The movie “Pay it Forward” stuck with me for many reasons, including the fact that it was applicable to so many areas of life----including career. Reflecting on that, it occurs to me that it can be applied to pre-scripting your resume.
I typically talk to candidates who never expected my call and were not actively looking for a new position. They usually request time to “update their resume”, which means adding bullet points to delineate what they have accomplished. While usually tied to their company and departmental objectives, they are not always as deliberate as they could be.
What if you made those bullet points at the beginning of a new job or now as we are at the beginning of this new year? What if you decided ahead of time what impact you would like to make, how you would lead and what your team would accomplish under your leadership, what legacy you would leave and what you would want to tell about your contribution? When you “write it forward” you are stating your intentions and then living into them every day. It’s personal, it’s powerful, and it means that your accomplishments are under your control, not just a by product of what opportunities happened to show up for you. Try it.
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