Write a Winning Resume
Accomplishments and Results
This is the single, biggest mistake that virtually all job seekers make on their resume. Most people write job description resumes. In essence, they describe not only what they did, but what anyone would have done.
Here’s an example
Sales Representative, Drab Shark Manufacturing, Middletown, CT,
2003 – Present
*Sold manufacturing components to clients throughout New England
*Developed and maintained solid relationships with all customers
*Created call lists and scheduled in-person visits
*Managed personal budget and prepared reports
Now that may sound good, but the sad fact is that every sales rep in the history of Drab Shark – or any company for that matter – did those exact same things. The author of this resume simply wrote a job description for a sales rep. Undoubtedly, the reader of the resume is familiar with what a sales rep does.
The key to a great resume is to focus on what YOU specifically accomplished. What did you do that was unique, special, different, or distinctive? What made you stand out?
The way to best accomplish this is by thinking about your accomplishments. Results come in two forms: scope and results.
Scope
How big?
How much?
How many?
How often?
Results
Did you grow sales?
Did you save the company money?
Were you recognized for your achievement?
Did you create something new?
If you can guess from these questions, you get accomplishments through numbers, numbers, and more numbers. You want to be as specific as you can in everything you write.
Let’s look at a new version of the sample resume. Same person, same job, but a very different resume
Sales Representative, Drab Shark Manufacturing, Middletown, CT,
2003 – Present
*Sold $35 million in manufacturing components to more than 1,200 clients throughout New England
----Ranked third out of 29 national sales reps
----Exceeded company mandated sales goals by 9%
*Personally secured more than 400 new customers through dedicated cold calling and in-person visits
*Managed a budget of $35,000 annually – decreasing spending by 13%
*Prepared dozens of comprehensive summary reports delivered monthly to national VP of sales
Sounds quite a bit better, doesn’t it? This is the number one key to writing a great resume. As you can imagine, this is the information a recruiting director is craving, because it really brings a resume to life.
Learn about Hispanic Recruiting at LatPro.com
www.jobbound.com
This is the single, biggest mistake that virtually all job seekers make on their resume. Most people write job description resumes. In essence, they describe not only what they did, but what anyone would have done.
Here’s an example
Sales Representative, Drab Shark Manufacturing, Middletown, CT,
2003 – Present
*Sold manufacturing components to clients throughout New England
*Developed and maintained solid relationships with all customers
*Created call lists and scheduled in-person visits
*Managed personal budget and prepared reports
Now that may sound good, but the sad fact is that every sales rep in the history of Drab Shark – or any company for that matter – did those exact same things. The author of this resume simply wrote a job description for a sales rep. Undoubtedly, the reader of the resume is familiar with what a sales rep does.
The key to a great resume is to focus on what YOU specifically accomplished. What did you do that was unique, special, different, or distinctive? What made you stand out?
The way to best accomplish this is by thinking about your accomplishments. Results come in two forms: scope and results.
Scope
How big?
How much?
How many?
How often?
Results
Did you grow sales?
Did you save the company money?
Were you recognized for your achievement?
Did you create something new?
If you can guess from these questions, you get accomplishments through numbers, numbers, and more numbers. You want to be as specific as you can in everything you write.
Let’s look at a new version of the sample resume. Same person, same job, but a very different resume
Sales Representative, Drab Shark Manufacturing, Middletown, CT,
2003 – Present
*Sold $35 million in manufacturing components to more than 1,200 clients throughout New England
----Ranked third out of 29 national sales reps
----Exceeded company mandated sales goals by 9%
*Personally secured more than 400 new customers through dedicated cold calling and in-person visits
*Managed a budget of $35,000 annually – decreasing spending by 13%
*Prepared dozens of comprehensive summary reports delivered monthly to national VP of sales
Sounds quite a bit better, doesn’t it? This is the number one key to writing a great resume. As you can imagine, this is the information a recruiting director is craving, because it really brings a resume to life.
Learn about Hispanic Recruiting at LatPro.com
www.jobbound.com
posted by BK at 10:56 AM
3 Comments:
This post has been removed by the author.
I wholeheartedly agree with making accomplishments stand out on a resume. It's even more critical, as you point out, to provide relative context of those accomplishments. If I know how big the impact is, I'm more likely to call the person for an interview. If I'm not sure, I probably don't "have time" to place that call. Thanks for reinforcing this point. It makes the difference between getting called and waiting by the phone.
Hi. nice blog.Ihad already posted my resume in many job sites.Now I think that your blog
is best for free job posts
thanks........
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