Achievements are the building blocks of your successful career change

Achievements are your richest source of information providing concrete and tangible evidence of what you have done so far. They are also the best indicators of what you might do in the future – if you’ve done it once, you can probably do it again!

Above all, what you will need is to have the desire to do it again.

An achievement is something that you have done which has made a difference to you or to others. You may have done it on your own or with and through others. It is not necessarily momentous or world-shattering, but will be something that you feel good about. It doesn't matter whether it comes from your "official" job or some other activity. If you've achieved something you have used level of skill which could be a valuable job skill elsewhere.

Now I know that most of us “freeze up” when asked about achievements, but you must do this achievements excercise if you are serious about getting where you want to be; so no excuses!

For example:

Convinced colleagues of the need to change working practices
Launched the new product line in record time
Reduced supply costs by 15%
Taught my dad how to use his new computer
Secured a 10% increase in sales by...
Raised lots of money for a local charity through a new fund-raising event.
Completed a two year part-time MBA course while balancing work and family commitments

These can relate to unpaid as well as to paid work and also to leisure activities. Ask yourself this: do your successes tend to involve just your own work or other peoples? In other words are you most effective when in a team? Are they mostly to do with work or are there some from other parts of your life? Can you detect a theme to your achievements and if so what is it?

Your significant achievements help to show your true value!

Start to list at least your top ten achievements in the way shown above by using an active verb at the beginning of the phrase; you’ll hear how much more powerful it sounds when described this way.

Analyse what you did and think through to what skills you used when you did the thing you achieved i.e. how did I do that? What did I need to do it?

When you've done this, try this acid test - ask "So what" to each of your statements.

How do they look now?

Here's how to Analyse your skills

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An answer to an interview question? A CV or Resume layout? How to start Networking? Or some ideas of your options?

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