The traditional way that most people prepare their resume is to start recording “just the facts,” names, dates, and positions. It’s driven in part by the paradigm of the application forms that many companies used to use – or still use in an electronic format. The same is true for the creation of a LinkedIn profile, driven by their profile paradigm for experience, skills, and so on.
Related: How To Prepare For A Job Interview
There’s an alternative for preparing both your resume and your online profiles that will result in a stronger, clearer picture of not just your “experience,” but your accomplishments – in a format that will more likely spark interest among potential employers.
“Just the facts” should end with the headline for each of your jobs. That’s the job title, organization, and dates. But that’s it! Don’t continue to create a short list of boring job duties. Don’t do this:
Manager and lead chef
Developed regional skills development program
Manage 15 full and part-time employee
Interview Yourself
The interview you conduct with yourself is simple – but it has great depth that will not only help you prepare your resume but help you prepare for potential interviews. Here’s the first question:
Please describe your current position and your greatest accomplishment in the last year!
You’ve already answered the first part, just the facts, so focus on the second part, your greatest accomplishment. In an interview, this should be a two to three-minute response. For your resume, it should only be 2-3 lines long. One advantage of a LinkedIn profile is that your experience – ACCOMPLISHMENTS – can be longer. Maybe it’s something like this:
Reduced food waste from 7.2% to 5.2% in three months, exceeding company goal of 5.9%, resulting in $60K annual cost reduction. Accomplished by improved inventory management focusing on daily goals and positive work habits.
Next, ask yourself for another accomplishment in your current position. “Record, refine, repeat” for your other positions. Two or three accomplishments for each position is a general guideline. For positions that are four or five years ago, you can include only one key accomplishment.
It’s important to check to make sure that your “accomplishments” are not just individual accomplishments. There’s a natural tendency to initially focus on what “I did” on the job. In today’s team and collaborative environment, it’s equally important to present your leadership or team skills. Here’s a question to prompt that:
In your current position, please describe your most significant leadership or team accomplishment.
Make sure your response is specific. Follow a format that describes the Challenge, the Action you took, and the Result (C-A-R)
Here’s an example response:
Identified high turnover indicating “too much work” and “poor recognition.” Reduced turnover by 44% working side by side with individual team members and supporting their work in a fast-paced, high-pressure, increased productivity and morale via cross-training.
When suggesting this approach, I’m often challenged with “this type of response requires answers that are too long.” First of all, in an interview, you can provide a lot of detail in an effective, two or three-minute response. You can do the same in a powerful two or three-line bullet point for your resume.
Challenge: High turnover
Action: Working side by side with individual team members
Result: Reduced turnover by 44%
Powerful statements do not have to be long. In reality, the short answers pack a punch that inspires potential employers to want more detail. In the examples I’ve provided above, I’d want to know more:
How this person “focused on positive work habits.” I’d say “give me an example…”
“Tell me more” about the cross training… What were the challenges?
Action verbs on your resume are critical – but it’s more than just one word. The specificity that you can provide in a description that is still short is the key. Here’s a final example from the above, “Developed a regional skills development program.”
Developed and presented a regional skills development program for compliance with new environmental regulations. The program included classroom presentation materials and online quizzes. A program evaluation indicated 90% “good to outstanding” quality.
Conclusion
Specific, “accomplishment” answers describe the results of what you’ve done, not just the activity of typical job duty statements. They’re interesting, and that makes the reader curious to know more. That increases your likelihood of being interviewed or selected for a position. To implement these ideas for your resume or LinkedIn profile, simply “Record – Refine – Repeat!”
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a Work It Daily-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here.Photo Credit: Bigstock
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.