Resumes have become known to most people as simply a list of your jobs and the duties you performed. If you think of resumes this way, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. There’s a lot of free advice out there that will tell you that. This perspective, unfortunately, is setting your resume up to be thrown in the trash. And that’s assuming it even gets read by a person after getting through the applicant tracking system.
Yes, you need to list your job history and duties, of course. The overall goal of your resume though should not be to just list your qualifications and promote yourself. The goal of your resume should be to demonstrate what you have achieved and how you can solve your prospective employer’s problems. If you can solve a problem for an employer, you’ll have a job. Guaranteed. Before you apply to another job, ask yourself what potential challenges this employer might have. Then look at your resume again and ask yourself if your resume (and cover letter) show how you can address those challenges. If you change nothing else on your resume, change this. Put yourself in the position of the hiring manager reading the resume. What they are thinking about when they read your resume is this: “How can this person contribute to our bottom line and solve our problems?” Remember, it’s not really about you, it’s about them. Let’s look at an example. In my experience, I’ve applied for human resources and recruiting positions. What are some of the challenges someone would face in those positions? Managing multiple job postings at once is example. Or, competing with other companies for talent. I would want to make sure that my resume and cover letter convey my understanding of those challenges and how I can solve them. The best opportunity to do this is when you are crafting the descriptions of each of your positions. As you do this, it’s paramount that you focus on what you achieved, not what you did. There’s a big difference between these two. Here’s an example:- What you did is this: “Attend career fairs to recruit new summer interns.”
- What you achieved is this: “Recruited and hired 10 new interns within three months by developing successful partnerships with neighboring universities and attending career fairs.”