Tweaking Your Résumé Experience and Achievements – Part 2

In my blog post last week, I started discussing the importance of putting the right types of information into your experience and achievements section of you online profiles and printed résumé. Once you understand what type of information is being asked for, it is also important to understand the right way to state that information. There is often a big misunderstanding in the type of language you should use when speaking about your skills and achievements, and detailing the information incorrectly can be as bad as having the wrong information. Understanding what should be said, how best to say it, and what should be avoided, are key factors in successfully filling in these sections and catching the eyes of the hiring agent.

As was discussed some in the first part, if you have a good amount of years in the field, try not to bog down the résumé with too much information. Details are great, but if they are not truly relevant to the position being applied for, it is fine to leave them off in order to keep things focused and easier to skim through. The desired result is to keep it lean, clean and directly meaningful to the position being applied for. If things become too bulky, it may get less attention.

Many companies these days use scanning software that converts your résumé into searchable computer text that a program then is able to analyze and pull out the keywords used in order to find a decent match from within the large amount of candidates' resumes they usually receive. So, if you have no such keywords, strike one, you might not even get an initial notice. As mentioned in the previous article, keywords are words that directly relate to the position being applied for, which is why it is important that each time you submit your information, you format it to be directly focused on that position, and not left as a generic representation of your skills.

In the last part, I gave a large amount of example questions to ask yourself in order to assist in compiling a good amount of skills and achievements. Once you have those answers, it is important then to present them properly. This means avoiding the use of vague verbs and subjective adjective. Tech Republic writer Toni Bowers states it like this:

Avoid, at all costs, those abstract verb phrases like "Assisted with..." or "Handled..." or "Managed...." Those phrases can mean almost anything. Every time you're tempted with one of those phrases, ask yourself How? How did you assist with something? What exactly did you do? Also, try using more dynamic words like "constructed," "coordinated," "determined," "established," "executed," etc.

Adding statements like “I’m industrious” means nothing unless you show how you are. The same goes for things like saying “I’m honest,” I’m a leader,” and “I’m creative.” Unless you give concrete examples, these phrases are useless and should be avoided. Also, do not try to dress things up by throwing in extra words in a attempt to sell yourself in a meaningless fashion. Saying things like how you “skillfully accomplished” a task, without somehow backing up exactly how it actually qualifies as skillfully, is again just meaningless filler language.  Keep things concise, clear and meaningful.

As always, whatever information you do include, make sure it is truthfully presented and factual. No padding your skills or fudging the details. Those types of details can easily come back to bite you and be very detrimental to your career search.

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