Résumé Help: Just Doing Your Job Is Not Enough
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Ted is a Midwest regional sales director who produces annual sales revenue of $189 million. His employer owns 13 national brands, claims 61% of market share, and the Midwest region is the largest in company. Since he took the job Ted has driven sales up 312%. He’s a winner, right? Well, if you read his résumé you would not think so. Ted’s résumé contains a copy and paste from his job description. He has been too busy to update it with details of his accomplishments.
So many job searchers are missing the big opportunities because they have not taken time to show what they have done beyond their basic job requirements. The job description is the bare minimum to keep your job. Your accomplishments are what set you apart from the others to earn you promotions and job offers from other employers. Additionally, Ted oversees a key part of his company. Showing the scope of his responsibility in terms of size of region, dominance in the market, and budget size would be impressive to a prospective employer.
There are also a few résumé formatting issues that are pointed out in the example. Ted over-uses bullets; would benefit from a new format; and needs improvement in verb tense.
If you are guilty of copying and pasting a job description onto your résumé, don’t worry. You can correct
the problem. Use the job description as a starting point to recall the major accomplishments that you have achieved. Ask yourself questions about how you improved things and the results of those improvements. If you find that you need help with your résumé, contact me. I would love to help you uncover your hidden accomplishments. Just doing your job is never enough, so let’s go beyond the job description when writing your résumé.
For more advice, please follow these links:
Résumé Help: Format Only Matters When It Is Wrong
If you would like a résumé critique, please contact Debra Wheatman at debra@careersdonewrite.com or visit us at http://careersdonewrite.com. The Résumé Help blog appears weekly on Mondays.