Resume Achievements: The #1 Resume Improvement

Recruiting expert, Patricia Frame, explains why adding achievements to your resume is the most important improvement you can make to your job search tool.

How to Make Resume Achievements Really Relevant

You often hear me say, "List relevant achievements on your resume." Easy for me to say, right? Going through your own resume to make past achievements sing about your next job is much harder. In this resume makeover, I'm going to show you how to take run-of-the-mill job duties and turn them into relevant achievements. Continue reading...

How to Use Sub-Bullet Points on a Resume

Recently I worked with some folks from my Ready-Made Resumes builder to review their resumes. There was one small trick we used on three of them to make their info quick to read: sub-bullet points on a resume. I want to share some parts of their "before" and "after" resumes so you can see what we did. Continue reading...

Recruiter's Resume Advice: Show Me the Money!

You'll hear it straight from a recruiter's mouth in this video, "Show me the money on your resume!"

Peggy McKee is an established recruiter who's looked at tons of resumes. She knows what catches her eye and what makes her want to invest her time in a potential job candidate. MONEY!

It sometimes takes guts to put dollar signs and percentages on your resume to show exactly how good you are. Many of us are reluctant to brag or even matter-of-fact-ly take full credit for what we achieved.

If you're feeling the least bit shy about writing bold (and honest) achievements, watch this video. Peggy will give you the confidence to sell yourself without hesitation.



Don't have time to watch the video? Here’s the transcript:

Advice for a Great Resume: Show Me the Money
As a recruiter who spends a lot of time reading resumes, I appreciate the great resume tips that Susan Ireland dispenses every day, and I recommend her wholeheartedly to any job seeker. After all, you can’t get much better advice than from the woman who actually “wrote the book” on resumes, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Resume.

And also as a recruiter, I’d like to share one of the things that gets my attention when I’m going through that stack: That’s a resume that clearly shows me the money.

What do I mean by that?

I mean that your resume should clearly show the benefit of hiring you, in terms of how you can either make money or save money for a company. The way you do that is by describing your accomplishments within your job history in terms of numbers, dollars, or percentages. That can be done for just about any job:

• You made money by bringing in new business or new customers.
• You saved money by coming in on time and under budget, reducing turnover, improving accuracy rates, improving safety, or changing suppliers.
• You saved time (which saves money) by increasing efficiency rates.

What you’re doing is showing that hiring manager hard evidence for why it will benefit him to hire you. What’s more impressive: that you’re a top sales rep, or that you ranked #2 out of 30? That you are proficient in corporate tax law or that you saved your company $40,000 last year? That you are great at management or that you reduced turnover rates by 25%?

See? You’re painting a detailed picture of what you can bring to the table. What you’ve done for another company, you can do for him.

I can guarantee you that not everyone has thought about this to that extent, but the ones who do are almost guaranteed to stand out from the crowd.

Thank you, Peggy, for this great video, made specially for The Job Lounge.

Here are some ways you can get help creating a strong resume filled with "show me the money" achievements:

• Hire a professional resume writer on Susan Ireland's Resume Team.
• Create your resume using Susan Ireland's Ready-Made Resumes.
• Read my book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Resume.
• Follow my free online resume advice: 10 Steps to Create a Resume.
• Browse 90 Great Resume Examples

Past Successes: Path to Future Success

So you see the news and it gives you the blues. And you wonder how you can successfully find a new job now.

But yes, people are getting hired. Sure, the process takes longer. You have to be better prepared and more active in networking than ever.

But first, think about your past. Pay attention to the good parts. Stop and remember your successes. What have you done at work, at school, in volunteering, in community groups that really made you feel good?

It is your successes that create the pattern for your future success. Doing what you enjoy and you do well is the key to your next job. You need to remember your strengths, your success.

Focus on your successful times: what was going on? What worked? Why did it make you feel good? There are common elements in your successes to help guide you forward. Once you have thought about a number of past successes you can begin to see what is important, so you can succeed elsewhere.

Wander back through your history. Focus on those events that made you feel good -- and write each down. Make each a small story of what the situation or task you faced was, what you did, and what the results were.

Then look at them all - what patterns do you see? What does each story tell you about the places you succeed in or the types of bosses you work best with? These become your guide to the next job targets. Do you work best with data or people or things? Do you achieve more doing the work yourself or managing a team? Think of what your stories say about your strengths.

