Blog Post: Your Resume Should be Your Cheat Sheet

You should never use your resume during an interview.  However, when thinking about what types of bullets to put on your resume, this rule of thumb may be helpful.

So many candidates list their job responsibilities as the bullets.  That is a total waste of space and seriously prevents your resume from shining.  Your bullets must tell the recruiter and hiring manager what made you outstanding in that previous position.  What separated you from all of the other people in America doing your same job?  Did you just show up each day and punch a clock, or did you actually benefit your employer beyond the bare minimum expectations?

We all know you put in tremendous effort and accomplished great things in your previous roles.  Your bullets are opportunities for you to convey that.  Some sample bullets:

• Managed annual department budget of $450,000 and 8 direct reports
• Chosen for VP selection committee for the Phoenix division, panel-interviewing 6 candidates
• Averaged 17% over annual sales goals, ranking in top 10% of sales executives in the Southwest Region

These bullets are very different but represent was of showing you stood out from the crowd.  The first bullet gives the scope of your position (both your financial and your organizational responsibility).  This is a good way to let recruiters know your level within your previous organization and helps them see how your skills can benefit their organization.

The second bullet has no numbers (numbers are key with bullets, generally), but lets the recruiter know that the organization thought enough of you to have you help select a leader above your position.  This is the same for employees that have cross-trained other employees or have trained new hires.  The company is paying you a huge compliment when it asks you to do these tasks.  List them as a bullet--how many people did you cross-train, what was your success rate, what percentage of department new hires came to you for their peer training...?  All potentially great bullets!

The last bullet is straight goals and performance.  17% over a goal translates to 117% of the goal--you can express it either way.  Notice that the performance was put into perspective by noting where that performance ranked with other employees (top 10%).  That's a good bullet.

So, in an interview, when you're asked for some accomplishments, you should be able to look at your bullets and see many examples of that on your resume.  The only time you should list your job description as a bullet is when your job was atypical or not adequately represented by your title alone.

For more tips and strategies, feel free to check out our seminar this Saturday!  9am - 12pm at theTempe Chamber of Commerce Building.  http://www.careerdevelopmentaz.com/seminar.html

Good luck in your search!