List Your Accomplishments Using Strong Action Verb Statements within Your Resume
How to Get Started:
· Get your current resume out and make a list of every accomplishment you can think of. No matter how big or small, at least 1 from each job listed.
Every "thank you" ever received that is documented and you can go back and review the circumstances around it.
Next list your Educational attainments and personal triumphs.
Start each Accomplishment "bullet point" with a strong "action verb" that makes sense and sounds impressive.
Most weight is given to Present Work Accomplishments and goes down in "level of importance, as listed in #s 1 - 4 below:
1. Present Work Accomplishments (listed below)
2. Past Work Accomplishments: ie. promotions, raises, awards, formal recognition, public praise, etc.
3. Educational Accomplishments & Professional Certifications, Accolades
4. Personal Accomplishments
5. Anything given to you, a gift card, an Employee of the Month award, chosen to lead a team/project, etc.
Plug in your new Accomplishment statements wherever you see “job duties” listed on a bullet point currently on your resume. When you have a draft, you want no bullet points to be “job duties” or responsibilities listed.
Determine and plug in as many quantitative figures as possible into your Accomplishments statements. Easy ways to do this is to tally up how many “of something” you did on the job. The more you can make these statements be in the same subject matter as your goal career/job title includes, the better chances you’ll have of landing the job you want.
Make notes of sentences you think sound “weak”, boring, you generally just dislike or think it sounds weird. Look again later and brainstorm changes to make.
Need more ideas for language to use? Look up examples. Use advise articles and templates in Jobscan. Research/google “what makes a _______ resume stand out?” (Insert desired job title.)
Synonym dictionaries and reading about “the psychology of getting a job” proves useful too!
Align Your Resume with the Job Ad
Use this tool to optimize your resume and LinkedIn pages for recruiters.
Why We Write Your Resume This Way
1. In short, because the recruiting system in America (and throughout the world) is broken. This has resulted in a lengthy, time-consuming, machine-based, impersonal, incorrect people assessment tools, tests, and application systems that have done more harm than good to the practice of recruiting.
2. We know now based on data from over a decade of using these machines and practices that they’ve done nothing more than abuse applicants who don’t write well, who are jobless, who suffer from mental instabilities and challenges, people who are changing career paths, all economically/financially struggling individuals and entire communities, ex-military members, disabled individuals, the elderly, people over 40, all minorities, and the under-employed, to name a few….switching gears here…
3. Therefore, we create what I call an “Accomplishments-based, Quantifiable-figure heavy resume” that will serve as a tool to discreetly tell the recruiter/reader that you KNOW the impact your work has made, and that you are CONFIDENT in yourself overall, your work performance, and your work ethic.
4. Creating a list of all accomplishments, ever, and keep it handy. This will help you when drafting cover letters and changing your resume up for different companies based off of the characteristics, traits, and behaviors hiring managers want to see in you
5. When you are aware of how many awesome things you’ve done and continue to do, you increase your dopamine levels in the brain, and the combined actions help you realize how much you have to offer the world!
6. Helps you get and stay in the right mindset, prep for interviews, and get used to talking about yourself.
7. It opens your mind to view your hidden talents.
8. You learn new ways to use psychology and the art of language to your advantage.
9. Remember, the degree to which something is considered an "Accomplishment" is SUBJECTIVE, so don’t worry about what you think “should” be listed here that you don’t see.
“Accomplishments” are 100% in the eye of the beholder; you just have to sell your story.
HAPPY WRITING!
Chandy
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