In these unstable times, whether or not you are currently employed, it is a helpful exercise to pull out and review your resume and consider or do the following:
Start with the earliest position listed and work forward to your current or last position to track your pathways. Visualize your mobility from one position to the next position. What methods did you use to land each position? What skills did you possess and what skills did you need to acquire throughout your tenure there? How well did you do? What areas needed improvement? Have you maintained contact with previous co-workers & supervisors? Why did you leave? How long where you in the position or employed before you considered leaving. Was there anything that could have convinced you to stay and was the organization in a position to meet those needs or address those concerns? Did you leave on good terms?
Have there been any positionss that you should not have accepted? Why? What was your thinking at the time? Where there clues that you should have observed more carefully? What did you learn from that experience & have you repeated or avoided repeating the same mistake(s)?
How well did you perform? Could you have done better? If so, how so? Where there other areas in the organization where you were more interested and could have better contributed? Did you pursue these options? Why or why not?
Where there any positions or organizations that you wish you had not left? Why did you leave at the time and what could you have done differently? What did you not know or not consider at the time? Have you maintained contact with previous co-workers & supervisors? Did you leave on good terms?
In retrospect, does each of your positions make sense to you? Where you looking for just a job or where you trying to establish a career in a given field? Have you experimented with different positions in your chosen field or in different fields? Where were you in your personal life, at each point of change throughout your employment pathway? How did this affect your thinking, choices, and performance?
What are you talents and skills? What do you enjoy most and do best? What related education, skills, and experience do you possess or need to acquire to incorporate these areas of enjoyment, talent, and excellence into a job or career?
Do you have any other thoughts or considerations to add? Thanks!
