Pamela Kleibrink Thompson.

On Mother's Day this month we celebrate mothers. Your mom had a lot of sage advice and she taught you many valuable lessons. Mom might have told you that you should never brag about yourself. Recognizing that moms are full of wisdom and usually mean well, I want to tell you that mom was wrong when it comes to bragging. This Mother's Day and every day, honor your mother, but ignore this one pearl of her wisdom.

There are situations where you need to brag, where a bit of self-promotion is necessary to jump-start your career and to keep it going.

There are ways to brag about yourself without offending a client or employer or your mom. We'll take a look at good bragging and bad bragging in three situations -- when socializing and networking, on your resume and during an interview.

Networking
Be ready to tell people who you are at industry events, parties, and meetings of professional organizations. Practice your self-introduction with a friend. Your self-introduction should be short and sweet. Make yourself sound fascinating and memorable. Create an introduction with pizzazz. "I'm Jan, the entertainment marketing diva." "I'm Mike and I draw the funny cartoons your kid watches on Nickelodeon." "I'm Jim and I just directed a short that won the audience favorite award at... " Be sure to ask the other people around you about themselves and listen attentively to their answers.

Don't come across as arrogant or self-centered by dominating the conversation with a long discourse about the great job you did composing the latest music in the most recent video game released by EA. Make sure you give kudos to others on your team and on the project, and you won't come across as being too cocky. Give the other person a chance to brag. Don't interrupt and redirect the attention to yourself.

Resume
Your resume must highlight your achievements and your accomplishments. Make sure you list awards you've won and goals you've reached. What you've done for past employers gives future employers a hint of what you can do for them. You are competing with many others to get the attention of an employer, so make yourself stand out.

If your film or a project you worked on has won an award at a film festival, or if you have been honored by your school or a professional organization, make sure you mention it in your resume, as well as in your cover letter and at your interview.

The only way to be too boastful on your resume is to take credit for something you did not do or claim skills you do not have. Never do that.