The Meat and Potatoes of Resume Writing

By Tim Malloy

(Potatoes First – keep reading, there is some USDA Prime Tenderloin Filet in about 45 seconds.)

Resume writing is an art, with a sprinkle of science and psychology.

Your resume must grab a reader’s attention in anywhere from 6-12 seconds. Your resume must also “speak” to at least three audiences, here is who, and a few (but not all reasons) why.

Talent Acquisition Staff (recruiting coordinators, recruiters, recruiting managers)
1. Does your resume demonstrate your ability to achieve results?
2. Does your resume have quantification in the form of #, $, %?
3. Is your resume well written, and generally free of grammatical errors?
4. Whatever they decide is important today.

Human Resources (HR) professionals
1. Do your achievements and accomplishments indicate your ability to positively impact the people and culture of the organization?
2. Do your achievements and accomplishments indicate your Return on Investment (ROI) to your past organization(s), which can be an indicator of your future performance ability, thereby providing HR planning and forecasting for your salary within the range specified for the job?

Hiring Managers
1. Do your achievements and accomplishments demonstrate your proficiency or excellency as it relates to your ability to perform the job
2. Do your achievements and accomplishments provide the hiring manager enough information to make the initial decision to bring you in for an interview?

This article provides basic instruction on writing concise, impactful statements on your resume, it does not recommend a layout, nor is it the end-all be-all article for resume writing. Your industry may dictate best practices, and is up to you to decide format.

STEAK TIME!!!

DO NOT LIST YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION AS THE SYNOPSIS OF YOUR ROLE!

Paraphrasing Chris Rock – “People want credit for things they are supposed to do.”

“Maintains office operations by receiving and distributing communications; maintaining supplies and equipment; picking-up and delivering items; serving customers.”

Well, yeah, your supposed to. How did you contribute to the success of your business by doing that? Need help? Take your Job Description and think of actual accomplishments and achievements related to WHAT YOU GET PAID TO DO.

DO NOT list what you are responsible for!

Case in point – I have a 12-year-old who could list “Taking out the garbage” as a responsibility – guess what, it doesn’t always happen.

Where do you start?

For each role, list your Job Title and dates employed on the first line (leaving off the month can alleviate questions if there are date gaps), then the organization. What you did, is more important that where you did it.

Super Rockstar ← Bolded 2013-2017

ABC Company ←Not bolded

After that, write a role synopsis, following a similar pattern:

Reach, Scope, and Impact – Three items you must include to describe roles you hold(held). In 2-4 sentences, give a quick synopsis covering these three topics.

Reach: How far outside of your circle did your role affect? Does it affect only your department? Office location? Region? Country? Globally? Galactically? (Astronauts need resumes too)

Scope: How many people do you directly or indirectly lead or influence? How many people do you support/lead? What industry/sector/profession do you support/lead (Lead people, manage programs and processes. If you must manage people, follow Mark Shaw, he will help you understand how to fix “people management” issues.

Impact: What affect does your work have? Did it impact your team, group, section, location, company, continent, galaxy?

Example: “Serve as Operations Manager planning the training, professional development, and human resources of 240 employees in 6 countries, while managing a budget of $1.9M, concurrently advising executive leaders on strategic logistics planning.” (Reach – 240 employees in 6 countries. Scope – Training, Professional Development, and Human Resources & Strategic Logistics Planning. Impact – 1.9M budget to achieve success.)