Uncertainty is in the air we breathe right now and many of us have reverted to survival mode. We have few guarantees about current income, the state of our industries or what these will look like in the post-Corona world.

But at some point, the economy will start to function again and we need to be ready.

Whether we revert to our previous roles, continue to develop our careers from where they were halted, or need to make a complete or partial career switch, one thing is certain – we’ll need to show why we are a good investment for our employer.

So in this time of lockdown, the first thing you can do is to focus on your achievements.

These successes will demonstrate a winning mentality, well-developed expertise and the positive impact you have had upon your colleagues and clients. They are evidence that you will bring something positive and relevant to the re-build that lies ahead.

‘I can’t think of any achievements’

When I discuss achievements with my career change clients, they can be very reluctant to identify them or otherwise wildly underplay their successes.

Others consider any achievement as a team effort and aren’t keen to claim the significance of their personal contribution.

But now is not the time for unnecessary humility. The clearer you can be about two significant things, the more likely it is that you will be viewed as someone who will make a noticeable difference.

What are these two factors?

* contribution (what you did)

and

* impact (how that contribution made a difference to the outcome)

So I invite you to shrug off any reluctance and make valuable use of this lockdown time by collecting and recognising your achievements. When you understand your specific professional and personal successes and what these reveal about you as a person, you have convincing evidence to support your next move. You’ll also have the confidence to widen your horizons and value your worth.

1. Uncovering Your Achievements

Work through these activities one step at a time and you’ll build a portfolio of your successes. These can be added to your CV, your LinkedIn profile, and will inform any applications you make and exploratory discussions you develop in the weeks and months ahead.

Download the worksheet here.

Step 1: Personal AND Professional

Start by writing two lists: Professional Achievements and Personal Achievements

Professional achievements might include things like:

additional professional qualifications; leading a project; training others; exceeding certain targets; creating something new - services, processes, products (think about all aspects of your work to gather as many as possible); creating a new business; expanding reach, responsibility; re-training to change direction.

Be specific about what you taught / introduced / developed

Personal achievements can cover things like:

running your first 5K; creating a new charitable or voluntary group; being a youth leader or playgroup organizer; sitting on a board of directors, being a school governor or local councillor; leading a book group or support network; developing a hobby into a business – think broadly and you’ll soon have a longer list than you’d expected.

Don’t assume these are irrelevant to your professional life – they demonstrate important aspects of your character and how you engage in your community and are therefore incredibly relevant to what you bring to work.

If you’re still struggling to think of your achievements, try dividing your life into 5-year chunks, or decades if your career is quite long, and drilling down into each for significant milestones.

2: Mining the gold in your achievements

Transfer your achievements into the left hand column of the worksheet then dive into revealing what’s contained in each.

1. The verbs

For each achievement, list the verbs involved. These might include:

Initiated

Developed

Created

Lead

Launched

Expanded

Invented

Introduced

… and there will probably be specific verbs attached to your own industry or role.

Your personal achievements may involve different verbs like:

Elected (to/as)

Organised

Completed

Re-trained

Launched

Created

Qualified

You now have some useful verbs, which indicate specific skills and perhaps strengths.

2. The Qualities

From each of these achievements and their associated skills, you’ll be able to identify personal or professional qualities, values or mindsets.

So, if CREATED was in your list of verbs, the qualities this suggests could include:

VISION, CLARITY or PERSISTENCE.

Draw out as many qualities, talents, attributes or aptitudes as you can and add them to the next column in the worksheet.

3. A second opinion

We often have a tendency to undervalue our achievements, so now is the time to ask for a second opinion.

Who knows you well and will give you a fair and positive opinion of what else this achievement might suggest about you as an individual?

Choose your second carefully. You need honesty, generosity and clarity.

Add in verbs and qualities from their feedback.

You now have quite a lot of data about your achievements. Read it through and let it sink in.

Allow your confidence to grow.

4. Stand well back

You’ve spent some time looking in detail at these achievements, now you need a different perspective. This will allow you to understand the real impact of your actions.

1. For each achievement on your list ask yourself these questions:

What was the situation before your actions?

What was the situation afterwards?

What difference did you make or what value did you add?

Add this information to the next column in the worksheet - you’re nearly there.

2. What are you particularly proud of in each achievement?

Think about the specific context, obstacles overcome, problems solved, and the final impact.

5. Make it count

You will now have a clear and detailed picture of each achievement. How can you give even more credibility and weight to this list of successes?

By adding quantifiable data, the example comes alive and is more compelling. This means adding percentages, increases (or decreases), recognition, numbers or other statistics.

This will help you create a bullet point for each achievement, which you can use in your CV, LinkedIn or other professional profile. This clear demonstration of your capabilities will add weight to a new application.

E.g.

· Designed and managed a new career service serving 1,500 students and achieving QA standards within 3 years

Add this to the final column of the worksheet or use the blank sheet to play about with the wording until it’s clear and records the achievement accurately.

Here’s an example using some of my own achievements:

6. What Next?

With this clear and quantifiable list of achievements you can now believe you are a strong candidate for a particular role and will have some excellent examples to use in your CV, application form and to develop into compelling stories at interview.

Are you starting to believe that you are more of a success story than you thought at the beginning of this article?

You now have the evidence to prove it!

If you’d like to discuss how you can use this information as part of your next career move, please get in touch to arrange a free 30-minute discovery call below:

Career Development During Lockdown #1: Gather Your Achievements