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 When I first connect with a new client, one of the items that usually comes up early in our conversation is their resume. For several of them, they may have not needed to think about their resume and the message it is conveying for many
years. Additionally, that often means they have not looked to update the messages that are conveyed on their Linked In profile, or the verbal messaging they present when asked the question, “So, tell me about yourself?” When I look at their written documentation, or hear their oral presentation, it is often focused on a list of tasks for which they have been responsible in their job. It is rare when it conveys “the value” their
skills brought to the employers for whom they worked or the customers they served.
As we proceed, I will introduce them to the concept of “An Accomplishment Based Resume.” This is based on the concept that in the roles they have been in, (whether on their job, or even in the living of their life), they faced challenges or problems, took action steps and ideally as a result of those action steps they POSITIVELY IMPACTED the individuals who benefitted from the actions that they took. Often, I will hear such comments
as, “I was only doing my job” or “I have always been skilled or found that easy to do.” However, have you every taken the time to think what may have happened if you were not there to take the actions that you did to make something of which others depended on you to get right, successful? While it may be easy to say, “Well, someone else would have done it.,” would they have done so with the same care, the same attention to detail, or the
same results as you? It gets back to the question we brought up in our opening this month, and in the title of this piece, what would have happened in terms the accomplishments that you brought to fruition if “You Had Never Been Born?”
As George Bailey learned in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, we all have our special talents, skills, and gifts that we bring to those items of which we are a part, that make us unique in how we serve and help others. If you remember from the movie, George saved his brother from drowning when he was young when he fell between cracked ice while playing one winter. His brother went on to become a military hero. Or, how George helped the pharmacist where he worked not provide a
customer an improper medication that would have killed the customer, if he had filled the prescription request incorrectly. There were hundreds in his hometown that were able to buy their first home from the loans his company provided. And, most of all, he kept the town where he lived a charming village where to live, as opposed to a site for a greedy developer to make all the businesses and property be to his benefit to only extort from the towns people.
When we get around to the point of expressing what they have done in their work and in their life in the form of Accomplishment statements, I generally have a few words of advice for my clients. First, for those who are hesitant to do so, I indicate please do not look at what you are about to record as a form of bragging. Instead, you are looking to provide a message to those who are reading your resume, or who are having a discussion with you in the form of an
interview, to get an understanding of the skills you provide, the items you enjoy doing for others, and the special care you take in serving their customers. Secondly, I suggest to them that if they have saved past performance reviews of their work, or comments they have received, see exactly what those with whom they worked or whom sent them a letter of thanks indicated what they exactly brought to the jobs or services they provided. Third, I recommend looking
back on their entire life, not just the jobs they have had, but perhaps as they were growing up during their school years, or even in their current life the activities in which they get involved. What roles do they seem to commonly take on? What makes such roles enjoyable to them? How often are they asked to perform those roles?
We all have our special talents that make us unique. There are certain skills and tasks we enjoy using and which come to the forefront when we look to be of aid to others. And, whether you have looked back on your life through self-reflection, or through the eyes of a Guardian Angel, (and if you have never seen “It’s a Wonderful Life,” you will need to do so), remember you have talents and skills that benefit others. Do
not be afraid of using them, and even letting others know how you would love to do so to help them accomplish what they need in their life or their business.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all, and please feel free to connect if I can be of help to you as you move forward in your life’s journey.
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