Resumes are the lifeline of the hiring process. They are the vehicles that allow an employer to evaluate the potential value of a candidate to their organization.
The role of a resume is not to get you the job; it is to get an employer interested in meeting you. Therefore, the information you choose to include in the resume should have relevancy to your target employer, and be focused on the skills and accomplishments you have which will add value to their organization.
One of the most common mistakes people make when developing their resume is presenting their current and former jobs by listing only what the role required them to do, instead of offering representative accomplishments.
For example, an Office Manager’s job: “Responsible for the smooth operation of the office on a daily basis. This included supervising two clerical workers and seeing that facilities issues were taken care of. Also responsible for making sure all the computers and other office equipment were running properly, and that the sales force received their messages and other administrative support as required.”
The above is a common representation of how people attempt to market themselves. Unfortunately, when all the candidates package themselves in this way, the reader (employer) has very little information from which to distinguish one candidate from the next.
Read the overview again. It merely describes what the person was supposed to do, (it sounds like a condensed job description) with no indication of how well they did it. While it is important for the employer to understand the scope of your responsibilities, it is also critical that you include specific representative accomplishments to indicate the quality of your contributions in that role.
A more effective presentation of the Office Manager might be: “Responsible for full administrative and sales support for 6 account managers, with supervisory responsibility for 2 clerical staff.” (This opener gives the framework of the job. The next step is to offer specific qualitative or quantitative accomplishments.)
“Negotiated for best value in the purchasing of office supplies and equipment, with a budget of $32,000 annually. Converted office procedures and filing from a manual system to an automated system, and trained professionals and office staff in the new software. Created a customer complaint tracking system which improved resolution time by an average of one week.”
In the second example, the Office Manager used action verbs (negotiated – converted – trained – created) to “power up” the resume. In reading the two versions, the first is generic with no specifics to bring the resume to life. The second example is vivid and reflects contributions that improved the office operations.
Employers are not seeking a person who can just do the job. In today’s complex business environment, all employees need to be actively contributing to the business’s growth, profitability, and competitiveness. This includes everyone in the organization, from the president to the mail room clerk.
Many job seekers have difficulty in identifying and quantifying their accomplishments. They do not recognize their contributions as being significant, mainly due to the fact that whatever the job required to be done was done. They take their accomplishments for granted.
If you are getting stuck in identifying your accomplishments, try using the P-A-R method. P – A – R stands for Problem Action -Result.
As you’re thinking about each job you have had, try to recall a problem, need or challenge that existed within your job, department, or company. Write that down next to the “P”. For instance, ” Problem: mailroom costs were increasing and we were trying to identify cost cutting or efficiency increasing ideas.”
Next, think about the action that you took to address the problem. For example, “Action: I spent one month analyzing mailroom usage. This process resulted in the knowledge that we were processing a sufficient volume of mail to qualify for pre-sort mailing. I contacted 3 pre-sort businesses to review and obtain quotes for services, based on our needs.”
Finally, write down the result that occurred because of your actions: “Result: recommended that we outsource the pre-sort process which resulted in more efficient processing as well as a cost savings of 1.5 cents per letter. On an annual basis this added up to $17,500.”
Now that you have walked through the P-A-R process, it is easy to extract information to write a bullet which reflects your contribution: “Analyzed mail room usage and selected vendor for pre-sort services, which increased efficiency and saved the company $17,500 in the first year alone.”
Take another look at the resume you have been using. If it does not adequately reflect your contributions, consider the P-A-R approach to write your accomplishments. This will add dimension and interest, and should also result in a better response rate from potential employers.
