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your GPA, calculate it using several cuts—overall, major-only, or by year—to
see which provides the most favorable view to note on your resume, or at least
mention in the interview if asked. Always use a standard 4.0 scale.
Recommendations.Re-read any recommendations written for you—for school,
jobs, or contests. Make note of the strengths mentioned. You can highlight
these strengths as you describe your experience and accomplishments in your
cover letter and resume.
Performance reviews.Employer reviews may contain information on your
rating vis-à-vis your peers. They may also include assessments of your
accomplishments during your tenure. They are a good source of strengths and
possibly of some quantitative results you’ve achieved in your career.
Employment history.Prepare a chronological history ofthe major jobs you’ve
held. Include the company names, your titles, managers’ names, the time you
spent in those positions, starting and ending salaries, and primary responsibilities.
This will be very useful in identifying upward trends in your career—increasing
responsibility, increasing salary, or other advancement. Your employment
history will also help you identify any gaps that will need to be accounted for
on the resume or in the interview.
Top accomplishments.List the most significant accomplishments from your
professional, academic, and personal experiences. Write down each achievement;
then explain why it is significant to you, how you achieved it, how others
helped you, and how you measure its success. You will need to include
information about at least two of your top accomplishments in your resume,
preferably with an indication of the results achieved. Later on in this guide, we
include an exercise to help you articulate your accomplishments for the cover
letter and resume.
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Survey your strengths.Once you’ve got a handle on the facts ofyour career
and education, you’re in a good place to think about the types of work or
activities in which you’ve performed well and felt good about it. The skills you
used in these situations are most likely some of your strengths. Include
evidence of these on your resume so the reader can identify you as a strong
analyst, born leader, or formidable writer. Since these areas will likely be
explored further in your interviews, think through how you might talk about
some examples from your resume.
Address your limitations.You obviously won’t highlight your weaknesses in
your cover letter or resume, but omission of information might prompt a
resume reviewer to question these areas. If your resume lacks information on
leadership positions, for example, you may need to show strengths in several
other areas. If you don’t know the computer applications specified in the job
description, you might emphasize that you are a quick learner and familiar with
comparable programs.
Determine your work values.Loyalty,growth of f responsibilities,employee
involvement, loosely or clearly defined job functions, teamwork, autonomy,
community, competition—some combination of these values (and others) will
define corporate culture or organizational atmosphere. Do your values match
those of your prospective employers? How have you demonstrated a
commitment to the values expressed by the company (either stated directly in
the position listing or through your research on their policies)? The cover letter
is the ideal place to present your work-related values and how they support the
organizations you are pursuing.
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Analyzing Your
Transferable Skills
How many times have you seen “excellent communication skills” listed as a required
qualification in a job description? Certain capabilities are crucial for succeeding as a
professional, no matter what the field. The beauty of these core skills is that you can
acquire them from work in one field, setting, or academic experience, and apply
them to another. For this reason, these skills are often called “transferable skills.”
Communication, teamwork, management, leadership, initiative, adaptability,
analytical, and organizational skills are valued across many fields and can be
developed through education, employment, volunteer activities, and hobbies.
This section reviews employers’ most sought-out attributes in a broad spectrum
of industries. Which you choose to highlight depends on the particular
requirements of a position and the corporate culture of each company you’re
targeting. The list of questions following each skill set will help you identify
your relevant skills and how you accomplished them. These questions should
also help you see that skills or expertise developed in one context can help you
prepare for a successful career in another.
Quantitative and Analytical Ability
Quantitative or analytical skills are critical components of many jobs,
particularly in business and scientific fields. They are fundamental to your
success in industries such as financial services and consulting, especially during
the first few years of your career. In these fields, if you show no evidence of
these skills, you will not get to the interview.
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Have You:
• Filtered through data and assumptions and identified reasonable responses to
complex problems?
• Synthesized large amounts of information and identified issues?
• Identified a problem and taken a proactive approach to solving it?
• Done well in courses with heavy analytical and quantitative content?
• Performed experiments that required formulation of a hypothesis and
collection of evidence to prove or disprove it?
• Taken courses in mathematics, statistics, or other subjects that utilize
analytical thinking?
If so, you may have the quantitative or analytical ability employers look for.
Drive for Results (Initiative)
An increasing number of companies and non-profit organizations are
emphasizing results in their hiring needs. Employers in any field want to know
whether you have the ambition, motivation, attention to detail, and energy
necessary to deliver real results.
Have You:
• Brought new customers or revenue into your company? Developed new
programs or initiatives?
• Proven yourself as a self-starter who goes above and beyond requirements?
• Shown the ability to switch priorities and move quickly among different tasks?
• Set a challenging goal and achieved it?
• Attended to the details while juggling multiple tasks?
• Taken an innovative and/or efficient approach to getting something done?
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The need for specific, often quantitative, measurements of your
accomplishments should start you thinking about how to track and measure
your achievements if you don’t do that already.
Achievement/Intellectual Capacity
Are you outstanding in any of your accomplishments? Employers may be
interested in someone who can achieve beyond the norm, or who can
demonstrate ambition in their endeavors.
