Your resume is your chance to showcase your best work and convince potential employers that you are the right fit for their needs. But how do you highlight your best work on your resume without sounding boastful or irrelevant? Here are some tips to help you craft a resume that showcases your achievements and skills in a clear and compelling way.
The first step to highlighting your best work on your resume is to choose the right format for your situation. There are three main types of resume formats: chronological, functional, and hybrid. Chronological resumes list your work history in reverse chronological order, emphasizing your career progression and stability. Functional resumes focus on your skills and achievements, rather than your work history, which can be useful if you have gaps, changes, or limited experience. Hybrid resumes combine elements of both chronological and functional resumes, allowing you to highlight both your skills and your work history in a balanced way. Depending on your industry, career level, and goals, you should choose the format that best suits your needs and showcases your best work.
These formats are important to consider depending on your circumstances. Functional resumes in particular help to highlight what you can do rather than WHEN you did it which is useful if you are changing direction and don't want to emphasise your most recent job title. There is another format that I like to use with my senior executive clients and those who may wish to apply for board roles and I call it a 'one-page bio' format. Page 1 emphasises the most relevant skills and experience targets for one particular role and Page 2 contains all the professional experience in reverse chronological order. I'm happy to provide a template - send me a DM!
I’m a fan of the hybrid resume for experienced professionals. I add a Career Highlights section to a chronological resume, which can also be used as part of the About section on LinkedIn. Whereas the Core Competencies section consists of hard and soft skill keywords, the Career Highlights section consists of “buckets” of your sweet spots where you can add an explanation. It’s more than a keyword; it explains your achievement in more detail, and you can add quantifiable accomplishments (#, $, or %) if applicable. A keyword might be Sales, but a Career Highlight might be Business Development Champion who identified, pitched, negotiated, and closed record-breaking sales at multiple companies, yielding over $XM in annual recurring revenue.
The next step to highlighting your best work on your resume is to tailor your resume to the specific job you are applying for. This means that you should research the company, the role, and the requirements, and use keywords, phrases, and examples that match what they are looking for. You should also customize your resume for each job application, rather than sending the same generic one to every employer. This will help you stand out from the crowd and show that you are a relevant and qualified candidate.
If you have the right resume format, it should be easy peasy to take that base resume and customize it to each job description. When you carefully read the job description, you can pull out keywords and key phrases. Take your base resume and “Save as Company X” and flip out some of the keywords, at a minimum, to match the job description. You can also weave in key phrases from the job description if you have the time and inclination to wordsmith your Company X resume further. If you don’t have the right resume format to start with, customizing each resume can feel overwhelming. I promise you it’s not that hard to do. You just need to start with the right format to be set up for success.
The third step to highlighting your best work on your resume is to use quantifiable achievements, rather than just listing your duties and responsibilities. Quantifiable achievements are measurable results that demonstrate the impact and value of your work. For example, instead of saying that you managed a team of 10 people, you can say that you led a team of 10 people to increase sales by 25% in six months. Quantifiable achievements show that you have the skills and experience to deliver results and solve problems.
This is the most important element to add to your resume to stand out from other candidates. You will have tackled specific problems in your unique way to get a positive result. Tell the story by identifying the problem or situation you encountered at work that required you (or your team) to take action. Then, with the obstacles in mind, identify your specific actions/leadership that resulted in a positive outcome. To turn this into a short bullet point in your resume, take the Action and the Result and turn it into one or 2 sentences. It's best to begin with an action verb (e.g 'Designed and developed', 'Facilitated', 'Grew', 'Reduced', 'Improved') and end with 'which resulted in' .... [positive outcome]. #resumewriting #careers
The fourth step to highlighting your best work on your resume is to highlight your skills and certifications that are relevant and in demand for the job you are applying for. Skills are the abilities and knowledge that you have acquired through education, training, or experience. Certifications are formal credentials that validate your skills and expertise in a specific area. You should list your skills and certifications in a separate section on your resume, and use bullet points to make them easy to read. You should also mention your skills and certifications throughout your resume, especially in your summary, achievements, and work history sections.
The fifth step to highlighting your best work on your resume is to use action verbs and power words to describe your achievements and skills. Action verbs are words that show what you did, rather than what you were or are. For example, instead of saying that you are responsible for creating reports, you can say that you created reports. Power words are words that convey positive attributes, such as leadership, creativity, or initiative. For example, instead of saying that you helped with a project, you can say that you contributed, collaborated, or supported. Action verbs and power words make your resume more dynamic and persuasive, and show that you are a proactive and confident candidate.
The final step to highlighting your best work on your resume is to proofread and edit your resume before sending it to potential employers. You should check your resume for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting errors, and make sure that it is clear, concise, and consistent. You should also ask someone else to review your resume, such as a friend, a mentor, or a professional resume writer, and get their feedback and suggestions. Proofreading and editing your resume will help you avoid mistakes and improve the quality and impact of your resume.