career management – Broadly Speaking

November 2, 2016

Resume Tune Up: Your 10 Point Safety Check

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Picture by Adrianne Harris

Written by Adrianne Harris, Broadly Speaking

How often do you put your car in for a service, or have your engine tuned up so it is working at peak efficiency? How often do you change the oil, check the headlights are working or replace your tyres?

Most people might service their vehicle at least once or twice a year and most cars have at least one registration check per year where your mechanic makes sure your car is roadworthy. We like to make sure our car is working well and ready for us to jump in and be able to just drive without worry.

Regular tune ups and services let us go on our adventures safe in the knowledge the car will work and not break down and leave us stuck on the side of the road. A regular service will check that the parts of your car are in good condition and your mechanic will replace any parts that are no longer working or at risk of failure.

How often though do you tune up you resume? How often do you review the component parts of your resume to make sure it’s operating at peak efficiency?

A resume tune up should include a 10 point safety check on:

Your contact details – has your email or phone changed?
Your career objective/skills statement – does this reflect where you currently are in your career and skills set
Is your current job listed?
Tense – have you updated the tense of your responsibilities of previous jobs and is your current job in present tense
Have you updated your achievements?
Have you added any new qualifications?
Have you updated relevant training courses?
Is your IT skills list still current?
Have you reviewed for spelling, grammar, consistency in formatting?
Are your referees still the best referees to use, are their contact details still current?

When your resume is serviced regularly, you will be ready to:

Apply for your dream job when it’s advertised
Respond to a headhunting requests in short time
Apply for an unexpected unadvertised opportunity
Apply for a promotion
Deal with changes in the workplace and restructures
Apply for jobs after a redundancy

Don’t leave your tune up until the end of the year, when you are tired and fed up with your current job, or first thing in the New Year when you don’t want to return to work after your holiday break. Consider getting your resume tuned up now, before the end of the year festivities and holidays, so that if the right opportunity arises, you are ready to go. It’s also a great way to review what you have achieved during the year and to take satisfaction from your own review if you work in an organisation where feedback is limited.

Contact Adrianne today to arrange your resume tune up.

June 3, 2016July 14, 2016

Capturing Your Achievements

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Photo credit: Adrianne Harris

It’s hard to believe it’s the middle of the year already. Time just flies by.

Take time now to reflect on your achievements, both personal and professional, since the start of the year. Jot down what you are most proud of, what others have thanked you for and the goals you have achieved.

“But I haven’t done anything!” I can hear you yelling.

It’s easy to feel like we haven’t achieved anything at work, sometimes our workplaces change direction, shelve projects or restructure and spend time replanning and reshaping. However, if you have a look back through your emails, performance discussion documents, position description, notes you have taken, thank you cards, and conversations that you’ve had during the year so far, you’ll find you’ve actually achieved a lot.

And if you can honestly think of nothing, then have a chat to a trusted colleague, maybe they can remind you of some of the things you have done this year.

Make sure you capture:

What you did – did you improve something, change a process, decrease something?
How you did it – in one or two sentences so you are also capturing the elements that helped you complete the task
The outcome – and be as specific as you can. If you can quantify (put into numbers) the achievement, do so.

It’s easy to say “I increased sales by 5% in the first quarter” if your job is to increase sales.

What about if you support the sales team, what are your achievements? Could it be something like, improving a process so the sales team could spend more time talking to clients, which in turn increased sales in the organisation?

Make sure you somehow document your achievements, perhaps in your career journal, or in a file somewhere. You want to be able to easily access this information if you are wanting to update your resume, apply for a job or talk to your boss about that much deserved pay rise.

Don’t forget to take the time to reflect on your strengths and take pride in a job well done and schedule some time at the end of the year to capture your achievements in the latter half of the year.

If you want to discuss your achievements or setting goals for the latter half of the year, please get in touch.

Adrianne Harris, 3 June 2016

May 4, 2016July 14, 2016

2016 Workshops, Expos and Conferences

Have you planned your development activities for the latter half of the year?

I’m very pleased to announce that there are three public workshops on offer this year through Broadly Speaking:

The numbers in the workshops are small and this means that you will be able to ask questions and hear from other participants. Workshops are interactive in nature, and if you come along, expect to have some fun, learn some new information and share your ideas with others. Attending a Broadly Speaking workshop is never a dull event.

There are also two great career expos coming up:

Attending and Expo is a great way to scan the available options for learning, development and employment. I highly recommend attending at least one careers expo in your life, they can energise you and give you new ideas for where you might take your career.

You might also consider attending a conference if your Professional Association or industry group organises such events. I also recommend helping to organise a conference, they are great networking opportunities as well as tremendous learning and development events, not to mention how good it looks on your resume!