Let Your Key Achievements Work For You!

On Wednesday, your favorite team of career counselors viewed Careerealism’s “Selling Yourself to Employers” Webinar, featuring Tom O’Neil, who has authored a book of the same name. We learned a great deal about how you should market yourself on your resume and in job applications, and I wanted to share a bit of that with you today!

When writing your resume and applying to jobs, think of yourself as a “business of one;” if you were a brand, how would you go about selling yourself? One of the simplest, but unfortunately most easily forgotten, ways to do this is by mentioning the major achievements you’ve accomplished in your prior experiences. By highlighting these milestones, you’re able to give a potential employer a better, more quantifiable sense of the different things you’ve done.

Not sure where to start thinking about your key achievements? These ideas from O’Neil’s “Major Achievements Questionnaire” might spark your thinking:

-          Leading or taking part in any major projects

-          Promotions/Being given extra authority or responsibility

-          Receiving commendations from managers or customers

-          Training, coaching, or mentoring other employees

This tactic can work especially well if you’ve worked jobs in areas that look to be on the surface unrelated to your major; when you start looking at the specific things you’ve done, you may realize that your duties gave you great transferable skills for your future career!

The most important thing you can do to sell your “business of one” is provide tangible results that have stemmed from the work you’ve done in prior positions and experiences. Make sure you’re not underselling yourself and put all your hard work out on display!

Amy Smith, Graduate Assistant