Submitted by ashdenver on
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BLUF: In the absence of legitimate accomplishment bullets, should I include the breakdown of responsibilities as one or two bullets instead of including it after the overall aim of the position for the sake of consistency?
As I've finally sat down to tackle re-working my resume into the MT model, I realize that I may have been a "plodder" in a few roles. The Resume Workbook is pretty clear about overall aim of role, breakdown of responsibilities, accomplishment bullets in verb-result-method format. But as I look at some of these roles, I have nothing I delivered or achieved oustanding or unique or special. I showed up, did all the required tasks and training, setup increasing loads of clients across increasingly complex product lines but that's actually what the job *is*. There's nothing special in that. I didn't have anyone reporting to me. I didn't lead any special projects. I didn't receive any special awards or recognition. I don't want to leave it as a blank spot since I was still actively employed but I don't want the resume to look weird:
Most Recent Position
- Achievement
- Deliverable
- Achievement
- Savings
Previous Position
- Achievement
- Acheivement
- Savings
- Savings
Prior Position
Earlier Position
- Achievement
- Savings
- Deliverable
(There would be real words and each position would still have the overall aim along with the breakdown of responsibilities but one wouldn't have accomplishment bullets.)
I don't want that Prior Position to stand out as being ... well, "she just attended for that one." And I'm not entirely convinced recruiters (or even hiring managers) will notice the slight deviation for that one set of bullets.
Thoughts?
Bullets
I know just how you feel- sometimes writing bullets can be tough. I have two suggestions. First, consider your efforts and accomplishments as positive even if the impacts were small. Second: try listening to the new graduates resume podcast.
Even if you don’t feel you accomplished unique or special things, your contribution to the organization can be quantified. And, since you did get promoted and moved on, clearly you did the correct things. Therefore, I would suggest that there are things that you can use as bullets, even if you don’t consider the numbers outstanding. Perhaps that was simply your role and you performed in it. It doesn’t mean that you have nothing to bullet, only that it might not be the “best bullet ever.”
The reason I suggest the new graduate cast (even though you're clearly not a new graduate) is that the cast makes a case for bullets in roles where you might not feel your contribution is huge. Listening to it may serve as a reminder that all results and accomplishments are valuable to the organization, no matter how small.
Stay positive,
Kate