Your CV / Resume has only one purpose
That purpose is to get you an interview for a job. It doesn’t matter whether your CV is handed to someone face to face or whether it is uploaded to a job site. The content of your CV has to be powerful, rich in keywords and look good.
CV Content
Your CV needs to be achievement focused.
By achievements I mean your successes. If you don’t start to tell a recruiter about your accomplishments they will never know what they are.
Accomplishments or achievements should not be confused with duties or responsibilities. They signify your achievements, verify your results, and identify your skills.
A solid list of your accomplishments can serve as a bridge to help you:
- Become aware of things you have done well
- Gain insight into your natural talents
- Identify your skills
- Develop a solid base for CV / Resume preparation and interviewing.
As you prepare your consider both paid and unpaid work, as well as responsibilities you have performed at home and in your community. For each position you’ve held, list at least one accomplishment.
Include your education, training, and recognition (rewards, citations, merits) as you build your inventory of achievements.
The following list of memory joggers will help you broaden your evaluation.
CV Achievement Reminders
- Did you identify or assist in identifying any problems or challenges?
- Did you resolve or minimize any problems?
- Did you discover and take advantage of any opportunities?
- Did you target a need for a product, service, plan, program, system, method, procedure, technique, etc.?
- Did you reduce costs, waste, time, or effort?
- Did you create any original works: reports, brochures, newsletters, guides, manuals, proposals, contracts, etc.?
- Did you develop or design a new program, plan, service, product, process, project, system, method, strategy, etc.?
- Did you develop new markets, territories, clients, accounts, etc.?
- Did you improve (redesign, streamline, or reorganize) any projects, plans, programs, processes, services, products, etc.?
- Did you administer or implement any programs, plans, procedures, etc.?
- Did you increase or participate in increasing sales, profits, market share, volume, distribution, production, revenues, cash flow, etc.?
- Did you formulate or participate in formulating any management decisions, policies, goals, organization changes, acquisitions, terminations, recruitments?
- Did you make any recommendations that saved money, made money, increased efficiency or productivity?
- Did you improve employee relations or boost morale?
- Did you open or establish a new office, department, branch, facility?
- Did you improve quality or standards for hiring, products, services?
- Did you make a technical contribution?
- Did you facilitate or improve communication among employees, with clients, or with the community?
- Did you improve service or customer satisfaction?
- Did you impart worthwhile knowledge?
- Did you develop personnel or build a team?
- Did you improve safety or security
Answer all of these questions, adding your own personal ones to the list.
Read through your answers and then OUT LOUD ask yourself “So what?” If your answer is not strong enough you know you will need to quantify the response and add in more details.
Keep asking “So what?” after each answer until you have achievements that you are not only proud of but that demonstrate your successes at work.
Your CV achievements need to be results focused.
Responsibilities and tasks are all very well but it is the SUCCESSES that your CV MUST include.
Let me know if you would like me to review your CV for FREE.
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Have your say below...
I’ve read a lot of cvs in my time and have only interviewed a very small proportion of applicants. Make sure your cv is error free, well presented, short and relevant. I think the “So what?’ question is a good one as it will have you focus on what is, and isn’t, important.
Never lie on a resume, it will be detected.