"Resume Accomplishments....Not Responsibilities......Generate Interviews!"
After reviewing thousands of resumes over the past five years, our professional writing staff has reached an important conclusion about a common mistake people make in writing their own resumes.
They tend to put an undue, in some cases overwhelming, emphasis on job responsibilities with little or no discussion of job accomplishments. In some cases, we see people simply paste job descriptions under their name and think they have written a good resume.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
As we all know, simply because an employee has been tasked with certain responsibilities does not mean they are performed well or even performed at all. In the highly competitive world of job hunting, the only way to convince a potential employer of your value is to document concrete accomplishments demonstrating the skills and abilities the new employer would gain by hiring you.
Unless the employer believes he will be gaining value for his organization, there is no reason to consider you for employment.
A positive strategy is to showcase each assignment on your resume with a quick summary of responsibilities and then to place a strong emphasis on results accomplished. This is best done through heavy focus on numbers, dollars and percentages, i.e. quantification.
Solid examples of this quantification would be:
· Increased sales revenues 35% in six months.
· Lowered production costs ,000 through implementation of lean manufacturing techniques.
· Won 18 key accounts in a highly competitive market.
· Recruited, trained, mentored and motivated a distribution staff of eight professionals.
This approach will likely convince the potential employer of your value and show him you can get the job done for him.
Once the employer believes that, a job offer may not be far behind.
Return to the Main Resume Writing Articles Page
©1999-2008.
.