To be effective you need to be able to communicate your strengths and accomplishments to employers and those in your network.
You can do this by owning your personal power. When you know what you’ve done, and can state it as fact, you’re well on your way. Speak about yourself positively – not “Rah! Rah! Go, me!” but in the way that comes from being confidently in-touch with the ways you’ve been great.
You can do this by using Power Statements.
When presenting your skills to others, use concise statements that briefly describe the value you bring. Highlight a strength you have, and show how you have used that strength to achieve results. These are power statements.
Presenting facts about your skills and experience is not boasting; it allows others to understand the heat you’re bringing. Power Statements strengthen interviews, résumés, thank-you letters, and “elevator pitches”.
Power Statements include two elements:
“power words”
and
achievements
Power Words
When highlighting your strengths, use “power words”—positive words or short phrases that describe you, such as the following:
- Self-starter
- Creative
- Motivated
- Decisive
- Resourceful
- Persistent
- Organized
- Results-oriented
- Productive
- Problem-solver
- Teachable
- Responsible
- Adaptable
Achievements
When you describe an achievement, you may include:
A challenge you faced.
Actions you performed to overcome the challenge.
The results of your actions.
Be sincere about your achievements, and do not explain every detail. Be very brief, but share enough so that the person you are talking to will be interested in hearing more. He or she will keep the conversation going by asking for more detail or calling you for an interview.
Below are some examples of different types of achievements you could share:
- Implemented a new statistical tracking method that reduced the average error rate by 14 percent.
- Introduced the design of a new product line that became a best seller in the marketplace.
- Successfully kept all delinquent accounts under 5 percent each week.
- Developed a new employee training that increased employee retention by more than 80 percent.
- Facilitated the reorganization of the inventory-purchasing department. More than 90 percent of the employees identified the changes as improvements.
- Implemented product design changes that resulted in fewer rejects.
- Developed a training program that contributed to a 35-percent increase in customer participation.
- Implemented a marketing strategy that directly increased quarterly sales by 25 percent.
- Restructured the manufacturing department, increasing daily yield by 15 percent.
Click here to see more Sample Power Statements