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 8.7.3. 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 8.7.3 of each (short) story?

Figure 10.1: What action have you taken and what stories can you tell about the results and your impact? What are the best verbs for highlighting your actions? Your actions define your impact by Visual Thinkery is licensed under CC-BY-ND via Angela Maiers

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:

1. Emphasise your actions when describing your education, projects and experience on your CV
2. Reflect on
   • what skills you already have
   • what skills you need to develop
3. 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.

* PAUSE ⏸️

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 or assisted for example) or been repetitive (like over-using developed 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?

* RESUME ▶️

10.4 Team verbs

Some verbs to demonstrate how you have worked and communicated with others in a team.

• administered
• advised
• assisted
• attended …but show outcomes
• 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
• 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:

• argued e.g. persuasive speaking or writing
• established
• created
• decided you’ve had the power to make or influence decisions
• 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 8.7.3
• 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
• produced making things, not just software
• revised

10.11 Influential verbs

Verbs that demonstrate how you have influenced and persuaded others:

• bought if you’ve had purchasing power
• campaigned
• guided
• demonstrated
• illustrated if you have graphical skills for example
• influenced you could even include social media influencing
• liaised
• negotiated
• marketed
• mediated
• promoted
• presented
• publicised
• sold an idea, product or service
• authored (or co-authored)
• written

10.12 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 10.2. Your CV needs to emphasise your deeds and actions using words. Those words are verbs.

Figure 10.2: “Deeds not words” was the rallying cry of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. Emphasise the deeds (actions) on your CV by leading your stories with carefully chosen verbs. Public domain image of Emmeline Pankhurst by Richard Gordon Matzene restored by Adam Cuerden on Wikimedia Commons w.wiki/3bPa and adapted using the Wikipedia app (If you get the chance, you should visit the pankhurstmuseum.com on the Oxford Road in Manchester)

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.