Work Autobiography Guidelines

To know where we are going we must know where we have been. This exercise is designed to help you recreate your life/work history in an orderly organized manner. The important thing is to be as detailed as possible, as though you were describing your experiences to a child. Autobiographies vary in length from 15 to 40 pages. Start off with a chronological list of all your work experiences according to time segments (Some people like to include high school and college as their first “work” segments).

Use this summary as the framework for your detailed autobiography. Describe exactly what you did and accomplished and try to overcome your natural modesty by bragging a bit. Your evaluation is what counts here. In fact, the activities you enjoyed the most deserve the most attention.

In describing each segment, be sure to respond to the following points.

l. Describe the organization, it’s size, general purpose, etc.

2. Outline your responsibilities, personnel supervised, budget concerns and amounts of money you handled and/or equipment you handled. What exactly did you do?

3. Describe significant achievements, especially those that went particularly well without a great deal of effort on your part. Describe any organizational activities or innovations that made your job easier. Describe any special relations with other people and any personal contributions you made.

4. Describe what was going on after hours – hobbies, activities, organizations, relationships, etc.