RickR's picture Submitted by RickR on
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Career Management

Is there a recommended sentence and paragraph structure for the Responsibilities Paragraph? Just as Accomplishment/Achievement Bullets follow the Verb-Result-Method structure, is there one for Responsibilities?

Are there recommended minimum and maximum lengths for the Responsibilities Paragraph and each Accomplishment Bullets, and how many Accomplishment Bullets are recommended for each position? I'm making my Responsibilities Paragraphs about 4 lines long, but my latest position is a one-man-band organisation that I have been setting up, so instead of responsibilities, I am stating what the organisation will do, beginning with 'Founder of this...', since I am responsible for everything. The Responsibilities description is 7 lines long for that entry followed by the Acc Bullets. For Accomplishments, I am making them 4 lines long. I am listing about 4-5 Accomplishments for the past 2 positions, and 2 Acc Bullets for the shorter-tenured 3 positions before that.

Where do we include extra notes for a position we have had that are neither responsibilities nor accomplishments? For example, I left my previous position due to a merger that limited my career development, so would I include that at the end of the Responsibilities Paragraph, as the first bullet before the Accomplishment bullets, or as the last bullet after all of the accomplishments. I also relocated to a different country, so where would I state that?

Thanks.

mmann's picture
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Submitted by mmann on Saturday November 5th, 2011 5:05 pm

Yes, it's too long.

It's a summary of your work history, not the tome.

Write a one page resume.  You don't have to use it if you don't want to.  It's a starting point.  It'll help you crystallize what's important.  Once you have this, judiciously grow it if you must, with the understanding that the more you add to subsequent pages, the less impact you'll make with your first.

 

  Good luck,
--Michael

RickR's picture
Submitted by RickR on Monday November 14th, 2011 10:06 am

Thanks Michael,

I've shortened the responsibilities paragraphs to 4 lines plus 1 line to include the clarification notes, so 5 lines each for the most recent two and 2 lines for the previous position.

My accomplishment bullets have been shortened to 2 to 4 lines long, with one being 5 lines long.

R

jhack's picture
Submitted by jhack on Tuesday November 15th, 2011 8:11 am

 Here is a sample:  http://www.manager-tools.com/sample-resume/

Your job should list its location, so relocation should be obvious to the reader. 

If you have overall "P/L responsibility" then you don't need to enumerate all the details...the reader can do that. 

This is a sales brochure - your goal is to get the interview.  Then you can describe how you accomplished your goals:  http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/09/accomplishments-connecting-resumes-...

John Hack