Have You:
• Earned honors or awards?
• Received academic scholarships or fellowships?
• Taken on challenging courses or a heavy workload?
• Pursued intellectual activities (chess, computer programming, etc)?
• Attended academically rigorous schools?
• Done well on standardized tests (SAT, GMAT, LSAT, and so on)?
• Earned a high GPA?
• Received awards and recognition in the workplace?
Leadership
Leadership can be expressed both through your managerial experiences and
through your willingness to take on responsibility, even if your role is not that
of a supervisor or team captain. Many employers look for leadership qualities
in their staff.
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Have You:
• Managed people?
• Facilitated meetings?
• Led teams in solving problems?
• Coordinated outside vendors?
• Held a leadership position in a school organization, team, or club?
• Been elected to a post by your peers?
• Organized or coordinated significant events?
• Had a position of significant responsibility with a previous employer?
• Hired or fired anyone?
Teamwork
Teamwork with clients and/or colleagues is a critical component of most work
environments. Employers look for people who can work effectively with others
and inspire them toward a common goal. This means an ability to communicate
clearly and collaboratively with managers, peers, assistants, clients, vendors, and
anyone you will have contact with through your work.
Have You:
• Been a member of a sports team, study group, or committee?
• Worked effectively with people whose work style or cultural background
differ from yours?
• Inspired others to take action in an unstructured situation?
• Taken on the role of a team leader or player as needed?
Of course, you have. We don’t know of any candidate, particularly ones with
high levels of academic training, who hasn’t been involved in working with a
team. (Gotta love those study groups!). Identify the teams and/or groups
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you’ve been a part of and think about the role you typically play. Employers
may want to hear about your ability to make productive contributions, the type
of role you tend to play on a team, or how you’ve worked with a team to
identify and solve a problem.
Industry and Functional Expertise
If you have a strong understanding of an industry though experience or
academic training, highlight this in your cover letter and resume. Of course,
each industry varies in which insider skills are most important. Here are some
useful ways you can think about your knowledge and past exposure.
Have You:
• Worked in an industry for a good chunk of time?
• Held various roles within one industry?
• Held similar functional roles in different industries? Been able to apply your
functional knowledge from one industry to another?
• Written a thesis or research paper about a particular industry, business issue,
or other topic?
• Volunteered in a particular field, or followed current events related to an
industry or issue?
• Participated in conventions, conferences, symposiums, or associations in a
specific field?
• Developed specialized skills—such as technical, industry based,
administrative, or in-depth knowledge from your academic training?
Unlike Uncle Fred’s approach to sharing past exploits, you can carefully develop
focused descriptions of the most interesting and valuable of your experiences
to share with recruiters and hiring managers. The goal of assessing your skills is
being able to identify what you can offer an employer, and demonstrate how
hiring you will help a company meet its objectives.
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Exercises
The ability to communicate your abilities, skills, and goals are key to creating
persuasive job search materials. Try your hand at the following exercises as a
means of effectively organizing and expressing your qualifications.
Exercise 1: Skill List
Review the following list of skills and circle or highlight the competencies you
have demonstrated in your work, academic, or personal experiences. These
skills are organized in categories representing some of the major core skill areas
sought by employers. Use the extra spaces to write down additional skills for
each of the various categories.
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Communication Teamwork
Managerial
Leadership
explained
collaborated
directed
facilitated
interpreted
cooperated
supervised
led
mediated
coordinated
delegated
instructed
negotiated
assisted
managed
coached
reported
supported
ran
guided
corresponded
backed
oversaw
motivated
drafted
shared
hired
piloted
edited
participated
administered
taught
composed
contributed
executed
enabled
Initiative
Adaptability
Analytical
Organizational
created
anticipated
investigated
administered
expanded
improved
examined
arranged
launched
changed
researched
compiled
designed
negotiated
surveyed
coordinated
established
learned
calculated
maintained
devised
adapted
appraised
managed
instituted
trained
analyzed
operated
developed
complied
evaluated
prioritized
generated
modified
examined
processed
Prepare Your Skill List
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Exercise 2:Achievement Statements
Having a firm grasp on your experiences and competencies won’t do you a lick
of good if you can’t convey them to employers in a concise and effective way.
The format of a cover letter and resume gives you a mere two or three pages in
which to express your qualifications. Your job is to make those pages engaging
and action-packed. Every word counts. For each bullet point stating what
you’ve done, you’ll want to lead with a verb and say in as few carefully chosen
words as possible what action was taken, in what setting, with what skills, and
with what results. This next exercise will walk you through the process of
creating achievements statements that really achieve.
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Environmental Advocate, Sierra Club: Designed and implemented a campaign
strategy to educate the public about climate change and shape international
treaties on the issue. Generated more than $25,000 in new memberships and
donations to support the campaign.
AAccttiioonn:: campaigned for environmental organization
SSeettttiinngg:: worked with the public
SSkkiillllss::
defined goals,designed campaign, implemented campaign,conducted outreach,educated public
RReessuullttss:: improved public awareness of issues, increased visibility of organization, generated 500 new
members ($5,000 revenue),acquired $20,000 in donations
Achievement Statement Example
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
