The time when I...

One of the things I find most useful about Orville Pierson's book, The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search, is that following Pierson's recommendations gives me tasks to work on when the phone isn't ringing, and no one seems to be interested in talking to me about my qualifications. For example, making an Accomplishment List.

As part of taking your Skills Inventory, Pierson recommends making an Accomplishment List--essentially, a list of success stories from your professional life. I found this task to be surprisingly fun and useful in reminding myself that I have a long Excel spreadsheet's worth of work to be proud of. The idea is that once you have this list of stories, you can organize them according to the particular skill you have that they illustrate, which you can then tell when you are having a discussion with a potential employer about that skill. Here are a couple from my list:

1. As a new PM in a fairly chaotic web development environment where project management was in its infancy, I initiated a quarterly project management symposium. When it was my turn to present, the topic was a large and complex client I knew very little about. I interviewed as many people as I could about the client and got many differents stories about the best approach to working with the client. I came up with a game that involved me reading quotes from my interviews, and the participants in the symposium guessing who on our team had told me that particular anecdote. I even had prizes for the most accurate guesses! This approach generated a lot of discussion about the client, as well as new ideas about how to improve the relationship.

Skill: Communication and Facilitation


2. Working at a branch of a global organization based elsewhere, my branch sometimes felt removed from the larger communication campaigns. In addition, we had limited communication vehicles at our branch to report on events specific to our branch. Working with senior leadership and contributors across our branch, I successfully pitched and edited a newsletter that profiled individuals at our branch, highlighted specific activities, and gave a much needed voice within the larger organization to our branch.

Skill: Sales, Communication, and Management