In my previous post, we saw how to develop accomplishment statements into 30 word or less RA (quantified Result & Action) statements. Now that you have them, how do you put them to use? These are the foundation for building your personal brand. The RA statements are what you use to articulate your value in all your marketing collateral. They are the bullet points in your resume that demonstrate your success in leveraging your skills. They are your punch or impact of your 30 second commercial. Putting them onto index cards and memorizing them to complete ownership allow you to answer interview questions succinctly without rambling, letting the interviewer what you will bring to the table.
How many accomplishment statements should you have? As I said in earlier posts, in order to for a company to justify paying you a salary, every task or project you have worked on throughout your career should contribute to the generation of revenue, reduction of costs or mitigation of risks. You should be able to come up with at least 2 to 3 accomplishment statements per year of your career. By developing these statements, you will demonstrate what value you have given to previous employers and leverage these to indicate what value you will bring to future employers. As stated by John Hall so well, “If you want more salary, demonstrate more value!”