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Blowing your own horn on your resume

The Resume: Accomplishments

by Stephen Baker

For some reason, this can be an emotional issue for some people, as if telling someone how you were successful is a sign of pride, or being perceived as a braggart. Remember my mantra for this column, "I am a piece of paper." The hiring manager wants to be sure that you can do the job and add value. You will not have the time to mention how successful you were. Who wants to hire someone who will simply "do" the job? In today's market, companies need someone who will accomplish something and have a track record for success. The resume is the place where you inform your (potential) employer why you matter. For you sports aficionados, what coach recruits a player without great stats?

The Format:

Accomplishments:

Created a program solution for the two-year deployment plan. Resulting in better alignment with the OEM and the manufacturing schedule. Budget reductions achieved.
Dropped total projected budget spend by 30% through the development of the Global Sourcing Office and Project Management Office. Staff was hired and trained. Processes stood up and KPI's introduced.
Finalized the first joint venture sourcing agreement in Russia. Drove out 5 million in solution costs through solution analysis and contract negotiations.

The Basics: Have at least three accomplishments if you are going to bother with this section. Or, your single accomplishment had better be mind boggling. Start with the action verb. It is ok to combine accomplishments as long as they can be seen as a collective. Remember that on resumes more is never better. It is only annoying.

The Seasoned Professional: Do not list every accomplishment with every job. Focus on your current or last job. And add accomplishments to jobs that are pertinent to the position you are applying. In any resume, you should be focusing on the last two jobs with summaries of the others. Use "Job Highlights" for all other jobs and add pertinent accomplishments here if you must.

Stephen Baker is a Program Director with 15 years of experience in the Fortune500. Over the years, he has been on both sides of the job hunt and offers straight advice on improving one's chances with getting that first interview. You can find more of Stephen's work at The Topeka Examiner.

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Blowing your own horn on your resume

The Resume: Accomplishments

by Stephen Baker

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