1. Achievements. Intellectually, most people now know that achievements are important in a resume and that just providing a dry list of job responsibilities isn’t going to build a compelling case for hire. (After all, anyone who does that particular job and is a candidate, has the ability to handle those tasks). What employers are looking for is someone who goes above-and-beyond; who contributes in some way to making the workplace better.

While people know that intellectually, many find it difficult to articulate their achievements; particularly people who are in roles where they have limited influence or power to change anything. What people misunderstand is that solving a problem, restoring a relationship, preventing a customer from leaving, creating a filing system that saved time… these are all achievements too! So framing achievements can be done simply by providing a short narrative of what the problem was, the action taken to resolve it, and the outcome of those actions. This makes a resume instantly more readable and convincing and one that decision makers are drawn to.

2. Get Specific. There is nothing worse for the decision maker to have to read a resume from a person who is hedging his or her bets; that is, a person who has several ideas of the type of roles he or she wants and wants the resume to be all things to all people. Resumes are building a business case for hire so they must have direction; they must take the reader on a journey and say immediately what the candidate is looking for. If you want to be a florist, then write a resume that shows all the skills you have to underpin your candidacy for being a florist. For example, don’t suddenly include skills for being a personal trainer because that’s something you would also like to do. If you truly are experienced enough to secure several jobs, then have a resume for each. A general resume just looks wishy-washy and in this time of people wanting specialists, will fail to make any ground.

3. Good formatting. While the right experience is crucial and while content must be compelling and interesting, it doesn’t matter what it written if the format, spelling and grammar makes it impossible to read. Don’t use common word processing templates; they’re used by people the world over. Instead look at resume books for ideas or look for samples by professional resume writers. Even some professional resume writing associations such as Career Directors International www.careerdirectors.com have their TORI Award Winning Resumes on their website (TORI=Toast of the Resume Industry). Good information, well-placed and formatted to aid the reader and proofread to ensure all grammar and typographical errors are removed, makes a resume a winner in the eye of a decision maker.