Targeted resume should showcase accomplishments, as well as skills
Mitchell came to me for help preparing his resume for an advancement opportunity. While he had once felt confident about his resume, he said he had recently seen a resume I wrote for one of his peers and was unsure about the strength of his candidacy on paper.
THE PROBLEMS
Mitchell’s resume was three pages long and included 14 years of work experience. He opened his resume with a large heading section, followed by an objective statement and his education. He continued with a qualifications and achievement section, then ended with a 2 1/2 page professional-experience summary. In this summary, he used bullet points to list all of his responsibilities for the past 14 years, with little prioritization of content.
I could see that Mitchell’s original resume would not position him for the senior leadership role he was seeking.
Because Mitchell’s resume was poorly formatted and included unnecessary sections and unprioritized content, the document appeared to represent an entry-level or midlevel management candidate rather than a person qualified to take on a senior-management role.
Mitchell’s heading, objective statement and education section would likely be the only items seen during the standard fourto seven-second screening process — and those sections really contained nothing to differentiate his candidacy from that of a competitor.
The qualifications and achievements section lacked the content one would expect to see on a resume for a candidate who has 14 years of experience. The section was simply not the strongest representation of what Mitchell has to offer.
In addition, Mitchell’s professional-experience section clearly contained information copied from his job descriptions, something that would immediately disengage the reader.
THE FIX
First, Mitchell really needed a resume that “popped.” The format and content were going to be vitally important in attracting and keeping the attention of readers, given their limited time and the competitive nature of Mitchell’s career field. Because of this, I designed a format that would serve as a great backdrop to tell the impressive story of his career.
Opening Mitchell’s resume with a robust qualifications summary was critical in positioning him the way he wants to be seen. This summary included positive excerpts from performance reviews, in addition to Mitchell’s key accomplishments and core skills. When contrasted with the objective statement on his original document, Mitchell’s “after” resume was immediately more effective than his original version.
In the professional-experience section, I took some time to better explore Mitchell’s responsibilities and accomplishments, placing them in a bullet-point/paragraph style to better highlight the ways he has contributed value to his employers. This format allowed better prioritization of his experience and would draw the reader’s attention to the most important details on the resume.
Mitchell’s new resume ended with his education section and industry training, moved from Page 1 of his original document.
THE RESULTS
Mitchell was thrilled with his new resume and called, once he received it, to convey his thoughts and appreciation. He later emailed to say, “I have received nothing but positive remarks in regard to my resume, and I have even had employers screen me for higher-level positions.”
I am confident that Mitchell’s career will continue to progress with the benefit of his new resume representing him as he wants to be seen. You can view Mitchell’s before and after resumes at www.nolanbranding.com/blog.
— Samantha Nolan is an advanced personal-branding strategist and career expert, and is the founder and CEO of Nolan Branding. Do you have a resume, career or job-search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at dearsam@nolanbranding.com. For more information about Nolan Branding’s services, visit www. nolanbranding.com, or call 888-9-MYBRAND or 614-570-3442.