Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring: Take Charge of Your Career, Find a Job You Love, and Earn What You Deserve

Chapter 33. Accomplishment Stories Are Your Most Powerful Selling Tools

What is an accomplishment story? It's one or more of the following:

• A work-related task or event about which you feel proud

• A situation where you exceeded the job's responsibilities

• A specific instance of your taking personal initiative

• A time when you may have received special recognition or praise

Select five or six work-related events from any time in your career, and answer the following five questions to complete your accomplishment stories. Each of your answers should constitute its own paragraph on the page (so each story consists of five paragraphs). The stories should be written on separate pages (one story per sheet), following the five-step structure shown as follows. Give a short title to each story, and type it at the top of each respective page.

1. What was the problem, need, or challenge?

2. What did you do about it? (Not the team or department—you)

3. How did you do it, specifically?

4. What positive, tangible results did you produce? (Quantify if possible)

5. What skills did you demonstrate?* (List three to four skill words for each story.)

*Skill words include the following. Use only these words, selecting three to four maximum per story, to answer question 5: management, observation, communication, leadership, presentation, persuasion, analysis, innovation, team-building, problem-solving, follow-through, organization.

Here's a list to help jog your memory about your own career accomplishments:

Have you ever...

• Managed ...