Description or Achievement?

When you are looking to make a career transition, it is essential that you have the best self-marketing documents to help in acquiring the position you deserve. The resume is the most widely used of those documents. Even if you are not looking for a job, it is a good idea to have an effective, value-based resume on hand at all times - one that highlights the best professional you. Then you can easily refer to it for special occasions. When might those occasions be? Well - the next time you are asked to speak at a local club, or you want to begin a volunteer opportunity, or you need to jog your memory about your work history or just feel good about your accomplishments - there are some ideas!

What I want to impress upon you today is the importance of using your resume to highlight achievements. I have seen far too many resumes that read like a job description. Let's talk about the difference.

Yes, we do want to include a bit of your job description in your resume. However, it should only be the major duties and should be limited to a couple lines after the name of your employer and job title. Here is an example:

ABC Foods: Big City, Texas 1999 - Present
Plant Manager
Managed up to 60 production employees in production, quality assurance, maintenance, and supervision.

Notice that the brief description tells WHAT the person did. In the next part of the resume, it is time to tell HOW WELL the person performed job duties. Here is where you must emphasize your strong performance. This is what sets you apart from the competition. Use numbers when possible and otherwise show how outstanding your achievements were in performing your job. If you can't use numbers, add modifying words like successful, effective, impressive, unprecedented, etc. These phrases should be bulleted, brief, and easy to read. Here are examples:

• Identified training needs for 25 team members and provided or arranged instruction, insuring smooth team performance with no gaps.
• Reduced downtime by 15% through streamlining troubleshooting process, performing multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Co-authored process changes for cost-savings and quality improvements that were implemented company-wide, resulting in $3 million average income gain annually.
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing new methods to improve safety, leading to an Incident and Injury Free Environment.

See how it works? Now, go back and write more of your own achievement statements. This is a project you can continue as you remember the difference you have made. Ideally, you will generate pages of these achievement statements so that you can choose the most relevant ones for each new situation you encounter. You may already have an excellent resume, but even the best can be updated and improved. How can you stand out from the pack? Make your best better!

In differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress.

Anna Watkins is a Career Coach who can give you practical support with resumes, interviewing skills, and other career success strategies. She also has a special interest in group coaching and Master Mind Groups, networks of likeminded people who support and help each other stay on track with their life goals.

You can learn more about the resources she offers through her website: [http://www.one-e-anna.com]