asking you to get much more specificabout the particular career op-
portunity you are pursuing.
The more accurately you are able to describe the real responsibil-
ities, activities, and goals associated with the career opportunity you
are pursuing, the easier it will be for you to identify the particular
P.E.A.K.S. that are considered most desirable in candidates seeking
this opportunity. The goal is to be able to describe the opportunity you
are seeking with enough details so that in Step 5, you will be able to
identify the key P.E.A.K.S. associated with this specific opportunity.
If you are applying for a promotion within your organization or a
new job on the outside, what are the specific responsibilities, activities,
and goals associated with the job? If a job description has not been post-
ed, you can call ahead and ask for one. And if one doesn’t exist, it is per-
fectly appropriate to ask to speak to someone who can give you a quick
description of what the job entails. (If you intend to call the office of the
person who will be interviewing you, please see Step 5 before doing so,
since there are some P.E.A.K.S. questions you can ask as well.)
If you are going for a raise, you should be able to describe in spe-
cific terms the performance criteria associated with your present job,
along with whatever additional responsibilities you may have taken on
that justify the raise.
If you are a consultant seeking to strengthen or expand your prac-
tice, you should know specifically what kinds of clients and consulting
assignments you are seeking.
If you are a student applying for college or graduate school, you
should know which schools and programs you are targeting.
You will know that you have completed this step successfully when
you can describe the career opportunity you are targeting to someone
who is knowledgeable about the kind of opportunity you are seeking,
and this person knows exactly what you are talking about. For exam-
ple, you should be able to describe a job you are interested in with
enough precision for an industry insider to know exactly what position
you are seeking. It’s not enough to say,“I’m looking for a well-paying,
interesting job in marketing.”If that is all you can come up with in
terms of level of specificity, you need to do some informational inter-
viewsto learn about specific jobs in your field of interest. To learn how
to do informational interviewing, refer to Chapter 4.
For further ideas on how to generate accurate descriptions of the op-
portunity you are seeking, refer to “Describing the Opportunity You Are
Pursuing in Realistic Terms”in Chapter 3 and have a look at Chapter 7.Step 5: Identify the Key “P.E.A.K.S.” Associated with This
Opportunity
Once you are able to describe with precision the career opportunity you
are targeting, your next step is to identify the particular P.E.A.K.S. that
are considered most desirable in candidates seeking that opportunity.
The most important point to remember is that you should be try-
ing to determine the P.E.A.K.S. that will be important to the person or144 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio