10 Actioning your future
Employers are often more interested in what you have done, rather than what you just know. Your actions are a key part of your story we discussed in section 8.6.8. A simple technique for emphasising the action
in your stories is to lead descriptions of your projects, education and experience with carefully chosen verbs
, see section 8.7.5 for examples.
10.1 Your actions define your impact
Your actions define your impact, see figure 10.1. What stories you can tell of your actions to date? What verbs best describe how you achieved a result or had an impact? What was the context, action, result and evidence (CARE) we discussed in section 8.6.8 of each (short) story?
By leading with verbs you will highlight what you have actually done and how you did it, rather than what you know. It also helps you cut down on repetitive personal pronouns: I
, me
, my
etc. See the verbs first section 8.7.5 of chapter 8 debugging your future.
Your future is bright, your future needs actioning, so let’s start actioning your future.
10.2 What you will learn
By the end of this chapter you will be able to:
- Emphasise your actions when describing your education, projects and experience on your CV
- Reflect on
- what skills you already have
- what skills you need to develop
- Demonstrate those skills explicitly and quickly in job applications
10.3 Breakpoints
Let’s pause here. Insert a breakpoint in your code
and slowly step through it so we can examine the current values of your variables and parameters.
Quickly scan your CV, covering letter or application form for VERBS:
- Where are the verbs?
- buried deep in long sections of prose? OR
- prominently leading descriptions of your activities?
- Have you over-used certain verbs (like
worked
orassisted
for example) or been repetitive (like over-usingdeveloped
see alternatives in section 10.5) - How can you increase the variety of verbs you have used (without exaggerating or lying)?
- Which verbs are stronger than others and why?
- Are there any categories of verbs you can’t provide evidence for, such as leadership (see section 10.6) or influencing (see section 10.11)?
- What activities or projects could you do that would help you develop these missing skills?
10.4 Team verbs
Some verbs to demonstrate how you have worked and communicated with others in a team.
administered
advised
-
advocated
if you campaigned or lobbied for something to happen assisted
-
attended
…but show outcomes briefed
coached
-
consulted
either as giver or receiver collaborated
contributed
encouraged
explained
-
instructed
(if you helped others) interviewed
organised
-
participated
(be more specific if you can) performed
presented
recommended
-
recruited
you persuaded people to join you -
served
e.g. customer service or serving a community -
shadowed
e.g. work shadowing suggested
volunteered
10.5 Engineering verbs
Verbs to demonstrate your engineering and technical skills.
-
adapted
e.g. new features -
added
e.g. new features -
analysed
e.g. the requirements -
applied
e.g. the appliance of science architected
-
assigned
e.g. bugs to team members -
automated
e.g. builds and tests etc built
-
branched
e.g. git configured
-
designed
e.g. greenfield software development -
cloned
e.g. git -
debugged
e.g. brownfield development) developed
deployed
documented
experimented
-
fixed
e.g. bugs -
gathered
e.g. requirements -
implemented
e.g. your favourite algorithm installed
-
integrated
e.g. different systems made
-
merged
e.g. git migrated
modified
-
optmised
you improved the performance of something refactored
solved
specified
upgraded
tested
10.6 Leadership verbs
Some verbs to demonstrate how you have used your initiative and taken the lead:
-
accelerated
not just hardware but people too! -
argued
e.g. persuasive speaking or writing -
deputised
because sometimes you have follow, you can’t always be a leader established
created
-
decided
you’ve had the power to make (or influence) decision making devised
directed
facilitated
hosted
initiated
introduced
invented
launched
led
managed
-
mentored
if you’ve helped by sharing your skills and knowledge motivated
supervised
-
transformed
you changed something for the better
10.7 Improving verbs
Verbs that demonstrate how you have improved a situation by taking responsibility for something:
delivered
-
completed
if you finished something edited
enhanced
generated
-
increased
make sure you quantify it, see section 8.6.8 -
learned
think about what you are learning refined
-
resolved
a conflict or conflicts -
saved
money, time, resources etc
10.8 Scientific verbs
Verbs that demonstrate your analytical and scientific skills
assessed
calculated
discovered
estimated
evaluated
-
exploited
not a person but a feature identified
interpreted
investigated
measured
-
modelled
in a computational or mathematical sense proved
-
quantified
for example in benchmarking -
researched
reviewed
-
studied
we are all students at the University of Life tested
10.9 Winning verbs
Verbs for demonstrating your achievements and honours
achieved
attained
awarded
nominated
recommended
-
selected
you were chosen for something mastered
won
10.10 Organising verbs
Verbs to demonstrate your planning and organisational skills:
arranged
prepared
scheduled
organised
planned
-
prioritised
a demanding workload, how did you prioritise? -
produced
making things, not just software revised
10.11 Influential verbs
Verbs that demonstrate how you have influenced other people:
-
bought
if you’ve had purchasing power campaigned
converted
convinced
guided
demonstrated
-
illustrated
if you have graphical skills for example -
influenced
this could include social media influencing liaised
negotiated
marketed
mediated
persuaded
promoted
presented
publicised
-
sold
an idea, product or service -
authored
(orco-authored
) written
10.12 Weasel verbs
The following verbs are weasel words that some people say are too vague and ambiguous:
-
involved
What was your role exactly? -
worked
Most people work, can you be more specific? -
joined
So you became amember
of something? What did yourmembership
actually entail? Did you eagerly sign up at the freshers fair with good intentions never to return, or did you play a more active role?
Weasel words should be avoided, they look like they’re telling your reader something important, but usually they fail to deliver, see figure 10.2.
10.13 Bullshit verbs
We discussed the dangers of bullshit in section 8.12.2. You might think you can bullshit your readers, but you’ll probably just trigger their bullshit detector. Examples include:
-
honed
saying youimproved
something and then quantifying by how much you improved it would be much more convincing -
spearheaded
Really, are you some kind of hunter-gatherer? Howaboutled
,managed
,co-ordinated
ororganised
? See section 10.6. -
streamlined
Something smells a bit fishy, it’s the kind of thing a politician would say -
leveraged
not sure about this one, smells a bit dodgy? relished
delighted
thrilled
fascinated
-
imagineered
Yes, imagination is a crucial part of engineering. But software imagineering? Really? C’mon!
It’s probably best to leave emotive verbs and bullshitty language out of your CV, see figure 10.3. You may well have been fascinated, thrilled and delighted to hone your leadership skills while spearheading an innovative project that streamlined business processes
, but there are more professional and less bullshitty ways to describe your experience. 💩
10.14 Summarising your actions
Too long, didn’t read (TL;DR)? Here’s a summary:
Your future is bright, your future needs you to take action. Highlighting your actions will help you to test your future and debug your CV. Testing and debugging your future will help you to start coding your future.
Actions speak louder than words, or as suffragette and political activist Emmeline Pankhurst frequently said “Deeds not Words”, see figure 10.4. Your CV needs to emphasise your deeds and actions using words. Those words are verbs
.
On your CV, leading descriptions of your projects
, experience
, leadership and awards
with verbs
is a simple but powerful technique that enables you to provide evidence (rather than assertion) for the skills, knowledge, competencies and capabilities you have. Choose your verbs
carefully. Which verbs are missing from your CV? These verbs can help you identify gaps in your professional and personal development.
In the next part, chapter 11: Finding your Future we will investigate some job search strategies so that you can work out who and where to send your debugged CV to.