The main difference between a duty driven resumé and an accomplishment driven resumé is the ability to quantify what you’ve done. It is one thing to say you have cross-functional leadership skills and quite another to prove it. Instead, turn your duty into an accomplishment by stating, “Spearheaded creation and implementation of employer board through cross-functional communication skills.”
By describing a specific instance where you utilized your cross-functional skills, you now have shown that you communicate well and are able to accomplish quantifiable goals with your skill set.
Using numbers and percentages
The “before” sentence: Created sales strategy, which tapped a new market to exceed quarterly goals.
The “after” sentence: Developed and Implemented an enterprise-wide business strategy which tapped an unrealized referral market and enabled exceeding the quarterly referral goal by 130 percent.
Example background
The quarterly goal for my client was 10 referrals and she averaged 13 referrals. I turned the number into a percentage and determined the percentage was more impressive than the number. When my client applies to major corporations, she needs to impress without giving preconceived notions as to the volume of referrals she can handle. In the current job market, numbers add the final touch and can take your resumé from standard to outstanding.
Until next Tuesday…