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Writing an effective resume-
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Resume + Results = Interviews by Glen Slingerland
Some people go
ten or fifteen years between writing
resumes. During that time a lot happens, and trying to get it down on
paper is a challenge. Part of the problem is putting value in what we
do. When we go to work and do the same, or similar thing, day in and
day out, we become so good at it we can do it in our sleep. Then, when
it is time to write a results driven resume, our first question is,
"What did I do everyday?" My answer to that question the first time
around was, "I didn't do ANYTHING. I just went to work and did my
job. A monkey could do my job!"
Your chance of
securing an interview with a resume
highlighting " a monkey could do my job" is very slim. Start by writing
down everything you did during a typical workday. Include the skills
you needed to perform each job. It is important to zero in on the
skills and recognize the things you needed to know to complete each
task. If a monkey could do your job there would be tire swings
and the sweet smell of discarded banana peel throughout the office.
Your job was so vital to the company you worked for, that somebody,
somewhere along the line, decided they needed to hire someone to handle
the responsibility. Even if the job doesn't exist any longer due to
technology or cutbacks, you have to get in touch with the job's value
before you can start writing your resume.
Every
job has purpose and so long as you were the person doing it, you were
the
expert. You knew what it takes to do the job. You knew what tools were
needed and how to operate them.
You knew how to recognize when the job was well done. These are the
points to get across in your resume.
Here is
an example I use in my workshops.The electrician goes to the contractor
to apply for a job. The contractor hires electricians all the time. He
(or she) knows exactly what electricians do, so he doesn't need to see
a resume listing
tasks. The one thing the contractor doesn't know is what happened when
the electrician did their last job. The resume; that gets
attention every time is the resume that focuses on
what happened, what were the results. What is unique about how the
electrician did the job? What makes this electrician better than the
other electricians applying for the same job?
A
simple way to think about results is to think about what would happen
if the job weren't done properly. One gentleman said all he did was
sweep and clean up the job
site and he didn't think it was important to the over all project. So
we started taking it apart. I asked him if he didn't sweep up the job
site what would happen. He answered it would become extremely messy and
unorganized. Then I asked what would happen if it was left messy and
unorganized. His response, someone might trip and hurt themselves.
Right there we had his first result, which was "ensuring a safe work
environment for other trade workers."
You
will make a better impression with results and accomplishments, and
leave the duties and tasks to the monkeys.
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