When you've lost your job, it's a no-brainer that you'll need to prepare a resume. But the problem is, in today's job-hunting market, a generic resume no longer works. Every resume you send out needs to be customized toward a specific job position.

And that's why the very first resume you need to write is one for yourself!

The reason you want to create a resume for yourself is so you have your entire work history and accomplishments handy, including dates. This document is for your eyes only, but will serve several purposes:

You will force yourself to think about activities and work you've done that you might not have thought about in many years

You'll have everything handy so that you can pick and choose appropriate entries as you create your customized resume for a specific job

You'll have a great document to review before you go to a job interview-a confidence booster as well as a tool to keep your work history fresh in your mind.

So how do you begin?

List your work history including companies, positions, supervisors, job responsibilities (including number and titles of people supervised and any quantification of areas of responsibility) and reasons for leaving.

Then list your accomplishments for each job position you held. These would include specific estimates related to sales, effect on the company's bottom line and/or cost savings given in numbers, percentages or dollars. Aim for a minimum of three accomplishments per job.

Be sure you make a distinction between experience and accomplishments. The statement that you were a corporate trainer for two years lists experience; to say that you were a corporate trainer who taught 15,000 people Microsoft certification skills over a two-year time period is an accomplishment. Likewise, saying you created a marketing plan tells something about your experience; saying you created a marketing plan that resulted in a 23% increase in product sales lists an accomplishment.

What if you worked your way through college as a waitress in a restaurant? Perhaps you were voted "best server" of the month, averaged the highest tips per quarter or had 14 letters written to the management by happy customers whom you served in a two-year time period. Maybe you were the one waiter that never received any customer complaints. These are all accomplishments.

Although quantifying accomplishments is fairly easy in sales, it can be difficult in other types of jobs. Think in terms of time or money saved or of the dollar value of clients you brought into the business. For any initiative that you started, what was the quantifiable result for the company?

Then list managerial and/or technical recommendations you made during your career, again quantifying the results whenever possible. Write down your lateral transfers and promotions as well as any awards or honors you received. Don't overlook special assignments or projects, even though they may have been brief. List publications, books or reports you either wrote or supervised/edited as well as inventions, copyrights, etc. Point out the special significance of these, if appropriate.

Do you have other qualifications unrelated to work? Foreign languages? Special licenses or certifications? List them. Write down your hobbies and recreational pursuits. Finally, list your educational history including schools, degrees, special courses and programs, continuing education or any other type of professional training.

Now you've created a thorough document that you can pull information from when writing letters or resumes. And having gone to the trouble to quantify several accomplishments from each job you held will serve you well in selling yourself to a prospective employer--whether it be in writing or during an interview.

Most important, all you have to do is keep this document current; you'll never have to go through this process again!

Judi Craig, Ph.D., MCC
Executive Coach & Clinical Psychologist
(210) 824-3391
http://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=fFapttuZ_h0
http://www.lost-my-job.com