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Knowing your accomplishments—and identifying the skills used to achieve them—is one of the most important tasks of an effective job search. Recalling these key experiences will increase your self-confidence and will enable you to feel comfortable selling yourself.

Accomplishments can be big or small, very impressive or rather simple. An accomplishment is anything that includes at least one of these four items. You:

Enjoyed doing it

Did it well

Gained satisfaction from it

Are proud of it

Many accomplishments include all four aspects, while some may include just one or two. Accomplishments often involve solving problems. With some accomplishments you may receive recognition or compliments from parents, friends, coworkers, customers, or supervisors, while at other times you may be the only one who knows what you did. Some accomplishments are achieved through great effort, while others come easily. Many of your accomplishments were enjoyable and fondly recalled.

Other experiences are genuine accomplishments, but they may be “bittersweet.” It may be an accomplishment simply because you overcame many adversities. At the time you may have been extremely frustrated. Even thinking about the experience may bring back those feelings of frustration, anger, or hurt. It’s okay to remember the negative parts, but concentrate as much as you can on the positive aspects of the experience. In other words, concentrate on the result. These seemingly negative experiences often produce great personal growth.

Accomplishments are best thought of as specific experiences. Most of your accomplishments should be things that occurred during a relatively short period of time. It could be something that occurred from start to finish in fifteen minutes or several hours. More typically accomplishments are experiences which occurred over days or weeks. Although some accomplishments may take place over years, those long-term accomplishments can be broken into sub-accomplishments. For example, graduating from college is certainly an accomplishment. Although you should list an accomplishment like that, step back and consider all of the smaller accomplishments that enabled you to achieve the larger accomplishment. In the case of graduating from college that would include the key papers you wrote and the projects you worked on. Those papers and projects should be listed as well.

Now review the following list of accomplishments. These experiences have been provided by many different people. Notice how some of the accomplishments are impressive, while others seem rather common and ordinary. That’s to be expected. Note that most of the accomplishment statements also contain a result. As you list an accomplishment, the result helps you clarify what made it an accomplishment. Once you review the list you will then read three accomplishments in which 5-10 skills were identified. Then you’ll find instructions for completing this exercise. Basically you’ll be asked to identify 30 or more experiences that can be considered accomplishments, and then write about your top twelve experiences. Then you’ll identify the skills you used in each accomplishment. This is a critical exercise that can pay big dividends.

Jobs

I received a $600 award from Boeing for suggesting a money-saving idea.

I became the first woman engineer in the firm.

I earned my way through college painting houses.

I figured out a faster method of estimating the cost of our printing jobs.

My advertising jingle is credited with increasing sales 15%.

My plan for flextime has really reduced absenteeism.

I made a sale to a firm that had refused to deal with us for 15 years.

I increased sales in my territory 39% in two years.

I added 24 customers to my paper route.

Wrote recommendations for a hazardous waste program that were adopted by the state.

I received three promotions in four years.

I became one of the youngest store managers ever in the chain.

I produced a videotaped training program for our tellers which cut training time of new tellers about 20% and significantly reduced the errors they made.

I developed and implemented a plan to purchase a fleet of trucks to handle our own deliveries. The plan cut our costs by 5% and provided more reliable service to our customers.

Made history and literature interesting to bored kids.

Created the first performance measurements, charts, statistics, and graphs for most functions of the department.

Developed a form and formula for calculating return on investment on large-quantity purchases.

Won the first “innovative achievement in purchasing” award from corporate.

Appeared with Mickey Rooney in four commercials.

Leveraged a $200,000 promotion budget into $1 million in on-air value. Sold out the Spokane Opera House ten times and attracted 56,000 skiers to the Warren Miller ski film.

Convinced Roseanne to appear in a great but offbeat, low-budget ad campaign, just as she was hitting the big time.

School

I learned Russian so I could read War and Peace in the original language.

I got a B in chemistry after failing the midterm exam.

I got an A in chemistry from the toughest prof.

I wrote an outstanding paper on the causes of World War II.

I was elected senior class vice president.

I was committee chairperson of the junior prom decorations committee. Some teachers thought they were the best decorations in years.

Hobbies/Activities

I planted a garden, fought the weeds, and got 15 bushels of vegetables.

I hitchhiked alone from Paris through France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

I planned and built a 400-square-foot deck.

I won honorable mention in a county bakeoff for a unique potato salad. I wrote 25 short stories between 1985 and 1995 and got two published.

Getting paid assignments to photograph people.

Bought and redecorated (elegantly but on a small budget) a small condominium.

Designed a new dress, combining several patterns. Took lessons and became a good dancer. Have taught others.

Sports/Physical Activities

I learned to ski at age 44.

I got third place in a cross-country track meet.

I scored a game-winning basket.

I won first place in a kite-flying contest.

I climbed Mt. Rainier.

I competed in my first 10K race at age 36.

Although I hate swimming, I became a certified scuba diver.

Tried parachuting—once.

Took the first group of American skiers (35 people) to Russia in 1986 for a 14-day exchange with the Russian Olympic team.

Volunteer

As president of the PTA I increased membership 36%.

