for it, and all the stories attached to it.
Yes, even that summer job at the local bar when you were a teenager taught you about how to read people, customer service, stock management and how to deal with unreliable bosses.
Through this process, you will remember so much of what you did, how valuable you were, and even make peace with that crappy project or job that you never talk about.
2. The Angle: What’s your storyline?
When you’re applying for a job, pitching to a client, or aiming for a promotion, you need to choose the right angle that will resonate with whoever is listening to you. What is your goal? What will they connect with most? What do they want to hear and look for? Will this be a romance story or a class critique? The facts stay the same, but how you present them can change everything.
To get your angle right you need to reflect on what is the person trying to decide on, what are they looking for, and which value they seek. It might seem like mind reading, but we can assume important parts they want to see by putting ourselves in their shoes.
3. The Length: Trailer or full movie?
This is the part we tend to suck at the most! We talk too little or way too much, usually the latter.
It’s important to read the moment and the context where we are telling these stories - in a meetup with a stranger, a LinkedIn message with a recruiter, an HR call, or a face-to-face client meeting. All those settings require different lengths of the story.
Sometimes, you’ll need to show the trailer (a short version of your story)—for example, when talking to a recruiter. One that makes them curious to know more. Other times, you’ll need to deliver the full movie for your hiring manager or during an interview. And sometimes, you’ll go even further, showing the documentary or the director’s cut (think case studies or team presentations). Know your audience and tailor your story’s length accordingly.
Now, go write your own blockbuster career story—hopefully with better graphics than Titanic! Man, that movie didn’t age well… And if you need support along the way, I’m here to help. You can download my Career Storytelling Kit for free, work with me one-on-one, or sign up for the next Career Storytelling course. Let’s make sure your story is as binge-worthy as it deserves to be!
