Auditing Your Career: How to Differentiate Yourself in a Competitive Market

Chances are you comparison shop when planning a major purchase. You probably prepare a list of the features you’d like and then compare products to see which one gives you the desirable features for the best cost. You want a product that has maximum potential. We call this value; what products give us the best quality at the best price.
Well, employers are a lot like that too. They are seeking employees who offer the latest skills and abilities, have the potential to assume different responsibilities, and provide value to the organization.

When you think of planning your careers or seeking new jobs, think value-added; what value do you bring to an organization? If you come up short, create and implement an annual “career audit” plan to acquire value-based achievements that demonstrate why you deserve new responsibilities, a promotion, salary increases, or the job offer. Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

1. What have you initiated that was never done before?

2. What solution did you propose or implement for an existing problem and what was the outcome?

3. What recommendations did you suggest and/or execute to improve morale, reduce shrinkage, eliminate shortages, or reduce turnover?

4. What reports did you create by manipulating data in an existing system?

5. What reports did you recommend and retrieve for management review?

6. Did you discover features that would enhance performance and suggest teaching staff on how to access?

7. What did you do that saved money, reduced costs, expedited payments, eliminated backlog, or reduced manpower?

8. Integrate achievement-oriented words into your accomplishments, such as: optimized, broadened, enhanced, expanded, magnified, maximized, strengthened, instituted, launched, originated, piloted, and spearheaded.

9. Let employers know that what you have done in one capacity, you can do in another.

10. Blow your horn if you don’t no one else will.

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