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Here's an idea on how to capture bullet points (accomplishments) for your resume: use existing job advertisements. Its a four step process of which you probably already do 1 and 2.

1) Read the job description.
2) Evaluate each point of the requirements and judge whether you've done it.
3) Identify which bullet points on your Resume/Career Management Document (CMD) address the requirement.
4) If there are no bullets AND you've done the work, add it.

I know to some this seems very obvious. However, as a natural high-S, I'm very resistant to talking about my own accomplishments. So much of what I have done was just because it was required and wasn't "really" an accomplishment. To me, saying "on time, on budget" is pretty much the same as saying "showed up for work". That's a big handicap when it comes to job hunting.

Certainly you don't put down something that you haven't done. But if you've done things and you're not talking about them, recruiters and hiring managers don't know it [i]and you don't get credit for it[/i]. Using this technique can help you identify specific things you've done which aren't on your resume.

Example: Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. For years I've built systems that had to pass SOX auditing requirements. But there wasn't a word about it on my resume because I just assumed it was something that was done, like coming to work on time. Nope, not having it on my resume means nobody knows I've done it. So, I added bullet points to my CMD in certain places to record what I've done. Doing this, I've increased the length of my CMD by 26 lines in the last two months - that is 26 missing accomplishments that weren't there two months ago!

Hope this helps you if you need it.

Brian

HMac's picture

Great suggestion.

And if you're looking for an easy technique (and you have the Interview Series), review the 'cast on How to Write a Cover Letter.

Very similar - and the operative phrase to be thinking is:

[i]"I've read your requirements, and my accomplishments fit your needs expressly. For example..."[/i]

If you put that in your head and do what Brian suggests, you're likely to strike gold....

-Hugh

bflynn's picture

I hadn't made the connection, but it could have been the Cover Letter cast that got me headed in this direction.

Since I suddenly have need of them, I'm working through the interviewing series again and improving my resume. Yes, actually it was up to date, but it still needs work, despite all the help I've received on it.

Brian

HMac's picture

Brian - I wish you the best of luck working through your "sudden need" for the interviewing series. Yikes...

Regarding improving your resume: I'm sure you already know this, but nothing focuses your resume like an actual job posting or upcoming interview. I guess what I'm trying to say is that a resume that's "90 percent ready" could be tweaked forever - but once you have a context to fit it into (like a job), it goes together fast.

So the moral of the story for me: I'm trying to keep my resume "almost baked" and when I see something or somebody asks me for it, I finish it off with them in mind. It's JUST LIKE what M/M say to do with the cover letter....

-Hugh

TomW's picture
Training Badge

I think this is the goal of the "career management document," kind of a rough resume that has all of your job descriptions and all of your accomplishments, no matter how odd or inane.

Once you are tailoring a resume for a specific position or role, you can take out the things that don't apply or modify the phrasing slightly to match what the recruiter or ad is looking for.

lazerus's picture

Brian,
Those of us in the MT community wish you the best of luck. I have been there recently, and since unemployment is now at 6.1% in the US, I know many others.

Good advice and support here. The interview series and your friends here will do you no wrong!