{"id":84558,"date":"2014-11-18T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=84558"},"modified":"2014-11-18T00:21:28","modified_gmt":"2014-11-18T06:21:28","slug":"bragging-on-the-job-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=84558","title":{"rendered":"Bragging on the Job Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Mary-Michelle Moore<\/a>, Senior Editor, INALJ California<\/a>, DC<\/a>, and Illinois<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Bragging on the Job Hunt<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"MaryMichelleMoore\"<\/a>I am pretty awesome. No, strike that. I am awesome. Those two statements may not seem\u00a0different to you but on the job hunt losing the qualifier may make a world of difference. In the most\u00a0recent leg of my job hunt I\u2019ve had several discussions with friends, mentors and coworkers (basically\u00a0anyone would agree to take a look at my resume). One of the major takeaways for me of late is the\u00a0most reliable advocate of your work has to be you. This seems like a very simple idea until you realize\u00a0the only way your accomplishments will shine is if you put them out there.<\/p>\n

This is not a natural state for me. I was taught that if you worked hard, and let your work speak\u00a0for itself, then that would bring its own rewards. Work will speak for itself within a small sphere but\u00a0when you\u2019re trying to move up or over, you need to give it the best possible setting. The best way to do\u00a0that is to get out there and brag.<\/p>\n

What does bragging mean in a job hunt?<\/strong> Obviously, don\u2019t exaggerate your skills, but take a\u00a0realistic approach to what you can do based on your experiences. I\u2019ll outline a few examples below\u00a0from my latest resume. I\u2019ve included how a description appeared on my resume, my reasoning for why I\u00a0worded it the way I did and the updated version. I tried to pull a few different types of updates but\u00a0since I\u2019m working from my own resume the choices are necessarily limited. Please share your examples\u00a0in the comments for areas I\u2019ve missed or overlooked.<\/p>\n

Resume updates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Other duties as assigned:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Original wording: I assisted at the circulation desk one shift a week.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why I wrote it this way: At the time I was working in ILL and working a shift at the circulation\u00a0desk was not a part of my job duties \u2013 it was something I volunteered to do when they were\u00a0short staffed. I thought that by highlighting this in my resume (at least for internal positions) it\u00a0would show I was a team player and willing to take on extra responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u2022 New wording: Worked on the circulation desk checking out reserves and responding to access\u00a0services queries.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why the change? I didn\u2019t go into details about specific details of work on the desk because\u00a0it was periphery to my job description. However, as one of mentors pointed out- if I were\u00a0dropped into the circulation desk and asked to hold my own for a 3 hour shift I could manage it.\u00a0The same applies for any project \u2013 if you assisted with something you did the work and could do\u00a0similar jobs again in a new setting.<\/p>\n

Capstone projects:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Original wording: As a capstone to my internship I created a virtual tour for the libraries.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why I wrote it this way: This was pretty straightforward, I made this beautiful virtual tour and I\u00a0wanted to highlight it as one of the major achievements of my internship.<\/p>\n

\u2022 New wording: I created the virtual tour which appears on the University Libraries\u2019 homepage.\u00a0The tour has been submitted to PRIMO for consideration for their site of the month database.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why the change? The new wording emphasizes the impact of the project better \u2013 it is\u00a0something that is being highlighted on our libraries\u2019 website. It is also a project that my advisor\u00a0and I felt was a strong enough learning tool to submit for wider use so it falls into a category\u00a0similar to listing an article with the notation \u201cpending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creating study aids:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Original wording: Updated the department\u2019s LibGuide for our undergraduate intro to the library\u00a0workshop.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why I wrote it this way: I didn\u2019t create this LibGuide but I worked with a fellow librarian and we\u00a0updated it (cleaned it up and made it easier to navigate). I wanted to let would be employers\u00a0know I knew how to use the software and had worked on this type of material.<\/p>\n

\u2022 New wording: Redesigned the 2nd\u00a0most used University Libraries\u2019 LibGuide incorporating\u00a0traffic tracking features and improving the look and feel of the guide. Our traffic this guide has\u00a0increased x amount since last year at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Why the change? It is a good idea to point to specific numbers or quantifiable solutions where\u00a0possible \u2013 which for a LibGuide is pretty easy. I wanted to emphasize that this redesign was on\u00a0an often used resource and that the redesign made it easier to use, and so we increased traffic\u00a0on an already well used guide.<\/p>\n

Updating my resume is a good first step for my plan to start bragging, but there\u2019s more to do. I\u2019m\u00a0also going to be careful to write out how my current skill sets can be applied to requirements in the\u00a0job postings when writing cover letters. In the past I\u2019ve assumed that people reading my resume and\u00a0cover letters would be able to see the connections as clearly as I did, but this will make strides to make\u00a0sure I put myself in the best position possible. Lastly, I\u2019m going to make a point to share what I\u2019ve\u00a0accomplished or am working on in social media so others can use it \u2013 and so I have a nice trail if would-be employers Google me in advance of an interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Mary-Michelle Moore, Senior Editor, INALJ California, DC, and Illinois Bragging on the Job Hunt I am pretty awesome. No, strike that. I am awesome. Those two statements may not seem\u00a0different to you but on the job hunt losing the qualifier may make a world of difference. In the most\u00a0recent leg of my job hunt I\u2019ve…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":59864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,6679,3629,5872,3609,3860,266,3979,112],"class_list":["post-84558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-bragging","tag-inalj-california","tag-inalj-dc","tag-inalj-illinois","tag-job-hunt","tag-job-search","tag-mary-michelle-moore","tag-resume"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MaryMichelleMoore.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-lZQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}