A common fault in resume writing is to belabor the obvious in the work experience section-usually at the expense of information that needs to be included. There is too much of pure job description (often in jobs that require no such elaboration) and not enough information to dramatize how well you performed the job. Here's an exaggerated example of what I mean:
PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER. Played shortstop. Fielded ground balls and threw to first base. Caught popups and line drives. Accepted relay throws from outfield. Batted sixth in batting order. Duties included trying to get hits and drive in runs.
Don't laugh. Most resumes I've seen commit the same sin to one degree or another: from accountants whose blow-by-blow description of what they did on a job was so specific I was surprised they didn't mention the maker of the pen they used; from magazine editors who would include in the comment of their job phrases like "edited articles"; from a book designer whose job description consisted of two words: "Designed books."
Then what do you do when you go to describe a job? Simple -you avoid the obvious and concentrate on the accomplishments. For instance:
PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER. Starting shortstop for Phillies for nine seasons. Established league record with career fielding average of .978. Set team record for assists in 1978. Had three .300-plus seasons. Hit (in career) 178 home runs. Final career average: .292.
In this example, we're not only describing how you made your living for the past nine years but giving detailed information that radiates accomplishment.
Here is the true key to a "selling" resume: presenting your job experience not simply in terms of the mechanics of the job but in terms of what you accomplished.
Cataloguing Accomplishments
Before you begin on the work experience section of your resume, you need to amass a catalogue of your career accomplishments-assuming you haven't already done so. Remember, we're not looking here simply for your duties and responsibilities. We want accomplishments. If it's impossible for you to come up with accomplishments, you may have to rely solely on a straight description; but don't give up until you've tried the following exercise.
Write down on a separate sheet of paper or a file card each of the jobs you've held since you left school. Start with your most recent job. Write down at least five things you accomplished in that job (more if you can think of them). If you can't think of five, put down four, or three, but force yourself to think along these lines. Don't lie, but give yourself credit where credit is reasonably due. Don't worry about how it sounds as you write. Just get it down on paper. At this early stage in the resume writing process, it's okay to use the first person. Here are some examples:
I developed a new training program for entry-level administrative employees, and as a result of it there was a noticeable drop in employee turnover.
I worked on and helped to administer a new training program for entry-level administrative employees. It was described by my supervisor as "the best program the company ever had."
Because of my knowledge of the restaurant business I was able to help the creative department develop a proposal that helped our firm gain a major restaurant chain as an account.
I was the editor who assigned and edited five different articles that received awards from the Society of Magazine Writers.
If you're having trouble coming up with accomplishments, try completing the following incomplete statements:
I organized . . . I created . . . I established . . . I revamped . . . I developed . . . I supervised . . .
I streamlined . . .
I strengthened . . .
I put into effect . . .
I helped to reduce . . .
I saved . . .
I improved . . .
I tied together . . .
Because of me the company . . .
Because of me the department . . .
You don't have to fill in all of these blanks. I offer them simply to get your mind moving in an accomplishment-oriented direction. Leave out the first person in the resume itself.
The Next Step
Once your job accomplishment sheets are filled out-and you should be as detailed at this stage as you can-you're ready to write the first draft of the job experience section.
Take your most recent job. Write down the position, the company name. If you think it's needed, explain what the company does.
For example:
Assistant Controller, ABC Electronics, Inc. A corporation manufacturing electronic components, Sales $20 million.
Next, in one short sentence, describe the scope and responsibility of your job:
Responsible for entire accounting function, including cost, budgets, statements, and systems.
Now go to the sheet of paper that lists this job. Choose what in your judgment are the four most important accomplishments, and put them in an abbreviated form.
Let's say your list reads, in part, as follows:
I established an effective system of job cost analysis, and as a result of it the company was able to change its product pricing and realize considerable profit. You would write on your resume draft:
Established system of job cost analysis that changed product pricing and improved profits.
Let's say one of the accomplishments read as follows:
I investigated potential acquisitions and, on the basis of these investigations, made recommendations as to purchase price. I once uncovered a major discrepancy in connection with a probable merger. You might shorten this to:
Investigated potential acquisitions and recommended purchase price: uncovered merger-related discrepancy in such and such year….
Keep these information fragments down to no more than ten words. Start with an active verb, and eliminate all non-essential words. Instead of:
I developed a new training program for entry-level administrative employees and as a result of it there was a noticeable drop in employee turnover . . .
Developed training program for entry-level administrative employees that cut employee turnover by 15 percent.
Following this procedure may be cumbersome to you at first, but stay with it. After you've done a few, the rest should come easier. Keep in mind what your objective is here: to reflect as positive an image of yourself as possible. The list of words on page 90 might help. Somehow, in some way, you must get across the contributions you have made to the companies you have worked for, and the accomplishments you can point to in each job you've held.
Depending upon how many jobs you've held, this portion of your resume might run as long as a page or as short as a paragraph. Outside of keeping the whole resume to no more than two pages, there are no rules here. If your list looks long, prune it. Don't detail your early jobs as much as you're most recent ones. The fewer the jobs you list, the more accomplishments you should try to work in. The more jobs you list, the more selective you can be about the accomplishments. Without cramping your style, I'd say that if your resume indicates ten specific accomplishments, then you have a strong resume.