Why do I think this process is so effective? Because, after decades of managing hiring programs and developing career management programs, I know how important a person’s past successes are to that person’s future. Whether you plan to do the same work going forward as you have in the past or you are changing your career focus, it is your pattern of success that will create your future.

• The common threads you find in your past provide the guidance you need to identify what you need to succeed.
• A few success stories can be used for a wide range of job search activities, from building a terrific resume to creating a better marketing plan to answering interview questions.

And perhaps most important, when you interview and you can answer a question by telling one of your success stories - you become a far better candidate. This is because your self-confidence shines through. You are talking about real results you have achieved - good for your comfort level and what an employer really cares about. Your body and self-presentation is significantly better without you even being aware of all the changes. The hiring manager or interviewer catches your body language and feels as if you have potential.

Want to know more about how to do this? Here is a video you can learn from.



This guest post is by Patricia A. Frame, Management Consultant, Speaker, & Author.

The Most Common Mistake When Updating a Resume

The most common mistake I see in resumes, cv's, and LinkedIn profiles: use of present tense verbs for experiences that happened in the past.

I think this happens when people Continue reading...

What's the Top Resume Format?

Chronological? Functional? Combination? What do employers consider the top resume format and which one should you use?

Continue reading this post...

How to Write an Executive Resume That Has True C-Level Professional Appeal

by Beth Brown, Senior Professional Resume Writer on Susan Ireland's Resume Team

An executive resume has some distinctly different components than that of a middle management or more entry-level position. If you are already an executive, or if you have your eye on a ‘C-level’ position (CEO, COO, CFO, Executive Director, etc.), you will need to create a resume that demonstrates your strategic, partnership/relationship, and other leadership qualities. Continue reading...

What Makes an Executive Resume Different From Most Professional Resumes?

Executive resumes, professional resumes, regular resumes... what's the difference? I asked executive resume writer, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter. Here's her take on the subject.

Though I think professional- and executive-level resumes share many characteristics, perhaps what distinguishes the executive-level message is the higher level of expectation regarding communicating strategic, return-on-investment impact combined with leadership skills and culture fit.

Executives, known for their profit and loss (P&L) accountability are at (or near) the top of the food chain in most companies, departments or divisions. From executives, more is (or should be) expected in regard to their career contributions, and the resume is no different, as it is the executive’s career vessel in which a plethora of critical career victories and breakthroughs are housed!

A vivid career story should be the foundation of an executive resume, and like a compelling short story, it must be written with the audience’s needs in mind. Not only should the executive ferret out and be prepared to communicate his marquee accomplishments, he should also ensure a finely focused career repository that achieves the following: a) cherry picks those triumphs that will most resonate with his target audience; and b) provides a forum in which to illustrate the nuances of his leadership talents related to building morale; inspiring and influencing others; listening to his team, colleagues and board members; enacting nimble, strategic decisions; and much, much more.

An executive-level resume, even during this age of purported social-media and technology truncated attention spans, must provide more, and because of this, it still is okay – and even a value-add – to create a two- to three-page portfolio that shows (not tells) a performance record replete with gradated chronicles that prove an ability to battle pop-up storms and envision strategic solutions to forecasted challenges and opportunities!

Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter is a Master Resume Writer and President of CareerTrend. You can follow Jacqui on Twitter: @ValueIntoWords.

Hate Going to Work? Here's How to Get a Better Job!

Millions of people hate their work and find themselves getting one job after another that they don't like. Even those who l-o-v-e their jobs have at least a few tasks they wish they didn't have to do.

Believe it or not, your resume could be the reason you keep getting jobs your hate. Continue working...

The Best Job Interview Preparation: The Behavioral Resume

With all the buzz about behavioral job interviews these days, it makes sense to create a behavioral resume. What the heck's a behavioral resume? It's a resume designed to prompt the interviewer to ask the behavioral interview questions that will highlight your strongest qualifications. Continue reading...

12-Step Crash Course in How to Write a Resume

Need to write your resume in a hurry? No time to read a book on resume writing, and can't afford to hire a professional resume writer? No problem, here's a 12-Step Crash Course in How to Write a Resume. Continue reading...

