Articles from TheCareerAdvisor
 
Showcase Your "Home Run" Accomplishments, Part One
 
This is the most popular article on www.careerlab.com for good reason. It's one of the most important and useful learning tools I've written. Grand slam home run Before I wrote this article, I spent at least three hours with each individual client explaining these principles. With these directions, it's faster and simpler. I know you'll enjoy the self-discovery process and create the best, highest-impact resume you've ever had. Written records of your work results, achievements, successes, and accomplish- ments are the heart of your marketing campaign. They explain the essence of your "track record." Sooner or later, you'll be asked about what I call your triples and your home runs—or else your field goals and touchdowns—or any other metaphor you want to use. So writing them down on paper prepares you in advance.

Five reasons to document your work performance:

  1. To gain self-awareness.
  2. To lift your spirits and get you feeling very confident about yourself—ready to tackle the marketplace.
  3. To show that you have completed many projects that are difficult and worthwhile.
  4. To give specific, measurable, concrete examples of your contributions.
  5. To differentiate yourself from competitors and show how you're clearly head-and-shoulders above them.
You will use your written accomplishments in at least three places: your resume, marketing letters and face-to-face meetings. At the start of this exercise, many people—even senior executives—say something like, "I didn't really accomplish anything, I just did my job." It's natural to feel that way.

Yes, you did your job, but you did a lot more besides. You were accomplishing things even when you didn't know it. You may have hundreds of accomplishments. It's just a matter of digging for them.

Many times we take ourselves for granted. But we shouldn't, because what we can do easily might sound downright impossible to the average reader. | Next ->

 
 
 
 
"We look back on our life as a thing of broken pieces,
because our mistakes and failures are always the first to strike us,
and outweigh in our imagination what we have accomplished and attained."
—GOETHE, Maxims and Reflections
 
 
  :: Go to part two  :: Return to index of articles   
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