Writing a Great Resume

People ask me fairly often to help them optimize their resumes for them. I've realized over the years that there are some common "tricks" to writing a great resume...

Given the number of people out of work these days, I thought I'd share a few of them with you...I've been a "hiring manager" in various roles for years, so I hope this adds to the credibility of my observations!

1. Use Active Verbs. Tell me what you DID, not what you were responsible for in your past roles. As a hiring manager, I'm MOST interested in the contribution that you made. So, if you were "responsible for answering phones," I'd be more impressed by seeing that you "Created a warm and welcoming environment for a heavy volume of callers, evidenced by frequent unsolicited feedback." Or, if you were "responsible for counting money in a cash drawer at the end of a shift, " I'd be more intrigued to hear that you "Identified multiple inefficiencies in end-of-shift cash drawer reconciliation process, reducing a previous discrepancy average of $450 to less than $10/shift." See the difference? Created. Led. Identified. Envisioned. Ensured. Active verbs.

2. C.A.R. Context, Action, Result. For any item that you include in your resume, provide me with some CONTEXT -- what was the environment or situation you were working in? Then, you must include the ACTION that you took (this is where the active verbs come in); and finally, the RESULT you were able to achieve. In the two previous examples:
Context: heavy volume of callers; big discrepancy in cash drawer reconciliation
Action: Created a welcoming greeting; Identified the problem and found a sustainable fix
Result: Frequent unsolicited feedback; significant reduction in average cash discrepancy
You see that they don't have to be written "in order", but often, when I'm teaching this concept, I ask folks to write them out in order, and then we turn them into a more succinct sentence or phrase.

3. Brag...a little...but be truthful. It's hard for some of us to talk about ourselves. But, if you want someone to hire you, they need to know what you can do for them! Your resume should highlight your unique contributions. It should answer the question: What would NOT have happened at this company/in this department/etc. if I would not have been there? If you were part of a team, you can say that, but cite what YOUR contribution was to the team.

4. Focus. Lately, I see a LOT of people who just want "a job." I get it...Times are hard, and if you're out of work, there is a lot of pressure to just get "something." But, hiring managers don't want generalists...they want to know why you are perfect for their job...they have LOTS of people to choose from right now. So, you may need different versions of your resume that highlight different contributions that are more relevant for the role you are applying for.

5. Details. Check your spelling. Check your grammar. Make sure that the document looks nice (margins line up, don't use 4 different fonts/font sizes, etc). Have a trusted, grammatically correct friend look it over for you! Honestly, if a resume hits my desk and it has typos, grammar errors, someone uses the same word too frequently, or it looks "messy,", I toss it out. Harsh, but true. I don't have to settle for any employee...especially not these days!

There are lots of other tips and tricks, but these 5 will certainly make a noticeable improvement in your resume. If you have other tricks or hints, I'd love to hear them!