In my last post, I introduced accomplishment statements; one of the biggest secrets of professional, job-winning resumes.
“But what are accomplishment statements? And how do I write them?” I hear you ask.
Accomplishment statements are short stories telling how you helped your employer achieve key goals. They describe a problem and how you solved it.
To write them, consider the reasons managers hire employees. Usually, they need you to work on one or more of the following challenges:
Growing the business
Attracting new customers
Expanding sales to existing customers
Resolving customer issues
Meeting client needs
Cutting costs
Purchasing raw materials
Making products
Shipping products
Finding better ways to do things
Saving time
Keeping track of money
Building the team
So ask yourself: how have I met any of these challenges? If you’re a nurse, you might have found a faster way to take patient assessments. If you’re an accountant, you may have implemented new financial controls to minimize losses. If you’re a purchaser, you might have negotiated a reduction in raw materials pricing. And if you’re a sales manager, you can describe how your leadership launched a low performing sales team to new heights.
Once you have identified your accomplishments, quantify them when you can. Use numbers, percentages, before and after statements, and benchmark comparisons. For example, if you’re an operations manager, don’t just say that you devised a production improvement. Mention that your improvement added thirty per cent to that product’s annual production. If you made a change that saved time, figure out how exactly much time the change saved. When you do that, the numbers may surprise you. Changing an office procedure that cut three minutes from a procedure may not seem like much. But when five people do that procedure six times daily, your change has saved an hour and a half in staff time each day. And if you’re a teacher, don’t forget to record the numbers of the kids who were failing before you helped them learn what they needed to know.
When you fill your resume with accomplishment statements that show how you rose to key challenges, your job search becomes short and successful.
To Your Success!
Tim
Your Vancouver Resume Writer