So, what led to this huge inflation in value? Each item came with a unique story.

The auctions were part of the Significant Objects Project, an experiment designed to test the hypothesis that “narrative transforms the insignificant into the significant.” Or, put differently, the goal was to determine whether you could take an object worth very little and make it worth much more by giving it a story and endowing it with meaning.

The projects’s originators purchased 100 unremarkable garage sale trinkets for no more than a few dollars each and then had volunteer writers create fictional backstories for each item. They hypothesized that by attaching a creative story to the item, its objective value would increase.

They were right. The stories and associations attributed to each item increased its perceived value nearly 30x.

Job seekers can learn a tremendous lesson from this real world experiment.

When you write your cover letters and prepare for your interviews, you should prepare the stories that you’re going to recout that clearly illustrate your professional capabilities and experience. Rather than tell your interviewer that you have 14 years of product design experience, you should tell stories of the most successful, creative and rewarding projects you worked on. Rather than reciting your years spent in the accounting department, detail some of the specific successes you had working with your CFO to assemble and lead an internal team to solve complex billing issues.

Nobody remembers data, but everyone remembers compelling and meaningful stories. You won’t be just another computer programmer, but the guy who created the staffing iPhone app that was downloaded over 15,000 times. You’ll be the one who stands out, the one who solves problems, the one who’s 30x more valuable than the resume sitting under yours.