Mad Men Resumes: Does Your Resume Work Like a Successful Advertising Campaign?

Create your resume like it's part of a Mad Men advertising campaign. Know your audience (your potential employer), and write a good resume that matches the employer's definition of success.
Continue reading...

Perfect 10: Better Questions Yield a Better Resume

To get resume writing help, you could hire a professional resume writer, or you could get free resume help by asking yourself these 40 probing questions.

Perfect 10: Better Questions Yield a Better Resume
by Bridget (Weide) Brooks, editor of Resume Writers’ Digest, and “Write Great Resumes Faster”

A great resume can be the difference between getting called in for an interview, and hearing nothing at all from a prospective employer. But coming up with information to include in your resume — especially attention-getting accomplishments — can be difficult. These questions, compiled from professional resume writers, can be a great starting point to help write a good resume.

Questions to Assess Your Job Target/Desired Job
These are questions to clarify your job objective:

• What specific job titles are you targeting? (Please be specific regarding level, functional role, industry, and any environmental factors that are important to you.)
• How realistic is that goal, do you think?
• Can you identify 1-3 job postings for the type of position you're interested in?
• If you had all the money you needed and you didn't need to work, what would you do?
• In your performance reviews, in what areas did you receive the highest scores or the most positive feedback?
• What do you want to be "when you grow up"?
• If the "ideal" position were to become available, how would you describe it?
• What type of job are you looking for - and with what type of employer?
• If you could customize your career and create your own job, what skills would you use and how would you apply them?
• If you want to make a transition (new industry or job function), how can you make that shift?

Questions to Capture the Essence of Your Current Job
If your current job is relevant to your target position, spend some time identifying the key areas of expertise in the job you have now:

• When a stranger asks you, "So, what do you do?" what is your answer? If an interviewer asks you the same thing, how would your answer be different?
• What is the most important part of your current job?
• Can you tell me about a typical day in your own words; what is predictable, what is difficult?
• What was the company's purpose in hiring you: What were you brought in to do? (And were you hired, recruited, or promoted into this position?)
• Can you name three critical functions of your job that would impact the company/department if you were not at work one day?
• What do you enjoy most about your current position? The least?
• What percentage of time do you spend on the "A," "B," and "C" aspects of your job?
• How does your current job fit within the context of the organization? Who do you work with? What other areas do you support? What interactions do you have with customers?
• What are you accountable for?
• At the end of the day, what makes you feel good about what you've done?

Questions to Elicit Information About Your Accomplishments
Accomplishments are the most important part of the resume. Gathering relevant, quantifiable accomplishments can be a challenge:

• What have you achieved in your job - have you saved your employer any money or achieved any other quantifiable measure (helped the company make money, become more efficient, improve safety, improve customer service, etc.)?
• What do you do for the company that someone else did not, or would not, do?
• How was your performance measured in reviews - and what was the outcome (awards, recognition)?
• What key problems did you identify - and how did you help solve them? (Please describe in the Challenge-Action-Result format.)
• Were you chosen for any additional assignments? (What were they?)
• What would you rate as your top three skills?
• What have you done that has broadened your responsibilities?
• Why are you good at what you do?
• What do others say about you and your work?
• What have you introduced at your firm that has never existed before Sˇ or what did you improve upon?

Other General Questions
Sometimes there are questions that don't fit neatly into any other category, but that can help improve the overall resume:

• Do you have a copy of your job description or any performance evaluations?
• What are your top 3-5 strengths and personality traits?
• What are you best known for at work?
• How did you find your most recent job?
• What sets you apart from other candidates for this job?
• Why are you a good employee? Why are you better than average?
• If you were asked to select your replacement, what qualities would you be looking for?
• What will be different about your next job?
• Is there anything that you don't want to do in your next job? (Especially something that you might be good at, but that you just don't enjoy doing?)
• Anything else you'd like to add?

Using Your Answers
Getting good information from is just the start - how you incorporate the answers into the resume will help determine how effective the resume is. If you’re having difficulty putting the pieces together, a professional resume writer can help you turn your answers into an interview-winning resume — so you can have a great resume that will get you your next job faster!

