How to find and tell your story

From structure and plot to heroes and characters, your story must have everything in place if it's to connect with the reader. Follow this infographic / guide to storytelling success.

In 1894, French critic Georges Polti recognized thirty-six possible plots, which included conflicts such as Supplication, Pursuit, Self-sacrifice, Adultery, Revolt, the Enigma, Abduction, and Disaster. In 1928, dime novelist William Wallace Cook, author of Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots, did him one better, cataloging every narrative he could think of through a method that bordered on madness. His final plot count? 1,462.

Plotto, reissued last month by Tin House, was a manual that aimed to mechanize the entire narrative trade. In his introduction, Paul Collins recognizes that Cook was something of a plot machine himself, once writing fifty-four novels in a year, more than one a week. Cook’s methods were developed into a Plotto Studio of Authorship in New York City, his book hailed as “an invention which reduces literature to an exact science.”

Employer stories build faith and create possibility. They give meaning to dry data, boring statistics and layers of information. Employer stories make ordinary job postings and recruitment marketing messages real, and they help job seekers reach the same positive conclusions you have about your employment brand on their own because it becomes personally meaningful.

To attract the best talent, you must stand out, and these 5 types of employer stories can bring your employment brand to life.