There’s no question more intimidating in an interview than one without an answer. The one that I always practiced was a favorite of most interviewers: “Tell me about yourself. Walk me through your resume.” 

Today, I want to share my answer. Well, the blog version at least.  

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I am an Army brat, and my childhood was chaos, to put it bluntly. We always moved to chase the next class or training toward my Mom’s next promotion. Thanks to these relocations, I was a better networker than most adults by 6.  

So of course, by the time I was 16, I was talking people into giving me jobs. I had three gigs lined up by the time I had a driver’s license – daycare staff, front desk at a hairdresser, and retail associate at the mall. I was such a tomboy, I was “not a good fit,” but I was fortunate to have amazing managers who believed in me. I was offered full-time positions by most of those places* when I turned 18. 

*Ok real talk, I didn’t get a job offer from the daycare because I had no patience for 2-year-olds or the terrible khaki/polo combo they insisted we wear. 

I’ve spent most of my life working since then. If there was money to earn, I was willing to learn. My first job after college was tutoring in a strip mall outside of Washington, D.C.. It was about as glorious as the picture that just popped into your mind. Probably less glamorous than you’re thinking. Every day, I would spend my morning marketing and selling programs. From 2 pm to 8pm, I was tutoring kids. 

The Dad of one of those kids completely changed my trajectory one day. In a sales meeting, he stopped me mid-pitch to say: “You’re smart. You should work for me.” That became my first HR Tech job. We built online resumes long before they had any utility in the real world; basically, LinkedIn without connections. It was the first place where I was given a chance to try anything. It was a place where I could fail liberally. It was my best job. 

Next, I was a social media ninja back when that was still a cool job title. I was a Director, then VP, of Marketing. A technical writer for Fortune 100 employer brands. It might sound like I’ve done a lot of jumping around and I have compared to some. 

I jumped for new experiences. To make a mark. To hone my craft and learn to tell better stories. See, I take great pride in creating some mark on this world. That’s how I ended up as a writer. 

Stories always leave an impression. You don’t want to see me sing or dance, trust me. 

Writing has been my outlet and home throughout my life. I have lived and written through great love and loss, forever friendships and inevitable fallouts. I didn’t choose this story, but I’m lucky enough to say today that I get to write it. The combination and awkward timings of my personal life have written an exciting plotline – one I can look back to both for laughs and learning. 

Today, I write recruiting stories for companies who are making a mark at a company named Three Ears Media. I coach recruiters who are willing to be vulnerable to tell their stories and change the right people’s lives. I take traditional recruiting tactics and tailor them into strategies that work because they were made just for your company. 

It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done, and it’s everything I hoped it would be on the good and bad days. 

Tell me about you. 

Job Search Advice Life katrina kibben work history writing