How TJD (Target Job Deconstruction) Helped me with My Current Job

I re-did my Software Development and Support Engineer resume by doing a TJD (Target Job Deconstruction), and an unexpected side effect was that it helped me with my current job.

In order to update my resume, per the advice of "Knock 'em Dead" job seeking (career development) book ( by Martin Yate), I performed a TJD.

I expected it to help me to craft an excellent resume and that's all.

But in addition to that, it also made me become more engaged in my current job.

How did it do this? In doing the TJD one night, while looking through job requirements for 6 job descriptions similar to my target job, I found that two of the requirements I was weak on.

And furthermore, for one of those two, although I hadn't ever had direct experience, I recognized that my colleague's project from that very morning was fulfilling that requirement!

Of course, the next day, I made a point to ask my colleague how that project was going, what details they could share, and how I could help.

Thus because I deconstructed my desired role off-hours, I knew clearly what I needed to work on & learn about next!

This is a *specific* example of how reading "Knock 'em Dead" book, generally is good for professional development *regardless of whether a Software Development and Support Engineer is currently seeking a job or not*. This is how doing a TJD (Target Job Deconstruction) helped me with my current job.

Tags: #working

Note: This post was pre-published on 2016-09-22.

Note: This post was re-pre-published on 2016-10-28.

[2019 edit: Moved to: https://i̶n̶v̶e̶s̶t̶o̶r̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶/2016/... .html.]