Focus on Achievements

And we have a winner! Today's recipient of the job position you have been desiring is... _____. Fill in the blank. Okay, can I be a bit nosy? Was it you? No! Why not!?

Let me be frank with you. I have chatted with hirers, employers, recruiters, HR managers - from various companies spanning from IBM to General Electric to Home Depot to Uncle Joe's Ice Cream Stand. Let me share an important secret (well, it used to be a secret until now) with you: They don't want to see where you've worked or even what you've done - they want to see what you can do for them. Now, this may seem a bit complicated and you may wonder how to do this. I will tell you (for free, just in case you were wondering).

Too many resumes focus on past job history, duties, responsibilities, even projects. These are not in and by themselves bad. But your resume needs to be an eye-catcher. It needs to say something that screams, "You need to read me right now or else you will regret it." And why would they regret it? That's where your achievements come in.

Achievements in a resume can be anything from how you expanded market reach to how you increased customer satisfaction to improving office work efficiencies to growing sales to skyrocketing the company mailing list. And the list goes on...

Now here's another secret: The keys I've found to making your achievements reach out to the reader from the computer screen or watermarked resume paper page are (1) to set your best achievements apart from the rest of the text with bullets and (2) to include metrics with your achievements. Metrics - in case you're wondering - are measurements of your achievement success - including percentages, dollars, volume, scores and more. A good hint is to include numbers in your achievements. Numbers (along with % and $) stand out from the rest of the page of text. They will get noticed. And you will be happy they did.

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