Resume Help... Writing Resume Accomplishments

Writing Resume Accomplishments -
A Recruiter's Top 5 Tips

The resume that fights its way to the top of the pile does so, in large part, by the effective use of resume accomplishments. Every resume has a heading, an experience section, a nod to education and so forth. But the resume that distinguishes itself through accomplishments that speak to the hiring official is the resume that generates the phone call. Here's help.

Top 5 Tips for Writing Resume Accomplishments

1 - An accomplishment on a resume is not a vehicle for your own personal ego trip. Rather, the intention of the accomplishment is to feed the needs of the prospective employer. Every employer looking at your resume will be asking themselves one question: "What's in it for me?" Or put another way, "What can this candidate do that will make money, save money, save time, increase efficiencies, solve a particular problem, or otherwise make me look good for having hired him?" Filter all your resume accomplishments through the lens of the prospective company's needs before committing those accomplishments to paper.

2 - Employ numbers whenever possible. In the battle between adjectives and numbers, numbers win. Why write, "Significantly reduced receivables" when you can write, "Reduced receivables by $1.8 million in 30 days, and recovered $25,000 that had not been billed." The latter replaces subjectiveness with facts that are universally understood and appreciated.

 3 - Unearth relevant accomplishments by revisiting past performance reviews, and by looking over your personal career file (you're keeping one of these, aren't you?). If it's slim pickings, ask yourself a series of probing questions to get the juices flowing. What were the sales (or number of accounts, or production stats, etc.) when I started with the company, and what are they now (or what were they when I left)? Did I make any particular contributions that positively affected said sales (or number of accounts, or production stats, etc.)? Did I make work life easier on anybody or any department? Did I solve some problems? Did I receive accolades, either inside or outside the company, for a job well done?

4 - Try to flesh out 5 or more accomplishments for each job you've held over the years. They won't all be of equal importance, so rank them. Then decide which will be included beneath their respective jobs in the Experience section of the resume.

5 - Don't forget that your resume has a critical area of real estate that the reader will see before he or she gets to the Experience section. That would be the Profile or Summary of Qualifications. This is a perfect place to slip in a couple of your more impressive accomplishments. Save a little something as well for your cover letter. Not to mention for conversation during interviews, or for use in networking opportunities.

Resume Accomplishments - Your Campaign Key

When the job market is hyper competitive, professional accomplishments are the lynchpin of a successful campaign. Learn how to dig them out of your work history, how to quantify them with numbers when possible, and where and when to employ them. And be ready to answer to phone.

Where we go from here: A few pages over, you can find out how to craft a resume that avoids the common pitfalls of the screening process. We call it our Top 10 Checklist for a Good Resume. Explore which Resume Format makes the most sense for your situation, and learn some tips on writing the perfect Resume Objective.

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