Dear JobsBlog: I’m involved about the right way to concentrate my resume. For example, when listing my expert encounter, need to I only listing past accomplishments that relate to the employment I’m applying for? Or checklist all my massive accomplishments?
- Over-Accomplished
Dear Achieved: When it comes to accomplishments, you should checklist a little of both your job-related accomplishments and your main accomplishments. And good for you for knowing that “accomplishments” are the key here, not just a listing of prior job responsibilities. I suggest starting with a general, one-size-fits-all resume that will serve as your "template." On this resume, checklist all the educational, expert, extracurricular,
Microsoft Office Professional 2007, etc, accomplishments that you might want to mention if you were applying for a new career, regardless of what that occupation actually is. Personally, I update this master document about every 3 months to make sure I’m recording new accomplishments – and even dropping ones that just don’t measure up any longer. Once you have your master resume, it is possible to use this document to craft specialized resumes for a specific position, a discipline, an industry, or a company. This might mean trimming or deleting some accomplishments that don’t relate at all or don’t help your cause. It will also probably mean re-ordering some accomplishments to put the most relevant ones first or second under prior roles. Finally, be sure to include a summary statement towards the beginning of your resume where you could highlight the most relevant, important, and impressive info best up front. Head on over to one of my former blogs to watch a screencast that Zoe (the other co-founder of JobsBlog) and I produced a couple years ago to talk about accomplishments on a resume... and the large What, How, and Why. Part 1 and Part 2. (I’m a geek; I know.) Gretchen