Watch this video to understand how to identify relevant accomplishments. When talking about yourself professionally, it is important to consider the setting and your audience.
This activity will help you determine what the employer is looking for (what they want to hear) and how it relates to what you have to offer professionally.
1. Spend 15-20 minutes researching typical responsibilities and qualifications for the type of job that you are interested in. To do that, find 3-5 job postings for that role using sites such as Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com.
2. Read the responsibilities and qualifications in the job postings you selected.
---Responsibilities (or duties) typically describe what will be expected of the employee in the position.
---Qualifications usually specify the experience, skills, and education requirements that a hiring manager is looking for.
3. Identify 5-10 responsibilities and qualifications that appear on more than one of these job postings and record those in the Job Analysis Charts document, linked below.
4. Note which of your accomplishment stories demonstrate the responsibilities and qualifications employers are seeking.
5. Place the title and number of your accomplishment story that best represents the key responsibility/qualification in the Job Analysis Chart below.
Example:
Job Title: Team Lead
| Key Responsibility/Qualification: what the employer is looking for | Actively identifies risk and resolves issues so that impact to production timeline, cost, and quality are mitigated and/or minimized. |
| Aligned Accomplishment Story | Story #1: Improved order fulfillment |
Complete the Job Analysis Charts in the following document using the instructions above. Remember to save the document for your future reference.
Take a moment to analyze the information you have gathered.
1. Do you see connections between what the employer is looking for and your accomplishments? The accomplishment stories you have identified are what you will want to include on your resume and talk about in interviews (you will learn more about how to do this in the next sections).
2. Look for gaps on the chart above. Are there any requirements or qualifications for which you have not referenced an accomplishment story? Can you think of examples of accomplishment stories to fill those gaps? In addition to paid work, consider any volunteer work, internships, and participation in professional associations