— Bridget (Weide) Brooks, CPRW is the editor of Resume Writers’ Digest, a trade newsletter for professional resume writers. She is also the author of “Write Great Resumes Faster.” She can be reached via e-mail at editor@rwdigest.com.

Other posts on how to write a good resume:

5 Ways to Spotlight Transferable Skills on Your Resume
Quiz to Uncover Your Skills
Third-Person Technique for Resume Statements
How to Pick a Professional Resume Writer

5 Ways to Spotlight Transferable Skills on Your Resume

Spotlighting transferable skills on your resume is always a good idea, especially if you're making a career change, upgrading your professional image, or have a less-than-perfect work history. Do all you can to make your transferable skills pop out during an employer's initial eight-second scan of your resume. Here are a few techniques for making that happen. Continue reading....

Deadly Phrases on Your Resume?

The following over-used resume phrases are “ones to seek out and destroy in your resume as soon as possible,” according to Liz Ryan's post 10 Boilerplate Phrases That Kill Resumes.

Results-oriented professional
Cross-functional teams
More than [x] years of progressively responsible experience
Superior (or excellent) communication skills
Strong work ethic
Met or exceeded expectations
Proven track record of success
Works well with all levels of staff
Team player
Bottom-line orientation

Liz's post created quite a stir amongst career counselors and resume writers on Twitter, LinkedIn, and private emails. Hats off to you, Liz, for bringing up this topic!

Following are comments I've gathered from the chatter, including my own.

My thoughts:
If you're having trouble coming up with an original knockout phrase and feel you must resort to one of the overused resume phrases on that list, don't resist... on the first draft of your resume, that is. Then do your level best to reword the hackneyed phrase so it paints the picture of how you'll use that qualification on the job mentioned in your job objective.

For example, if you’re a teacher you probably want to convey that you have “excellent communication skills,” a must for any good teacher. So write that ho-hum phrase in your Summary of Qualifications section and then rewrite it to say exactly what communication skills you will use as a teacher (perhaps something like: “Classroom teaching style that works well for students with different learning styles and from diverse cultural backgrounds.”).

The latter phrase capitalizes on your resume real estate by addressing an obvious job requirement (good communication), and makes the potential employer envision you as a valuable educator - hopefully at his school! That's the kind of marketing your resume should achieve, line-by-line.

Ronnie Ann at Work Coach Cafe:
Sometimes when we read articles, we are given absolutes. It’s a much more exciting way to write than “maybe you should do this or maybe you should do that.” But there are very few absolutes in the world of job hunting. If you wind up using one or two of these dreaded phrases, you can most likely still land the interview. These are just reminders not to let your resume be filled with empty crap. Substance over trite is always a good way to go. But please don’t be scared if you’ve already sent out resumes with one of the forbidden ten (or any of their cousins). In the majority of cases, they are not deal breakers. (Now if the whole resume is like that…ouch!)

Paula Wagner of LifeWork Careers:
I agree in general about avoiding those 10 hackneyed resume phrases. But I also think it's actually a bit more complicated than that, since those are often the very phrases used in job descriptions. So if these are code phrases, a candidate has to address them. And they do have meaning on the job! Imagine, for example, if the candidate hired didn't have these skills.

The trick is not use them as stand-alones, but rather demonstrate clearly and succinctly how they actually fulfill the job requirements. This can be done quite easily by linking the phrases with hard evidence of achievements (e.g. sales %, time and $$ saved, projects managed, clients' lives improved, etc.). In other words, if you breathe fresh life into these phrases by naming and claiming them as your own, they should regain their original meaning on your resume. (And the hiring manager or recruiter will hopefully feel refreshed enough to set up an interview right away!)

Maureen Nelson, Career Counselor, Oakland PIC One Stop Career Center, EastBayWorks:
I'm not going to stop my clients from putting their years of experience in their profile paragraphs, nor discourage them from using "increasingly responsible" if they've gotten promoted several times at the same place.

I think I will fold this list into my "Top 10 Tips to Avoid Cookie-Cutter Resumes" handout. I've had people come in with nothing but these phrases as their "Objective." They're the people who need to know how meaningless these phrases have become. There are other ways to convey the same thoughts, tying them to their experience.

Quotes on Resume

What do you think of putting quotes from former supervisors on your resume? Short quotes on a resume can be very effective because they give the job seeker an opportunity to say good things about himself from another's perspective. This is especially helpful for the job seeker who has trouble... Continue reading

How to Handle Being Over-Qualified on Resume for a Career Change

Question
I was laid off in September from my job of seven years as a news editor, a path I am not interested in continuing. I have an Associate of Arts degree in graphic design, however I don't want to seek a job in that field as it's very competitive and prone to layoffs at this time.

I see this as an opportunity to start a path to a new career. How can I structure my resume for an internship or entry-level job in a new career field without looking over-qualified?

Answer
First, you need to decide what new career you want to pursue. Once you know that, you'll be ready to write your resume. For the sake of this answer, let's say you want to become a political lobbyist for an environmental group. For that objective, I suggest you create a combination resume.

In your job objective statement, do not use the term "entry-level;" simply say "A position." (For example: A position in environmental advocacy.) Doing this will help decrease the disparity between the elevated job title you held most recently and the new one you seek.

In your Summary of Qualifications section, emphasize the transferable skills you bring to the new position. For example:

• Eager to bring my writing and media relations skills to the political arena as an environmental advocate.
  

Under your most recent job title (News Editor) in the body of your combination resume, create two headings that support your job objective (for example: Communications and Environmental Issues). Under each of those headings, write achievement statements that are relevant to your job objective. These statements should not speak about management or leadership, as you don't expect to land a management job in your new career. Instead, refer to your experiences as being part of a team, or speak about projects you did independently. In other words, instead of:

• Managed a team of eight editors and four production staff to publish daily newspaper with circulation of 200,000.

Write something less management-like and more relevant to your new job, for example:

• As news team member, wrote pieces on wide range to topics including rain forests, glacier meltdowns, and carbon emissions.

Under Education, mention your AA degree, and any classwork that's particularly relevant to your job objective.

Good luck with your career shift!

New Zealander on US Job Hunt

From a Job Lounger:
I moved from New Zealand to America last year; my wife is an American citizen. I have a few resume-related questions.

Question #1:
I have not yet been issued my Green Card so I have a valid Employment Authorization Document to use in the interim to gain employment. All my work history on my resume shows that it was based in New Zealand so I am not sure if I should exclude any mention of my legal work status from my resume and hope that they ask questions rather than just ignore me. If not, how should I present my status on my resume? My concern is that ‘work authorization document’ may confuse and deter some employers because it shows I am neither a citizen or permanent resident (yet) so they may think that I require sponsorship.

Answer
I suggest you write "Currently hold a Work Authorization Document (WAD). Green Card (or US citizenship) anticipated 2009" at the end of your resume. Large US companies with human resources departments will understand what this means, and small companies will know to ask you about it (or easily look it up online).

Question #2:
How do I convey the extensive experience I gained while working in an IT Service Desk back in New Zealand? I don’t want to bore the employer with long-winded details, making my resume span to three pages, but I fear the title “Service Desk Operator” could be misinterpreted as under-qualified despite the responsibilities held in that position (systems and network administration, application support and some application development). I feel obligated to put the official job title that was on my contract, “Service Desk Operator.” Is it common or accepted practice to manipulate the job title, in my case to something like “IT Systems Support”?

Answer
Using a combination resume format (a chronological format with accomplishment statements organized by skill headings under each job title), here's how to list your most recent experience:

200x - 2008, Service Desk Operator (equivalent: IT Systems Support)
Company, City, Country

Systems and Network Administration
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.

Application Support
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.

Application Development
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.
- An accomplishment statement that demonstrates you have this skill.

Question #3:
I have one great letter of recommendation. Is it acceptable to attach this to my resume when submitting job applications or should I only submit it if asked? Should I take it to the job interview?

Answer
You'll need to make a case-by-case decision on this one. If you're applying online, you won't have an opportunity to include a letter of recommendation. If you're applying via snail mail, you could include the letter although it's not expected that you do so. Definitely bring it to the interview and offer it if asked about references.

Pyramid Writing on Resume

The Pyramid Writing technique has been around for more than 35 years and is considered an effective method for writing long or short documents. The intention of Pyramid Writing is to capture the reader's attention and deliver a message quickly. This technique is an excellent one for writing your resume; in fact, using it will help keep your resume concise and powerful. Continue reading...