Following self-analysis techniques, you will want to gather all the classical documents together to begin to reap the best content for your resume. Begin with your historical documents

Old job descriptions

They will identify the tasks you were assigned on previous jobs. Many job descriptions (particularly poorly written ones) will outline simply a set of responsibilities. The primary value in this language is to help you recall the scope of what you did. As you recall each responsibility, think in terms of what skills were required to accomplish that responsibility.

Commendations

Any positive personnel actions taken on your behalf

These documents are especially useful in helping you recall major accomplishments recognized by your previous (or current) employer.

Performance appraisals

Performance appraisals can help you identify skills you have mastered and accomplishments you have made.

You may wish to take a piece of paper (or use a table in MS Word, or even an Excel spreadsheet), divide it into three columns.

• In the first column, write out the task, job duty or responsibility you were assigned
• In the second, identify any skills you used to fulfill that assignment
• Then in the third column, identify any major accomplishments you made regarding that task, duty or responsibility

This self-analysis technique may take you a two or even three pages for each item because each job duty, task or responsibility may be complex, involving more than one skill, and you may have made more than one significant accomplishment with each.

It may also be that your accomplishment may be better related to the particular skill than to the duty, task or responsibility. Do not let the complexity of this task deter you, however, as the content you develop using this method is the raw material for a superb resume. The method is not the focus -- your RESUME CONTENT is the focus.

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Self-Analysis Techniques When There Are Missing Documents

Using these self-analysis techniques, you may discover that you do not have any of the documents mentioned above, from jobs you held at one time. Not to worry… You may want to refer to O*Net OnLine for help here.

O*Net is a website of the US Department of Labor that helps to identify standard skills, tasks and duties for particular named jobs. It is not my purpose here to teach you how to use O*Net, but rather simply to get you there so that you can develop more content while you do a career self-analysis.

If you prefer hard copy, a great resource is the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. You will find this resource online, at your local library, or, if you are pretty loaded with your own resources, you can purchase it at a local bookstore.

You can also look at

• Job descriptions from similar positions in other companies
• Articles in industry publications that typify "A Day In The Life…" of someone in jobs of interest to you
• Conduct informational interviews with people who currently hold positions similar to the ones you pursue

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Self-Analysis Techniques For Classified Ads

Perhaps even better, use the self-analysis technique of looking at the content of ads for positions similar to ones you have held.

There are lots of sources for these types of ads. You can look in

• Local papers
• National papers
  • Wall Street Journal
  • New York
  • Chicago
  • Washington and
  • Los Angeles papers, for example
• Local and regional magazines
• Department of Labor job sites for each state
• Trade publications of all sorts

You can also visit any of several job search sites. They are loaded with company sponsored ads for positions that are currently open.

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Self-Analysis Techniques At the Library

Another, and to be honest, very obvious, of these processes includes the old fashioned research technique of looking into books.

Go muck around a library a bit. Check out books by Richard Bolles, Paul & Sarah Edwards, and resources that a career counselor may recommend to you.

I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, but even a little bona fide research in the library can turn up precious resume content for you.

If you do not know where to look, every library has a research function with a librarian who is tasked with the responsibility of helping you find what you need. This function may be covered by someone with additional responsibilities in the smaller libraries, but large libraries can have entire research departments available to you at NO COST. All you have to do is go to the desk and ASK for the help you need.

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Self-Analysis Techniques With Career Assessments

Self-analysis techniques also involve using the many effective and helpful career assessments that are available from career counselors or online.

One of the most helpful is the Holland Assessment. It is very successful at helping you determine your orientation to the world of work. The Holland Assessment looks into six specific areas of interest:

• Realistic
• Artistic
• Conventional
• Investigative
• Social and
• Enterprising

As any investigation into the Holland Assessment will conclude, very few people are exact matches for any of the six clusters. Rather most of us have some aspects of each cluster in varying amounts and intensities.

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Self-Analysis Techniques To Identify Career Goals

Any valid self-analysis techniques must include helping you identify your career goals.

Some of these goals will be short term, some long term.

The important part is that if you do not identify where you want to go, you may never get there.

Once you have identified career goals, you have gained additional content for the career objectives section of your resume.

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Self-Analysis Techniques To Identify Accomplishments

One of the greatest parts of doing a career self-analysis is considering your greatest accomplishments.

You may wish to find a quiet place, reflect on the accomplishments of your life of which you are most proud, identify them, quantify and qualify them, and put them front and center in your resume.

Without accomplishments, you really have very little to tout. When you identify a major accomplishment, you will need to polish the statement of that accomplishment so that it is in measurable, quantifiable terms

• You saved the company $4.3 MM by introducing a new technology to the manufacturing process
• You expanded sales by 59% annually over a three year period by focusing your attention on a new product line

Whatever category your accomplishments have been makes no difference. What does make a difference is that

• You have enough of them
• Lay claim to them and then
• Offer proof of their existence

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Self-Analysis Techniques That Begin From Scratch

One self-analysis technique, if you do not have a good set of pre-made forms to collect all your data, is to simply start from scratch. To do this, get a separate sheet of paper for every conceivable category you may think of including on your resume.

On each sheet of paper,

• place an appropriate heading, and
• write down everything you can think of that would apply to that topic.

For instance, if you were named to Who's Who in 1992, create a page with a title like "Honors and Awards," on which to collect all similar honors and awards you have received.

You will also want to develop a separate page for each job you have held. On that page, you want to list all

• Rsponsibilities
• Duties
• Tasks
• Accomplishments
• Skills required to accomplish your notables
• Any positive personnel actions taken on your behalf
• Positive content from your formative and summative personnel reviews
• The fact that you got regular and/or bonus raises
• Promotions, etc.

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Self-Analysis Techniques To Cover Employment Gaps

If you are re-entering the world of work after a lengthy absence, you may want to assess the volunteer things you have done in terms of the world of work.

For instance, if you have been a stay-at-home-mom, how large a family did you manage on a small budget? Give examples of your procurement skills when doing grocery shopping, using budgetary terms. If you are not familiar with those terms, go the library and check out an accounting textbook and look in the glossary.

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Self-Analysis Techniques For Recent Graduates

If you are fresh out of school, you could get the textbooks of classes you have completed, and identify the knowledge bases you have mastered and the sorts of skills you have gained from your work in and outside the classroom.

This process will help you to use more specific and professional terminology.

Think about

• Those skills you gained, and
• Give examples of what you actually accomplished at some level
• What projects did you address through research?
• What did you learn about the discipline?
• What knowledge bases did you master?
• What evidence of that mastery can you produce?
• What is most relevant to jobs for which you are applying?

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Self-Analysis Techniques for Career Changers

Perhaps the people for whom self-analysis techniques are most valuable are career changers. Employers are looking for experience doing the job they have advertised. If they cannot find an exact match, they begin analyzing the

• Knowledge bases
• Skill masteries and
• Accomplishments

of the otherwise most attractive applicants.

If you are able to identify and prove some combination of

• Career objectives
• Skills
• Experiences
• Knowledge bases and
• Sets of impressive accomplishments

you may have a good chance at securing a job for which you do not have formal experience within the job title.

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Self-Analysis Techniques Are Some Of Your Most Important Job Procurement Assets

Without using some of these techniques, you will not have the best recollection of the parts of your history that are needed by prospective employers.

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