Let’s have a look at each of these useful habits.Habit 1: Continuing to Learn about the P.E.A.K.S. You Need
To update and develop your Master Portfolio in a useful way, you need
to know what kinds of documents to go after and collect. The basic
guideline for identifying items to pursue is to determine whether or not
these items verify one or more of the P.E.A.K.S. you might need to pro-
tect or advance your career. We suggest that you keep learning as much
as you can about the P.E.A.K.S. required to achieve the following:- Getting the near-term things you have already targeted, such as a
next job or raise, - Enhancing your employability, in case you suddenly need a new job,
and - Positioning yourself to go after your long-term dream job or career.
Since the world of work is continually changing, you would do well
to develop the habit of continuallylearning about the P.E.A.K.S. you
will need to protect and advance your career. It would make good sense
to do this, even if you weren’t developing a portfolio. And so, we would
encourage you to do the following things.Keep on top of P.E.A.K.S. you will need to get the things you are
going for right now.Whatever career opportunity is in your sights
right now—a raise, a new work assignment, a next job—keep learning
about the P.E.A.K.S. that the people who will be assessing you consid-
er most desirable. To do this you can continue to use the techniques de-
scribed earlier in this book in Chapters 3 and 4 for identifying the key
P.E.A.K.S. associated with targeted opportunities.
Keep tracking the P.E.A.K.S. you would need to be hired for a job
like yours.Yes, you already have this job, but if you were to lose it, what
P.E.A.K.S. would you need to have to get another position like yours
somewhere else at your present salary? It is easy to get so caught up in
the demands of your current job you neglect the professional develop-
ment activities that keep you up to date in your field. You may also find
yourself becoming a “local expert”in areas that are useful to your cur-
rent organization but have little value to other organizations. If people
are turning to you because of your expertise in an arcane computer sys-
tem that was customized for your company years ago, that’s not neces-
sarily a specialized knowledge that other employers would value.
To learn about the “employability P.E.A.K.S.”you need in order to
get a job similar to the one you have right now, do some of the follow-
ing steps:Review recent job postings and job descriptions for positions like
yours.
Have conversations with knowledgeable insiders. Tell them you want
to keep up and ask which P.E.A.K.S. are becoming most in demand
for your kind of job.118 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio