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Four steps to a
Killer resume!
By Dwain Celistan
A key tool in the process of securing another opportunity is via a resume.
As an executive recruiter, we typically receive hundreds of resumes per
week. There are over three million resumes on the larger internet sites.
Thus, it is important to breakthrough the “clutter” to communicate your
capabilities to the reader/potential hiring authority.
The first element of the strong resume is to state your objective. This will
help the reader know your employment desires. Defining your desires is also
energizing and challenging.
The objective section will set the stage for the balance of your resume. The
balance of the resume should reinforce through your experiences and
education your ability to meet/exceed the requirements of the type of role(s)
outlined in the objective.
Your work experience is the next most important component. For each role you
should provide two components, responsibilities and accomplishments.
Responsibilities are essentially items that are similar to a job
description. They are the requirements for someone who has had that
position. By contrast, accomplishments are the quantitative things you’ve
done while in the position. The weighting should skew most heavily to
accomplishments with an 80/20 weight.
Second, compose a concise two to three line statement of your major
responsibilities. For each position, focus on the larger aspects of the role
in an appealing manner to the reader. Stay with the highlights versus
details. Remember, the hiring authorities are probably familiar with the
responsibilities of your role. For example, a Director of Sales knows the
content of a territory sales reps role. Similarly, a Plant Manager knows the
core responsibilities of a line foreman or maintenance engineer.
Third, and arguably the most important component of your resume, the
accomplishments you’ve had while in each role. Accomplishments are
quantifiable benefits you delivered or led, such as, generated X revenues,
reduced Y costs, efficiencies were improved Z percent, secured Y more
clients, improved our satisfaction ratings Z percent, secured X more hits on
our web site, etc. These points of difference separate you from anyone else
that would have had that role or a similar role.
Importantly, avoid qualitative language to define your accomplishments. Most
roles have a quantifiable element to them. This is the time and place to use
them, regardless of how challenging you might find this step.
Fourth, there is recency bias in reviewing resumes. The positions you’ve
held in the past five years are significantly more important than roles you
had over 10 years ago. Therefore, weight your resume accordingly. For
example, your list of accomplishments should be more robust for recent
roles. However, I suggest fewer substantial accomplishments will beat a long
list of modest “wins".
For positions that you held over 10 years ago, I suggest using the title and
one and at most two key accomplishments that occurred during your tenure in
that role. Remember, it is unnecessary to define the responsibilities of
entry level or junior positions.
Net, a killer resume has four components:
• It begins with a clear objective of the type(s) of opportunities you
desire.
• Each position has two elements, weighted 80/20 to accomplishments,
beginning with a brief outline of major responsibilities.
• Provide quantifiable accomplishments for each role
• Skew the emphasis on the document to the most recent five years
Through this approach, hiring authorities will know your desires and can
review prior successes demonstrate which suggest your potential to deliver
in the future. Importantly, this approach will focus your efforts to seek
your next opportunity, within or outside of your current organization.
Dwain Celistan is a retained executive recruiter who focuses on leadership
talent. He has authored “5 Simple Steps to Achieving Your Dreams”. He can be
reached via dwain@reinvent2achieve.com.
About
the Author: Dwain
Celistan is a exaecutive recruiter who focuses on marketing, sales and
supply chain leadership talent.
This follows a corporate career as a Senior Vice President of Marketing for
a $7 billion Fortune 300 firm.
He has also written 5 Simple Steps to Achieving Your Dreams, which can be
obtained on reinvent2achieve.com |
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