Before I ever sat in an office, I had a long list of jobs most people would never mention in an interview.

I caddied at a golf course at 13. I worked at a grocery store. I spent summers as an electrician's apprentice, drove a box truck delivering countertops across New England, bartended weekend functions, and delivered chicken wings to dorm rooms on Friday and Saturday nights.

I liked every one of those jobs, for different reasons. And every one of them gave me a story I could tell in an interview.

Most people think interview stories have to come from impressive places. A big internship. A leadership title. A recognizable company.

So they skip right past the jobs that taught them the most, and walk into interviews with nothing real to say.

Let me show you what I mean.

In college, I delivered chicken wings on weekend nights.

The restaurant paid me the same for every delivery. The real money was in tips.

So I got fast and efficient at grouping orders. If I could carry five deliveries to dorms right next to each other, that was five tips for one trip. A $2 or $3 tip turned into $10 to $20 a run.

Nobody taught me that. I figured it out because I had a reason to.

That is not really a story about chicken wings. It is a story about logistics, efficiency, and getting more output from the same hours.

Tell it to someone hiring for operations, sales, or finance, and suddenly that college delivery job is a relevant experience.

Now take the electrician's apprentice job.

Hot, sweaty summers running wire through attics and digging ditches to run cable underground.

Nobody owed me anything. If I wanted the licensed electricians to teach me the real work, I had to make myself valuable enough that they wanted to.

So I said yes to the hardest jobs.

And I tried to think one step ahead.

After I had watched a job a few times, I knew what tool they would need next, and I had it ready before they asked.

Same thing installing countertops. I didn't wait to be told to grab the glue.

Nobody minds teaching you once or twice. By the third time, you should have picked it up.

Those little things are how you earn trust when you are starting out.

And here is the part I love talking about.

It is exactly the same in an office.

Whether you want to become a plumber or a marketing professional, the habits that help you succeed early in your career are remarkably similar.

You don't have much experience yet. You are trying to prove that you are willing to learn.

The person who has the next spreadsheet ready, who takes the unglamorous project, who pays attention and doesn't need to be shown the same thing three times, gets taught more and trusted with more.

Different careers require different skills. But showing up prepared, taking initiative, and making yourself useful are valuable almost everywhere.

Neither delivering wings nor running wire had anything to do with becoming a CFO.

But both taught me how to think, how to work, and how to solve problems.

And those are exactly the things an interviewer is trying to understand.

When I see a job like that on a resume, I don't care whether it was food service, retail, construction, or driving a truck.

I am thinking: this person was accountable to someone outside a classroom. They showed up when it was hard. They had to figure things out with real consequences.

I've interviewed and hired painters, landscapers, and carpenters. Many of them brought a work ethic I really admired.

I've also hired and worked alongside plenty of people in the corporate world who spent their high school and college years doing hands-on work before moving into other careers.

They are often proud of what they learned.

The ones who interview well know how to turn those experiences into stories.

Here is how to do that with almost any job you have ever had.

1. The situation.

One or two sentences. Give the interviewer just enough context.

"I delivered wings on weekend nights, and the pay per delivery was flat."

2. What you did.

Be specific. And say "I," not just "we."

"I started grouping orders going to dorms near each other so I could make multiple deliveries on one trip."

3. What happened.

Use numbers if you have them.

"Five tips per trip instead of one. $10 to $20 a run instead of $2 or $3."

4. What it says about you.

This is the part almost everyone skips.

Connect what you did to the job in front of you.

"I naturally look for ways to get more out of the same time and resources. That's the kind of thinking I'd bring to this operations role."

That last beat is what turns a chicken-wing delivery job into an interview answer someone remembers.

Walk into every interview with four or five stories ready.

Not memorized scripts. Real moments you can tell in a minute or two.

Start by thinking about:

Then prepare one more thing: a clear explanation of why you want the job you are interviewing for.

If you are changing career paths, explain why. If you have a gap in your resume, be ready to talk about it.

Every move should have a "because" you can say plainly and stand behind.

One habit makes all of this easier.

Keep a running note on your phone. After a shift or a project, write down one thing you learned, one problem you handled, or one thing you did differently.

You will be surprised how quickly those notes turn into great interview material.

Having a great story doesn't mean much if you aren't prepared to tell it.

Show up a few minutes early. Dress appropriately for the job. Know what the company does and what the role actually involves.

And have a real question ready about the work, not just the pay.

Years ago, I showed up 15 minutes early for an 8 a.m. campus interview. The candidate was already there in a full suit, after finishing a 5 a.m. swim practice.

I still remember it.

Not because of the suit. Because of the preparation and effort.

You don't need an impressive title to demonstrate those things.

You need real examples of how you work, what you've learned, and what you will bring to the next opportunity.

The job you left off your resume might be your best interview story.

Go find it, and practice telling it out loud.

Talk soon,

Jeff

Know someone who thinks their summer job doesn't count? Forward this to them. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, subscribe at gethiredplaybook.com.

P.S. Hit reply and tell me about a job you think doesn't count for much. I'll tell you the story I would tell about it in an interview.