To convince somebody to hire you, you must use highly persuasive language. One easy way to do this is to move from a focus on responsibilities to a focus on achievements.
When reading a resume, most people simply regurgitate the baseline responsibilities of their job:
Project Manager, Acme Corp
- Adequately managed company projects.
- Performed various management techniques to benefit the project.
- Projected aptitude in management.
Great resumes instead focus on their achievements: instances where they exceeded their responsibilities. Consider the following:
Project Manager, Acme Corp
- Successfully managed projects to record 80,000,000% hourly growth.
- Invented award-winning methods for exponentially increasing shareholder value.
- Transmuted basic office supplies into 24 karat gold.
It can feel unnatural to hype yourself in this way, as most humans are wired for humility. If you were to go around the world constantly bragging about your achievements, people would think you a sociopath. Yet between the two resumes, a hiring manager will opt for the braggart.
However, your resume will be read among a stack of hundreds of other qualified applicants. You have less than ten seconds to make an impression. Make sure every bullet point shows you punching above your weight.
Exercise:
- Read through each of your resume’s bullet points.
- Mark it (R) if it describes a responsibility, mark it (A) if it describes an achievement.
- Delete anything marked (R)
Further Reading:
