Resume critique: showcase your accomplishments

Dear Sam:

I know I have strong qualifications and could sell myself once I am in front of a hiring manager, but I can’t get past the screening stage. I know my resume must be holding me back. I think part of the problem might be that I hate to sound like I’m bragging. Am I being too humble?

Dear Angie:

From looking at your resume, I can confirm that you are indeed being too humble — and too brief. Your resume does little to differentiate your candidacy and does not showcase how you have gone above and beyond your daily responsibilities. See below for recommendations for improvement:

At this stage in your career, your resume should be a maximum of two pages. Your formatting is pushing your content onto three pages unnecessarily. The one column format also does little to engage the reader. Instead, get creative by using a twocolumn resume with keywords noted down the left side to create a fuller look and add visual appeal.

With your line of work (which spans customer service, student advising and education), you could also add some visual elements such as color, symbols and testimonials.

This is the area where you have the most room for improvement. Your resume lacks a keyword-rich summary statement. You should use this section to showcase what you can offer an employer based on your past experiences, achievements, and areas of expertise. With only 4-7 seconds to engage the reader during the screening process, it is imperative you open your resume with a summary that answers the question of “why I should hire you.”

Develop this section after you have written the Professional Experience section, treating it like the opening to an executive summary of your experience. The summary should contain all details you can’t afford for the hiring manager not to know while evaluating your candidacy. This definitely is not the place to be humble.

Include only years of employment to minimize the appearance of gaps or frequent job hops.

You should also quantify your experiences to add interest to your resume (showing how many people attended events you planned or by how much you exceeded your sales quotas), being sure to focus more on accomplishments than responsibilities.

The next major pitfall of your resume is that you are lacking in content, with no focus on achievements. Some of your bullet points are only four or five words and merely list tasks or duties.

Instead, present your daily responsibilities in a succinct manner and show where you have gone above and beyond in your career, so you can clearly demonstrate what differentiates you from your competitors.

Your resume is your chance to make a strong impression on a potential hiring manager. A considerable percentage of your competitors will come to the table with similar credentials — likely the same degree and some related experiences. If this is the case, then stating the basics or obvious aspects of your experience will do littleto-nothing to differentiate your candidacy.

There is no need to be afraid of sounding like you are bragging. Be proud of your accomplishments and showcase them prominently. Samantha Nolan is a certified professional resume writer and owner of Nolan Branding. Reach her at dearsam@nolanbranding. com, visit nolanbranding.com or call 614-570-3442 or 1-888-9523928. Meet her on Facebook, live on Thursdays at 12:15 p.m. EDT, for an extended discussion of this week’s Dear Sam topic.