Take an example of writing skill and consider how it becomes increasingly valuable when it has been used in a work environment to solve problems. Say an employer wants to hire a writer in the marketing department, and you have writing skills. You're obviously a good candidate. But what the employer really wants to know is whether you can use your writing skill to successfully prepare the company's marketing brochures in a way that gets results.
Could you deal with salespeople to get specific information? Would you be able to work with the production staff to see that the brochure is printed on time? Can you adapt your writing style to the kind of copy that really sells? In other words, writing is not just an isolated skill; it has to be used in conjunction with other skills to solve a specific problem.
If you've already written a marketing brochure for another company, or written an article about marketing, or produced a brochure about another organization's operations, you're a much more valuable candidate because you've proven to employers that you can use your writing skill to solve particular problems.
In this article you're going to look at what you've actually done with your skills so that you'll be able to present them in your resume in terms of problem-solving capabilities. Anything you've used as skill to solve a problem, you've achieved something, and in this article you'll be looking at all your achievements to see how they can relate to a prospective employer needs.
If you haven't worked before, or if your career has been interrupted, you may be tempted to take a backseat role and say, "No, haven't accomplished much that would be useful in the marketplace. I spent most of my time at home." This is a familiar lament. Well, enough of that. On these pages, you're going to take a look at the importance of all your achievements. Achievements and accomplishments, no matter where they took place, provide important clues about your potential for success--potential that should be instantly visible on that ordinary printed page called your resume.
Achievements Analysis
Let's examine the word "achievement." The Random House Dictionary of the English Language defines an achievement as "the final accomplishment of something noteworthy after much effort and often in spite of obstacles." An achievement differs from a skill or capability in that it is a finished act, whereas a skill or capability might exist but might never have been put to a significant use.
Notice these words: "work and non-work life." Non-work activities are very important. If you use your imagination, you'll see that many functions you perform in your personal life will have real value in the "outside" world. You skills and abilities are the common denominator between non-work activities and jobs.
Some of your education/skills/interests/hobbies/jobs come together as problem-solving capabilities, and for some of them you will recall actual occasions of accomplishment and achievement in your work and non-work life.
Now take a look at some of your own accomplishments, with a view to analyzing them and distilling the problem-solving skills and capabilities that made them possible. Experience shows that by going through this exercise, you will be able to gain important insights into the qualities you have that could make employer notice you and call you for an interview!
Many people make the mistake of describing what they did in a work situation in terms of their duties or their job description. This way of describing work is not nearly so powerful describing your experience in terms of what you accomplished. For example, let's say that your duties were to coordinate development of new sales brochures, work with writing and production staff, and help to prepare marketing strategy.
Here's how these same duties might be stated in terms of your actual accomplishments:
Developed ten new sales brochures in two years, four of which helped bringing in sales in excess of $500,000 (more than double the company average).
Try another example. Your duty was to recruit new volunteers for a community hospital. This function could be presented more impressively in the following manner:
Devised an intensive program of contacting youth groups to recruit volunteers at local hospital. The program increased the number of volunteers by more than 25 percent in one year.
Here are some examples of other accomplishments the women using this book have listed:
- Conceived and organized freshman orientation program.
- Ran personnel department during director's extended absence.
- Wrote a training manual that increased operator efficiency 20 percent.
- Designed a rock garden.
- Remodeled an old barn.
- Supported three children by doing freelance writing and copy-editing.
- Obtained a master's degree in nutrition while also earning a living at a full-time job.
- Reorganized campus theater group into repertory company.
Now it's your turn. On a sheet of paper, list a minimum of ten specific events (personal, school, community, or work) that you feel represented accomplishments, and don't worry if they are not earthshaking. This is step one of your Achievements analysis. It makes it easier if you use an action verb like the ones used below to begin each sentence.
2. Analyze Your Achievements
The next step is to analyze the achievements you've just accomplished. Consider them one by one and then list the skills or personal attributes that you think enabled you to accomplish each task. In each case ask yourself: What is there about me that made it possible to accomplish this? Think about your personality as well as your specific skills and abilities. Traits that affect your accomplishments might include willingness to work, having patience, ability to handle people, sales ability, organizing ability, knowledge of antiques, ability to sketch, logical thinking, dynamic presentation, or virtually any other skill or capability. List anything you can think of that contributed to your success each achievement.
3. Identify Your Skills
Now sit back and review the results. What attributes, skills or abilities show up most frequently? For step three, select the four or five skills that are repeated the most, and list them in your notebook in order of frequency.
4. List Additional Skills
Now think whether there are any other important problem-solving skills that didn't show up. If so, list them.
You have completed the self-examination section. Because of your investment in this process, you should have a pretty clear idea of your strongest selling points; you're in a good position to start working directly on your resume.
From this point everything presented will directly relate to the actual writing of the resume. Your resume is your most important sales tool. And as in most effective sales and marketing presentations, preparation is often ten times more involved and lengthy than the end result.
