Reflection on Milestones
June is Milestone month for the career success network. It’s important to keep track of your career milestones and write them down and store them in your career milestones folder for future reference.
Age is another milestone we pay tribute to in our society. Remember when you turned 16, 21? These ages represent freedom to drive and reaching the age of adult consent in the US. We celebrate the 40, 50, 60 milestones and beyond.
I get weary when I see resumes that start with 10, 15, 20 and beyond years of experience. Why do we do this? I wouldn’t think of introducing myself to a stranger and stating I’m Mary and I’m 60 years old. Yikes – no I don’t think so.
When you meet someone what is one of the first questions you typically ask or are asked? Tell me what you do? We ask this question to discover who you are and where you fit in the world. What is this person’s status, do we have anything in common and do I want to know more about them?
On your resume and linked in profile you should be answering the same questions:
- What are your areas of expertise?
- What have you accomplished in the last 3-5 years? (If you hear yourself saying, I use to do X, you need to create some current experience.)
- How will you help a company or team accomplish their goals?
- What specific skills and knowledge do you have that will leverage the success of a team?
What exactly do “years” of experience communicate?
- I have wisdom. How can you tell others what you “know”? Your summary statement is a place you can describe your expertise and what you have learned and consistently applied throughout your career.
- What do you know for sure? (Example: When someone in leadership tells me they need communication training, I know they are communicating and what’s not happening that is the issue.)
- Legacy – at some point along your career trajectory you discover you’re the “senior” voice: you can mentor and coach the younger. (Only if asked, of course.)
Mentoring and Coaching
This is NOT telling people what to do. New or future leaders may need knowledge, how-to’s but what they need more than that is:
- Reflecting back to someone the truth of his brilliance.
- Helping through powerful questions. This allows your client to access her well spring of knowledge
- Allowing a protégée to authentically express and clarify his/her thoughts. A safe place to test and get feedback.
Remember people want to know who you are, what you have accomplished, what you bring to an organization. Years of experience can bring knowledge and a knowing as long as it’s one year of experience for 20 years.
June assignment: Write down in your career log 2-3 key accomplishments from the last 6 months and update your resume and linkedin profile. If you have a big project use the project area in linkedin to highlight you work.
July’s Theme is Decisions-Making Wise Career Moves; Book Discussion on Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath. Meeting is scheduled for July 9th at 6 PM. More information at this link: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=fynjsbhab&oeidk=a07e7hmypszba57481c
Oh and by the way I’m celebrating my 60th milestone June 20. Have a great month! I look forward to connecting with you soon.