I was elected secretary of my local accounting association.

As chairman of fund raising, I raised more money than any other Bay Area Lions Club in 1979.

My team built a very effective irrigation system during my Peace Corps tour.

Personal

I raised three mischievous boys and trained them to become well-adjusted adults.

I planned and arranged a wonderful three-week vacation in Europe with a tight budget.

I quit smoking. I administered CPR to a man and saved his life.

After reviewing this list, read the expanded accomplishments on the following pages and notice how we identified skills. The purpose of this exercise is to identify as many stories as possible to be used in interviews, and to identify the key skills you’ll want to sell during interviews.

Able to bring consensus in areas that had been chaotic

Achieve the unachievable

Effectively get people to review a concept objectively

Get people to value consensus and to be willing to compromise

Effectively organize large educational seminars

Excellent at resolving disputes among diverse interest groups

Excellent at marketing programs and getting strong attendance

Excellent writer

Effectively organize committees

People enjoy and value the events organized

For three years, beginning in 1997, I held a volunteer office with the Rocky Mountain Ski Instructors Association. I was elected to this position by the association’s 3,000 ski instructors to reorganize and simplify the current methodology used for teaching skiing.

This had never been accomplished because there were so many systems of teaching, and there was also a widespread misuse of terminology. Everyone was set in their ways and were unwilling to compromise. This became a critical issue because state licensing and certification was necessary for ski instructors to teach on U.S. Forest Service land at state ski areas. The Forest Service required a single system.

To accomplish this I organized several large educational seminars each year to educate both ski instructors and certification examiners on a simplified American teaching system. As many as 500 people attended these two-day events. I spent many hours in various levels of committee meetings disseminating information and resolving disputes among these diverse interest groups. As a result of these efforts, I was able to develop a unified ski teaching method and get it adopted by the Rocky Mountain Ski Instructors Association.

In this accomplishment, the first skill regarding consensus building is a powerful skill that he will probably sell frequently. The ski instructors story is a perfect vehicle for selling that skill.

In interviews don’t try to quote your skills exactly as they appear with your accomplishments. Instead, describe a skill in a way that is consistent with the way you talk. For example, you might say, “I’m the person who can achieve consensus when everyone is strongly disagreeing. Somehow I just find a way. I listen to all the sides and then help each side understand the needs of the other. Eventually we reach agreement on even the toughest issues.”

Gain the support and involvement of people who are naturally defensive and hesitant

Develop innovative methods and techniques

Effectively analyze profitability of products and services

Able to analyze a complete product line, take it apart, and put it back together with greater profitability

Develop highly effective computer generated reports

Gain the confidence and absolute trust of people

I led a research group in studying the profitability of installment lending at U.S. Bancorp. I analyzed gross yields, handling costs, and loan losses for the various types of loans. I developed a consistent and accepted method for measuring handling costs among the several loan categories. My analysis gained credibility with the senior lending managers. I worked with the installment lending department and obtained their help in the project. The analysis revealed that some types of loans had very high handling costs and were not profitable. My analysis helped initiate a move away from unprofitable loan categories. After discussions with a senior executive at the bank, I developed a computer report for easy monitoring of the rates, maturity, and size characteristics of new loans. This process helped ensure that we kept profitability high.

In this example the fourth skill is likely to have the greatest impact. The person might state, “My strength is producing products with greater profit margins. I have the ability to analyze a complete product line, take it apart and put it back together with greater profitability.”

Develop effective systems that increase sales and productivity

Persuasive

Develop sales incentives that really work

Leader—motivate staff

Conduct useful meetings

Able to instill a need for planning and organization into staff

Conduct motivating sales meetings

Always create a winning team

Get people believing in themselves

Give people the tools to help them succeed

In 1998 I was promoted from agent to district manager for New York Life. For the first month I hardly knew what I was supposed to do because there were no procedures or systems in place. Then I attended a seminar on insurance management put on by the Kinder brothers. They taught that you needed a system for everything. I learned a lot.

When I returned to the office I began to write a recruiting and training system. It really helped new agents get off to a fast start, and those early successes increased their motivation and self-confidence. I developed good campaigns with wonderful awards to motivate the achievers on the staff. We had training meetings which were always great occasions. I spent a lot of time with my new people and really got them going. I made mistakes but I did enough things right that it started to show. In 1999 we finished number three in the region and number one in 2000.

All of the skills listed are valuable, but it is the first skill describing the ability to develop systems that increase sales and productivity that will have the most impact.

Now read the instructions for completing this exercise. I trust you will take the time to write about your top twelve accomplishments and then identify skills within them. These twelve experiences will undoubtedly be used frequently in your interviews. They are your best experiences and each contains 5-15 key skills. Any time you want to sell one of the skills identified, you’ve got at least one excellent example.

The accomplishments you did not write about will also be used in interviews. If you have 20 or 30 that you did not write about, take up to two minutes with each one to identify the 2-3 key skills that jump out at you. Rehearse these experiences as well.

Before you begin identifying your accomplishments, be sure to read all of the instructions. There are important points throughout that you need to know and understand before you begin.