Career Autobiography Writing in Six Steps

David Searls reports:

"Hiring managers who are looking for in-depth self-appraisal from job candidates may ask a potential new hire to write a career autobiography. Written in narrative form, your autobiography should reveal your early influences, the career decisions you've made, the challenges you've overcome and the valuable experiences you’ve gained along the way...Reflect on your past and jot down notes. Consider every job you've ever held and what you've learned from each. Start with a rough outline that takes you through your career in chronological order...Find your earliest influences...Determine whether a parent, teacher or other adult served as an informal mentor. Don't forget that college class that made an impression or the early job that set you along your career trajectory...Draw conclusions and find a unifying theme. Determine how every job on your resume helped shape who you are today -- even those positions that, in hindsight, were mistakes. Think about how each job added skills to the arsenal you bring today to a prospective employer....Develop an appropriate writing style. Your career autobiography should take your reader step-by-step on a path that logically leads to the position you seek. Demonstrate how each victory won and lesson learned better prepared you to pursue the job at hand...Make sure that the quality of your writing reflects the position for which you're applying. In other words, your level of proficiency and creativity will be more highly scrutinized if you’re applying to be a journalist or editor than if you seek an engineering position...Tell a story that demonstrates your passion for the position to which you're applying. Your narrative should stand out and compel your reader to hire you based on your skills, experience and insights, as well as the depth of your character."