Natural Aptitude Planning
(NAP)
The second part and most important item that should be on your CV is Natural Aptitude Planning (NAP). This is usually missing. My experience with senior management is that usually they will showcase a level of achievement, the size of organizations and projects they were involved in, the budgets and the staff reporting to them. This still does not mean it is your passion or what you are good at doing.
What we will look at now is your natural aptitude and how you tend to make decisions under pressure. We will help you understand what your intellectual worth is to any organization and how to put that into your CV.
Let me explain a little bit more.
Employers give you a list of duties: your job description. If you past this into your CV every time you work in a new position, you develop a comprehensive CV: a document with a list of different job descriptions you are comfortable with using to represent you. Yet, this is often not what you are passionate about and you may feel that people do not see what value you can add. You wish that people will give you that opportunity.
I always tell people, be careful what you ask for; you will get exactly that. So what are you asking for with your standard CV?
Having been a journalist for many years, I know it is statistical knowledge in the industry that people are lazy readers. Any person reading a newspaper or article reads the first three lines, looks at the photo, and reads the caption below the photo. If they do not see anything they like, they do not read further.
A CV is exactly the same. Recruitment consultants and clients look at every heading of your CV and look at the first few lines below that. If they do not see what they are looking for, you are out of the process.
Look at your CV again. What are the first three things you have listed at every position you have had. Is that exactly what you want to be doing?
How and what to change without writing a book
Every person has a tendency to do things automatically or naturally when under pressure. This is exactly what a person's natural value-add is, and most people I have met tend not to think about that as valuable, because "it is just the way they are"
You need to understand what level you are naturally operating on and how you make choices (business acumen). Not everybody, even on the same level, thinks the same way.
How do you do this?
Be realistic and keep in mind your background, your working experience and your qualifications. If you studied chemical engineering but have a passion to work in the medical field, you still need a medical qualification.
Only do one thing at a time. It is easier for you to see the value you add and to understand what makes you good at what you do and how you make choices and decisions.
Once you have done this exercise and answered the six questions, I will show you how to write this into your CV in a succinct and specific manner.
Answer the following questions (in bold):
1(a). What specifically about your work do you enjoy and would like to be doing on a daily basis?
If you could pick one thing to do again and again and again, what would that one thing be? This does not have to be a specific duty; it can be just a word; for example, finance. Then think: what part exactly of finance? Is it the problem solving you enjoy or the analyses, projects and controls, or balancing every figure? If you identified one area, what about it specifically do you enjoy?
Always answer as if you were asked, what specifically, what exactly or what precisely. This will help you explain more succinctly.
1(b). Now that you have one thing listed, answer this: Are you good at it?
If you answer yes, consider whether you have had feedback from a manager, superior, clients or anyone that shows you are good at it? Describe what the specific situation was. What did you do about it, and what was the end result? Do not just give general information; give specific information.
Relate the end result to having saved the company or the client time or money or to making improvements. Include the financial value: what it could have saved or did save the company.
This is the individuals’ worth to their organization. It is very often “just the way they are”…
If you answered no, look at what the implications are. For example, if you are an Auditor and you feel you are passionate about analyzing reports, you might not have had feedback, but have you received any comebacks from submitting your findings? If all your information is always submitted without any faults or comebacks, then this is an enormous achievement in its own.
Is this achievement described on your CV? What was the situation? What did you do about it and what was the end result?
If you are looking for a new opportunity, what you are good at doing should be a focus in your new opportunity. If not, why would you move?
2(a). What is the second thing you enjoy doing on a daily basis?
Again, answer precisely and consider what about it you specifically enjoy.
Now see how the first and second answers relate or compare. Very often you will find that the second “thing,” although worded differently, relates to the first answer
For example, if your fist answer was that you enjoy analyzing reports, and your second answer is that you enjoy dealing with people, what specifically about dealing with people do you enjoy? Perhaps it is analyzing their problems or their career growth, or managing them? What part of dealing with people do you enjoy? Not always, but very often, this will be similar to your first answer.
2(b). Once again, ask yourself this: Are you good at it?
Use the same method described above to consider what feedback you have had, if any, and what your actions or good work may have saved the company in terms of value.
3(a). What is the third thing you would enjoy doing on a daily basis?
Repeat the whole process once again for this answer.
3(b). Are you good at it?
At this point, you have three things you really enjoy doing and are very good at. These are unique to every individual.
The following questions are also very relevant to how you naturally tend to choose and operate at your best. The answers will impact your career, and be very relevant to the company, department or division you work in. You might know these things without being aware of it.
