Source: Daviscos.com
Given that all of you are striving to make your resumes stand out from thousands of other applications, it may be worth your time to read the article titled “Make Your Resume Count,” by the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group’s Deb Berman.
You can read fuller excerpts below the jump.
If I had a nickel for every time I asked, “…and?” after reading a bullet point in a resume, I’d have, well, a lot of nickels. Want to make your resume count? Give them some numbers.
Far too many job seekers create resumes that read like job descriptions, listing their responsibilities but leaving out the critical details about the changes that occurred as a result of their efforts and creativity or the complexity in which this great work occurred.
Consider the following two bullet points:
- Create marketing and fundraising plan for entire agency.
- Raise funds.
These descriptions tell nothing about how well the candidate performed these tasks, or if they were even completed successfully. The work described in these bullets could have resulted in a shabby word-document brochure that was photocopied a few times and never really circulated. Or, it could have resulted in the leveraging of in-kind donations, millions of dollars of new funding, and award winning marketing collateral. This work could have completely changed the trajectory of the organization. But, how is the reader to know?
As I read through the hundreds and thousands of resumes that cross my desk, I find myself assuming that if the writer isn’t showing off about his or her accomplishments, there is a reason: they don’t exist. I am clearly more likely to err on the side of “less is less” but you would be amazed how often people forget to brag about their specific accomplishments.