What's the best way to help employees communicate their skills and accomplishments to potential employers?

People seeking to transition into a new career should identify transferable knowledge and skills (both soft and technical) while crafting their unique value proposition. I recommend reviewing past performance reviews or performance reports to help jog your memory. Browsing LinkedIn profiles of professionals in your field of interest may reveal skills to highlight and gaps to fill. Also, conducting informational interviews with professionals in your career or industry of interest may help you discover potential synergies to showcase on your resume that resonate with employers.

Prioritise focussing on the role over the company, at first. - Compile job descriptions that are as closely aligned to the desired role as possible. - Merge the responsibilities into one long list of responsibilities and use this to build an idea of what success for each responsibility or task would look like. - Consider where in your experience you have demonstrated similar successes. Write these down, specifically noting what happened, what you did, the outcome..... and the characteristics you demonstrated, i.e. adaptable, solution-driven, persistent, etc. - Consider the characteristics demonstrated that are aligned with the company goals, values and culture.

The STAR method is great, but can feel a little mechanical and may make your answer long-winded. Try to make your answers no more than one minute long. The human attention span is getting shorter... quickly, currently last 8 seconds! So stay human, don't be robotic with your answers. Make them punchy and impactful. Don't forget to connect!

Talk about accomplishments. Explain how, what and who were involved in said accomplishments. Explain the timeline, deliverables and if you were able to keep on target if you didn't why and how did you adjust to ensure success. If you are speaking on your accomplishments, you can explain what you learned and would do differently if you had the opportunity.

Quantifying impact elevates anything you highlight. It psychologically shifts the narrative from story to fact. However, I have seen an increase in people overload examples of their work with quantified results and this can have the opposite effect. It’s like trying to hang tyres off a tree made of marshmallow… yeah, imagine that. Ridiculous, right? 😂 Quantify where it makes sense to. Don’t do it unnecessarily or you may find yourself in a pickle when it’s time to dig deep and explain the detail.

Accomplishments are the most important part. Putting a number to your professional results, impact, and innovation you've made is what sets you apart.

I like to think in terms of "what am I most proud of during my time at ABC Org". From there, elaborate based on metrics (savings, ROI, % improvement) and then the human impact. Speak to the feedback received or if no feedback received, then the observed impact over a period of time.

Achievements and awards are definite confidence boosters and they display proficiency in the field. Depending on the job description, they may be useful. But one should be cautious not to come across as boastful when doing so... humility is also a virtue that potential employers may wish to see after all

Working with clients in job search for 20 years, I've found that many simply lose track of their successes. To remedy this, I suggest this positive habit: 1. Start a Google doc entitled "My Successes" and ensure it’s easy to access. 2. Schedule time to update "My Successes" (at least until you've developed the habit of updating the doc as you achieve great things). 3. Don't worry over which successes to add - just do it. From small wins to big achievements. While the success is fresh in your mind, write a paragraph describing the situation, what you did and the impact of your efforts. Include quantitative or qualitative results. 4. To update your Resume and LinkedIn profile or prepare for a performance review, refer to “My Successes”.

I especially appreciate the suggestions in this "Job Search Strategies" article. After having worked in Oncology Clinical Research for 20-plus years, I am going in a different direction and using the skills I developed over that time to "re-brand" myself. I have discovered the value of the suggestion to keep a list of previous successes, because specific skills tend to merge into multiple successes, and it can become difficult to remember each contributing skill.

We are so busy in todays work environment, it’s easy to forget the things we’ve accomplished! As you’re rebranding, remember to bring in the skills and achievements that are relevant to what you intend to do next as well! Sending you success vibes!