Your resume is a like a complex jigsaw puzzle. If any pieces are missing, you will sell yourself short on showcasing the complete picture of you. The most important aspect of your resume can be the key achievements that have defined your career up to this point. These bites of information are what make you different from others applying for the same positions because no one will have achieved exactly what you have.
You can let companies know that you understand the importance of results by strategically including them both within your key summary and within your job descriptions.
Front-Loaded Achievements
One of the most effective resume-writing tactics is to list your achievements in a front-loaded fashion. What does this mean?
Here is an example that shows the difference between a standard and front-loaded achievement:
Standard: Developed new paperless system to improve company savings by $4,000 per year
Front-Loaded: Catalyzed $4,000 in annual savings via development and implementation of innovative paperless system
The actual achievement comes first and is followed by the steps you took to get there.
All about the Numbers
For certain industries, numbers tell the story of your success. Leaving them off your resume can hurt your chances of being hired.
Sales professionals make their career on the numbers: Achieving X dollars in territory growth or establishing relationships with a new account that captured X dollars in new revenue.
Recruiters and hiring managers in the sales and marketing industries are trained to spot these achievements on a resume, so include them in your job descriptions.
To give your document an effective balance, list your main tasks for each job description in paragraph form (three to four sentences) and your achievements in bullets.
This will help reviewers differentiate between the two for a seamless analysis of what you bring to the table.
