We become so hung up on the chronology of our careers that we forget that our roles are intersected by more than a timeline. There is a web of transferable skills, experience, network, even training that joins the dots between our jobs.

Our career documents need to do more than just present a timeline of job titles. It needs to present an argument for candidacy that threads its way from one job to the next via a nexus of interconnected learning, experience and capability.

Our understanding of what our inherent value is, is vital to our ability to perform effectively, work collaboratively with others, find our place in the team and, ultimately, build our confidence to continuously improve.

The value that we bring to the workforce can be found in our professional skillset, such as the way we communicate, build partnerships, negotiate outcomes; our technical capabilities, such as the skills we have to undertake our practical tasks such as specific skills in diagnostics, design or teaching; our education and training, such as any specific or unique courses that we’ve undertaken that ensures that we bring something new to the table; or any other source of development or strength that sets us apart. Once you have identified your unique selling point – your niche – you need to be able to articulate this in such a way that the potential impact of this value is apparent in relation to the job you are applying for.

Our self-worth and our value are often considered interchangeably, but they are actually quite different and there is some danger in mixing them up.

Our value is about what we bring to the table, our self-worth is about how we feel about ourselves. For many of us, feeling “worthy” is tied up in the car we drive, the house we live in, the job title we have, the people we rub shoulders with, the clothes we wear. The problem with this approach is we are looking to external sources to identify our self-worth and as such we risk losing our sense of self should we lose our job, find ourselves in financial turmoil or stop being invited to the parties.

If we base our identity on external factors, we no longer control our own sense of who we are and as such, our professional confidence is always on the line.

How we choose to measure our worth as a person will impact how we see ourselves, and as such, how we are able to step forward and take opportunities as they arise.

What drives us is similarly important to factor in, when putting the pieces of our professional profile together.

Why do we do what we do? When I ask my clients this, I am usually greeted with a look of surprise as it’s rarely something we tend to think about consciously. And yet our drivers are just as important as the value we bring and the self-worth we possess. They determine what ends we will go to, to achieve our goals, and what we are willing to do and how, to get over the line.

Our career documents need to share more than just our daily do. They need to have “us” in them – how and why we do what we do. Thinking consciously about these things will help us become strong candidates because when we are asked why they should hire us, we will know the answer.