Each resume you send must be customized for a specific position.
And that is why the very first resume you need to write is a for yourself!
The reason you want to create a curriculum that is how you have your entire work history and accomplishments accessible, including dates. This document is for your eyes only but serves several purposes:
You force yourself to think about the activities and work that you did that you might not have thought of many years. You will have everything on hand so you can choose the appropriate entries as you create your resume customized for a specific job.
You have a large document review before going to a job interview, a confidence building as well as a tool to keep your work history fresh in your mind.
So how do you start?
List your work history, including the companies, positions, supervisors, the work responsibilities (including the number and titles of people supervised and any identification of areas of responsibility) and reasons for leaving.
Then, this list of accomplishments for each job you have accomplished. These include specific estimates related to sales, the effect on the bottom line, and the company and / or cost savings due to numbers, percentages or dollars. Aim for a minimum of three working for accomplishments.
Be sure to make a distinction between experience and accomplishments. The statement that you were a corporate trainer for two years lists of experience, to say you were a corporate trainer who has taught 15,000 people skills certification from Microsoft over a year period, two is an accomplishment. Likewise, saying it created a marketing plan says something about your experience, saying it created a marketing plan that resulted in a 23% increase in sales of the product list an accomplishment.
And if you worked your way through college as a waitress in a restaurant, perhaps you have been voted “best” server of the month, the highest average in tips per quarter or had 14 letters written to the management of satisfied customers who served in one year time period. Maybe you’re the waiter who never received customer complaints. These are all accomplishments.
Although the achievements are fairly easy to quantify, may be difficult in other types of jobs. Think in terms of time or money saved or the dollar amount of customers you brought to the business. For any initiative that began, what the outcome was quantified for the company?
Next, list management and / or technical recommendations / what you did during your career, to quantify the results again, whenever possible. Note lateral transfers and promotions, as well as any awards or honors received. Do not forget tasks or special projects, even though they may have been brief. List publications, books or reports that you either wrote or supervised / edited and inventions, copyrights, etc. You might include the point of special significance, if any.
You have other non-work related? Foreign language? Special licenses or certifications? List them. Write down your hobbies and recreational activities. Finally, list your educational history, including schools, degrees, courses and special programs, continuing education or other vocational training.
Now that you have created a comprehensive document that you can get information when writing letters or resumes. And having gone to the trouble of quantifying various accomplishments of every job you have done will serve you well in selling to an employer – whether in writing or during an interview.
Most importantly, all you have to do is keep this current document; you will never have to go through this process again!
