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Harrison Au recently landed a sales role at Microsoft 🎉

To help and inspire fellow job seekers to build a Career Walking Deck, he has shared his personal experience (in his own words, with minor edits for brevity) below.

The hardest part was managing all the noise on LinkedIn

The platform was overwhelming at times: constant updates, comparison traps, and a never ending feed that made it easy to lose focus. I had to learn how to stay disciplined about how much time I spent on the platform and be intentional about what I was actually doing on there.

To stay grounded, I set clear boundaries for myself: limiting scrolling, focusing on meaningful engagement, and using LinkedIn as a tool, not a distraction. It wasn’t always easy, but staying focused and disciplined helped me protect my energy and stay consistent in my job search.

Learning about the Career Walking Deck

I first learned about the Career Walking Deck in 2023.

A few Microsoft colleagues and mentors talked about how powerful it was for clarifying your story, showcasing impact, and driving more intentional career conversations. Hearing how they used it to articulate their growth and open new opportunities inspired me to build my own and start using it as part of my professional toolkit.

Although I experimented with it, I didn’t fully see its value at the time.

I was still early in my career story. I was building my foundation, and I didn’t yet have the clarity or experiences that made a walking deck meaningful. It felt more like a template than a tool.

Giving the Career Walking Deck another try

Fast forward to 2025, and everything had shifted post-layoff.

I had new skills, deeper experience, and a much clearer sense of the impact I create. With that growth came a new perspective and I realized the Career Walking Deck could actually help me articulate my story in a more intentional, structured way.

That’s what motivated me to give it another try and connect with Karen.

She shared examples, walked me through how others were using it, and encouraged me to give it another try.

That support made a big difference.

When I first attempted it in 2023, I didn’t yet see how to make my Career Walking Deck meaningful.

With Karen’s encouragement and newfound experience and perspective, I approached it this time with a clearer story, stronger impact, and a better sense of how to use it as a real career tool.

Karen’s guidance helped me see the value in refining my narrative and using the deck as a way to communicate my growth more intentionally.

The process of creating a Career Walking Deck

• Mapped out my story, key roles, turning points, and themes that consistently showed up in my work.
• Pulled out measurable impact from each chapter of my career so that my deck wasn’t just narrative, but grounded in real outcomes.
• Aligned everything to where I wanted to go (not just where I’ve been). Tied the skills I’ve built and strengths I’ve sharpened to the kind of work I wanted to do next.
• Refined the visuals and flow so that my Career Walking Deck felt like a true representation of my professional identity, not just any slide deck.

Using a Career Walking Deck has had a noticeable impact on how I show up in interviews. When I shared my screen, interviewers were genuinely surprised and impressed by the creativity and clarity of my deck. It immediately set a different tone. I was more engaging, more visual, and more memorable.

What’s interesting is that the two interviews that ultimately led to job offers were the ones where I did not share my screen!

• I’d used my deck as a guide behind the scenes.
• It helped me stay grounded in my story, highlight the right accomplishments, and speak to my growth with more confidence and structure.
• The interview conversations flowed more naturally because I wasn’t reading off a resume or trying to recall everything on the spot.

The biggest outcome wasn’t just the reactions, it was how the Career Walking Deck sharpened my narrative and made me a stronger communicator.

Career Walking Deck Tips

I recommend creating a Career Walking Deck because it forces you to slow down, reflect, and actually see the impact you’ve created over time. Most of us move so quickly from role-to-role or project-to-project that we don’t actually realize how much we’ve grown. Building a deck gives you a clear, visual way to connect the dots in your career story and speak to it with more confidence and authenticity.

A Career Walking Deck is never “finished.” It’s a work in progress that evolves as you gain new skills, perspectives, and experiences. Treat it like a living document:

• Use it to capture your wins and lessons learned as they happen.
• Revisit it regularly to refine your story and highlight what matters most.
• Let it guide your interview conversations so they flow more confidently and organically.
• Don’t aim for perfection, aim for clarity, honesty, and momentum.

The real value isn’t just the deck itself — it’s the self-awareness and confidence you build while creating it.

Thanks for reading!

I hope Harrison’s personal story and experience with career walking decks has inspired you to build your own. Please get started here where I share all my examples, templates, and resources. Get access to all my premium templates via Substack and join the waitlist for my course where we will deep dive into Career Walking Decks.

You can also find hundreds of daily tips on my LinkedIn (DM me if you have any questions).

Best of luck!