Accomplishments On The Resume Sell The Goods!

One of the most difficult sections of a resume for many people to write may be in drafting their accomplishments. It's way to easy too write a laundry list of responsibilities, the title of the job and the name and address of the employer and call it a day.

Guess what? The prospective employer will take one look at your easily written resume, will not take the time or the effort to try to find out what you're selling and move it to the bottom of the stack never to be seen again.

The well written resume is a selling tool. It's not about you but rather should highlight what you can do for the employer. The employer has a problem and needs someone who can solve it. Telling the employer what he wants to know is the difference between earning you an interview or getting no answer at all.

An accomplishment, carefully written, makes you unique from all other candidates for the position. If you think about it, not only are you telling how well you carry out the job but also what kind of person you are.

There are many factors to consider when looking at a list of accomplishments. How long did you hold the job compared with the accomplishments listed? How do the accomplishments mesh with the size of the company? Did you identify and initiate the resolution of challenges? What obstacles did you overcome?

If you are a HR Director, one of your responsibilities might be: "Conduct and maintain a company-wide safety program."

Now the hiring official has the following questions: Conduct what? Did they maintain or add to existing safety program? And the big question: what results did they achieve?

Recruiters want answers; they don't have time ask questions. They want to know how well you performed this function, if they have questions, you don't get the interview. The assumption is if you don't say it you didn't do it. If your resume doesn't do a proper selling job it's your problem not theirs.

Let's rewrite the responsibility function as an accomplishment:

"Developed and initiated company-wide safety awareness program that, in the first year, reduced work related accidents by 31%, reduced lost time be 28% and saved over $105,000 in workers compensation costs."

Now you are someone they want to talk to. At the face-to-face interview they may have other questions about the nut-and-bolts of what you did and how you did it. You're telling them about results. It clearly demonstrates the benefit of hiring you and that you have a proven ability to do the job.

Recruiters want facts as they relate to the key challenges of the job. Everything else that may require them to guess, or spend time connecting the dots will not get you the interview.

If your resume is not generating you an acceptable level of interviews take a critical look at what you are saying. Are you telling the reader what you did rather than the all important results?

As a marketing device, your resume has a big load to carry. It's selling a product and that's you. If you clearly list results that favorably compare to the employer's needs your chance of being invited in for an interview go way up. And isn't that what selling is all about?