Advancing Your Career

1. Advancing Your Career Leslie Lum Bellevue Community College

2. Achieving your goals • What is your career goal? • Have goals because if you don’t, you’ll never achieve them. Write them down. • Let everybody know what your goals are. • Tell your family, friends, and classmates. Tell people your goals. They’ll help. • Make sure that you have all the pieces in place to achieve your goals. • Education, certification, experience, etc.

3. Skills Employers Look For • Management: Control, cost-effective, financing, forecasting, goal achievement, goal setting, initiative, judgment, negotiating, organizing, planning, policy making • Problem solving: analytical, integrate/consolidate, perceptive, problem solving, trouble shooting • Attitude: Assertive, confident, conscientious, decisive, ethical, energetic, enthusiastic, flexible, leadership, motivated, optimistic, persistent, reliable, quick study, responsible • Communication: Articulate, listening, motivational, persuasive, presentation skills, public speaking skills, training skills, writing skills, ability to communicate to diverse groups and teams • Creativity: Creative, inventive, resourceful

4. Thirty Second Commercial • Also called the elevator speech. You have 30 seconds to tell a complete stranger about yourself: • Give your name. • Characterize your experience. • In one or two sentences, describe the unique focus of your experience. How are you different from other people? • Give your goal.

5. 30-second commercial • Hello, I am Leslie Lum. I have managed all aspects of a small business and overseen the full range of business development from start-up to mature organization. My strengths are getting diverse teams to perform at extraordinary levels and improving business processes. I’m looking for a position managing a small business.

6. 30-second commercial • Pair off • Write your 30-second commercial • Read it to your partner and get feedback • Revise it • Read it to the class

7. Accomplishments • Accomplishments are the things you’ve done that produced benefits for the organizations that you worked for. They are things that you are proud of. You may have been rewarded for them. They demonstrate your achievements and your ability to make things happen.

8. Why are Accomplishments important? • Employers hire people who can solve their problems. • They don’t care about job titles. • They care about what you can do for them.

9. How to identify and write your accomplishments • They are really tough to write. (We don’t like to brag.) • Write a job description for each position you held. Make a list of the things you did that were of benefit to the organization. • What was the reason you did it? What was the problem that prompted your action that led to the result or benefit?

10. Questions to generate accomplishments • What actions did you take that produced benefits to your employer? • Did you identify a problem and solve it? What were the benefits? • Did you introduce a new system or procedure that made work more efficient? • Did you save money or time? • Did you increase productivity, reduce down time or improve morale? • Did you effectively manage people? • Did you initiate a sales or incentive program that worked? • Did you author or develop reports, promotions or newsletters? • Did you improve processes? • Were you part of major decision-making? • Did you reduce risk? • Did you achieve outstanding sales? • Did you receive any awards, bonuses, or promotions?

11. Write forceful accomplishments Action verb Action Comma Transition verb Result Quantifier , Ending in “—ed” Who, What, When, Why Ending in “—ing” $ saved # customers Benefit Restructured staffing mix, standardized benefits and developed performance appraisal system based on profitability, increasing staff retention by 300%. To be most effective, an accomplishment should take up two lines or about 22 to 25 words.

12. Check List for Accomplishments • Have I provided enough background to understand the nature of my accomplishment? • Is it really an accomplishment, or is it a description of a responsibility? • Does the accomplishment support me in my goal? • Does it start with an action verb? • Does it describe the result I obtained?

13. Tips • Use short, simple words. • Include only relevant facts. • One line is too short. More than three lines is too long. • Shouldn’t tell the whole story. Just give highlights.

14. How to use accomplishments • Have at least 10 accomplishments • Pick and choose accomplishments depending on who you are giving your resume to

15. Accomplishments? Launched business from my home – buying and selling collectibles locally and through Ebay 7 years experience in managing my own stock portfolio created from the profits of my business 200+ hours of construction work with home construction contractor Jake Craft 85+ hours of volunteer work building homes for underprivileged families in Tijuana, Mexico 20+ hours of tutoring my peers and classmates in math As of 10/10/05 I have been working as a courtesy clerk for the grocery store QFC. I work on average 20 hours a week doing various jobs including customer assistance

16. Accomplishments • Launched collectible business selling at physical location and on Ebay generating $1500 in profits • Managed stock portfolio with 60% return over seven years • Effectively managed construction team and developed team member construction skills in building one home for underprivileged families in Tijuana, Mexico • Tutored five students in math and science advancing each student up a letter grade • Received compliments and high evaluation for work as courtesy clerk at QFC

17. Accomplishments? • Laborer – freelance landscaping and labor • Kitchen Help and Youth Counselor – Responsible for food prep, short order cook, clean up and youth counselor

18. Accomplishments • Started own landscaping business and currently have five highly-satisfied clients taking on projects such as laying foundation for ten feet square gazebo • Part of team of counselors to 250 underprivileged youth. Counseled youth successfully in managing inappropriate behaivor. Developed engaging and entertaining life lessons.

19. Your accomplishments • Look at your resume and write five accomplishments