When it comes to writing your resume, I always counsel NETSHARE members that you need to demonstrate results. Everyone seems to write their resume using the same hackneyed phrases and superlatives in resumes:
- Possess superior leadership and motivational skills
- Track record of success
- Introduced new products
- Exceeded goals
- Managed cross-functional teams
- Blah, blah, blah
None of these phrases pass the ultimate litmus test – “so what?” Remember, you are competing with innumerable other professionals with the same basic skill sets. How do you make yourself stand out? What do you have to offer that the next guy doesn’t? If you add a statement to your resume, you should be able to apply the “so what” test. Keep distilling until you have a concrete return statement or demonstrable value to each statement. For example, “managing cross-functional teams” is not a differentiator and doesn’t stand up to the “so what” test – any manager can make the same statement. However, if you can say you reorganized the department staff to realize a 30% savings on payroll without impacting departmental efficiency, that is a quantifiable ROI statement.
To help you quantify your ROI, I ran across a nifty little spreadsheet tool from The Employmentalist career blog. This spreadsheet can help you track your successes on the job in a way that translates well to a resume format. You can use it to not only specify job responsibilities and tasks, but also to keep track of results metrics so when it comes time to draft your resume, the details are right there. And you won’t have to wonder if the results will pass the “so what” litmus test.
Of course, you may have to tweak the return metrics to suit your job function, but the structure of the spreadsheet will make you think about the ROI behind every job task. If you can quantify your value, you have a better chance at getting your foot in the door for your next job interview.
