Career Inventory

This morning I coined a new phrase--Career Inventory--when answering a question on LinkedIn about writing a winning resume. The idea is to present things about you that are most relevant to the employer and the job.

I won't bore you with the details about my answer. You can read that on the Career Jujitsu LinkedIn page or see my answers in the Q&A section under Resume Writing. No. Instead I want to focus on this Career Inventory concept.

The idea is to take all your education, job training and working experiences. List them. Add the dates, locations and providers (schools, employers, etc.). You can organize and store this information in a spreadsheet or use a word processing table. Update your career inventory as new experiences are added.

Then every time you go after a new job, do some research to determine which items from your career inventory are most relevant to the employer and the job. Take those items and build a winning resume. Highlight those items in your cover letters. And be sure to discuss them during your interviews.

By keeping your job-getting campaign sharply focused on the items about you that are most relevant to the employer and the job, you greatly increase your odds of catching the gatekeepers' attentions and staying ahead of your competition for the jobs you want.