If you have ambitions to grow and advance, your current job and other professional involvements should be a canvas to develop, show what you can do and make an impact. That impact is summarized by bullet points in your resume and the true stories you tell in an interview.

Here's the question:

Is your current role worthy of your ambitions? And are you generating the "bullet-points" that you'll need for your next professional step?

Your professional value is communicated through your conversations, word-of-mouth, your work, and through what you write on your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile and other personal marketing materials.

For your written materials, bullet points are the sound bites, the encapsulation of what you’ve done. In one to three lines per bullet, your professional contributions and impact are described.

There is a moment of truth when it comes time to write up your experience and make a case for your readiness for the next role on your career journey. 

The intent of the bullet point on a resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile is to communicate what you can do, by what you’ve done.

• The impact of projects and initiatives
• Meeting and exceeding KPIs and standards
• Creating and improving processes
• Developing new solutions
• Responding to a crisis
• Your impact on your team and individual team members
• How you've exhibited and leveraged key competencies
• and as a leader, the role you've played in leading growth

The bullet point is about accomplishment, impact and how you generated positive results.

If that’s the case, then rather than waiting until after the fact, shine a light now on your current role.

What difference are you making?

What positive results have you generated?

Reflecting on these questions can offer valuable insight into two key areas of your professional journey; your level of personal leadership, and the quality of your current job.

Personal Leadership: Do I Step-up?

To what extent are you acting, behaving, leading and getting in the mix so that you are making your mark to make a difference?

Are you taking advantage of the opportunities to lead, to shake things up, to step up? To what extent are you positively impacting people, processes, products, customers and financial and organizational health?

Don’t be a bystander. The starting point for a strong career is the inner fire you bring to your assignments. Make sure that you are making things happen.

Current Job: How Much Opportunity?

To what extent is your current job/role allowing you to create these accomplishments and generate compelling bullet points?

Do you have the opportunity to contribute in meaningful ways and generate positive results for your department, organization and customers?

If your immediate response is “no”, ask yourself “why not?” Is it just the job, or have you possibly stepped back, given in, or resigned yourself to playing it safe in response to constraints?

Constraints can involve how your role is defined, the leadership style of your manager, the culture of the organization, the state of the department, business and industry, and the confidence and trust people have in you.

If, after self-examination, you determine that you are blocked, then it might be time to consider a career move.

Generate Bullet-Points

Developing your market power and a healthy career involves creating building blocks of increasing levels of accomplishment, learning and contribution. In the big scheme of things, you don’t have that many roles to play with. And importantly, the quality of this experience determines your degrees of choice for your next job.

What do you think? To what extent is it a matter of personal leadership vs. the opportunity available in the job?

Reflection Questions for You

In your current, and/or most recent role, reflect on the following 

• What difference are you making? How? 
• What positive results have you generated?
• To what extent do you have the opportunity to contribute in meaningful ways and generate positive results for your department, organization and customers?
• If not, why not? 

This is a core exercise we do with our clients when considering or preparing for an intentional career move. If you haven't thought about this in a while, I strongly recommend you give this some thought or book a strategy call with us.