When we present your background and experience to an employer, we want to
show how your employment will benefit both the organization and the employer as
an individual. We want to demonstrate how you can help improve profits, reduce
costs and just make things run better.
We have developed the Feature/Accomplishment/Benefit Presentation--FAB for
short--to use in presenting your background and experience to am employer.
Features are listed in the left column, accomplishments in the center and
benefits in the right column. The FAB presentation does several important
things. It shows specifically what you can do for the employer - how you will
benefit him or her and the organization. It details what you have accomplished
in your current and previous positions. Finally, it highlights your unique
features and experiences. How do you prepare a FAB presentation? Let's start by
defining some terms:
- FEATURES - Facts about yourself.
- ACCOMPLISHMENTS - Significant measurable results you obtained for your
current and past employers.
- BENEFITS - Educated guesses of what you can do for a new employer based on
your accomplishments.
Next prepare a chronology of your work history. Make sure you have included
all of the positions you have held. Don't forget the promotions! After you have
prepared the chronology, list all of your significant accomplishments for each
of the positions. Go ahead and list them all. This is not the time to be humble.
The accomplishments should be very specific and contain quantitative measures
where appropriate.
After your list of features and accomplishments have been completed, study
them over. Now identify what you can do for a new employer. How you can benefit
him or her? What are the most compelling reasons for a new employer to want to
hire you over someone else? Put these answers in the benefits column.
After you have completed your FAB presentation, go over it. Study it
carefully. Have you forgotten anything? Where can you include additional
quantitative measures? Numbers tell! Can a benefit be rephrased so you will look
more attractive to an employer? Is there an accomplishment from early in your
career that is particularly significant that should be included?
And finally, when you go to your interview take your FAB sheet with you and
be sure to answer questions by relying on your FAB information--especially
stressing how you can benefit the new company.