4. Are you detail orientated?
Think carefully about this. If you answer yes, then validate it by answering the following: Have you had good feedback from your superiors or clients commenting on this skill? Once again, if you had feedback, what specifically was the situation? What did you do about it? And what was the end result? Relate the end result to time or money saved, or any improvements made to the company. Include the financial value: what it could have or did save the company.
Are you the backstop on detail? Every client I have recruited for will always tell me that their position needs someone with high attention to detail, but not every position really requires you to be that detailed.
Some individuals operate as the backstop on detail and spot inconsistencies immediately. This is in their nature. Other people are detail-orientated only when they are interested in the specific task at hand.
Understand the extent to which you are detail orientated and use this for your next interview.
For example, perhaps you are highly detail orientated and you feel valued when people or companies use your detail-oriented work for a good end result. In this case, when you have an interview for a specific position, ask the interviewer whether they require someone with high attention to detail. Ask if they need you to be the backstop on detail or whether there will be someone else making sure all the details are in order. Ask questions such as: What happens when I compile a specific report? How is it used?
If it the information will not be used effectively, you may feel that you are not valued. If details are not important, a person with a high attention to detail may be underused and feel that they are not adding value to their job or company.
The reverse is also true: if you are not exceptionally detail orientated and the position requires someone with extreme attention to detail, you might constantly feel that you are not good enough and are not performing. Your efforts may be best spent elsewhere.
If you are in a management position and do not have the best attention to detail, but your position requires it, you can put a person in place that will help you achieve this. Please take note that I am not saying you cannot do the job. What I am saying is that it might not be the best position for you, because it may not make use of your natural talents.
5. Do you prefer a structured or unstructured environment?
This is not about your ability to shift focus or multi-task. Do you naturally tend to make to-do lists? Do you plan your day and always know when you are going to do something? Or do you prefer a more spontaneous work day?
People often tell me they are able to work in both, which is fine, but if you understand how you naturally tend to operate, it will change a job to a career.
Generally, you either enjoy systems and procedures, or you don’t. If you enjoy structure, you are not going to wake up one morning and start operating in an unstructured manner for months. Your natural tendency, if you are structured by nature, will always be to put structure into place or around you. You need to keep this in mind when you are going for an interview.
You also need to be aware that there are basically four types of companies:
1. Highly structured companies with set strategies and operations in place. They hire structured individuals but rarely allow them to bring change to the existing structure and processes. They need a person to comply with their rules and regulations.
2. Structured groups who hire structured individuals and allow them to put new structures in place or improve the current structure and processes.
3. Unstructured groups who hire either structured or unstructured individuals and allow people to put new structures and processes in place.
4. Highly unstructured groups who know they need structure and therefore hire structured individuals, but who have a board of directors, principles or holding group that does not really allow changes to the process, controls, and structures. This group is prone to stalling because the goal posts are always moving.
Once you are aware of how you naturally tend to operate, you will find it easier to reach your potential. When you go for an interview, you can ask questions about what projects the company implemented recently and what systems they use, when they were last upgraded, and how long these processes took. Questions like this will help you assess how the company operates and identify whether you will be able to fit into their environment.
This does not mean you cannot work in any alternative environment. Knowing how you naturally operate and how you are put together makes all the difference. For example, if management does not allow projects to move forward, and you are by nature highly structured, do you think you would enjoy the working environment?
It is likely that you will leave the company’s employ unless a company recognizes this and uses your ability.
6. Do you enjoy handling projects from beginning to end or do you prefer to generate ideas and then move on?
Some people enjoy controlling every aspect of a project right through to completion, while others enjoy working on the conceptualizing stage and coming up with new ideas before handing it over to an efficient delegated team. Some people do both. But what do you naturally tend to do?
Often, senior people need to learn to let go and delegate, but you still have a natural style, whether you have learned to delegate or not. If you are in a senior position, this is often how you would manage your team as well.
If you are someone who enjoys controlling the process or projects, you will need to look at environments that allow you to be very hands-on involved.
When going for interviews, ask the interviewer if they need you to control the process from beginning to end and be involved, or do they expect you to conceptionalise ideas and then hand them over.
If the position requires you to generate ideas and hand them over but you naturally enjoy being involved and controlling the process, you will feel that people take things away from you and will not feel validated in your job.
The reverse is also true; if you are, by nature, a person who prefers to conceptualize ideas and hand them over to a team, when you are expected to control everything from beginning to end, might feel suffocated and not really feel in control.