- Use short statements and abbreviated sentence structure. Don't use the words "I," "you," "we," "our." The sentences should have no subjects, or have descriptive subjects; i.e., accountant, administrator, manager, communicator. You should be pungent, not poetic; express ideas powerfully and actively, not passively.
- Use brevity, not verbiage. If one word will tell the important point, use it. Write directed or managed rather than controlled or supervised, for example, to show the level of your work.
- Include only one thing in each statement. Do not combine unrelated functions, tasks or accomplishments. Keep them separate so that the reader can understand them. Don't mistake economy of words with combining unrelated tasks or accomplishments. For instance, market research and sales are both in the general field of marketing. But each should stand alone.
- Begin each sentence with action. Start as many sentences as you can with a strong verb. "Increased sales 15% as a result of identifying untapped niche market" is much more impressive than "After study, research, investigation and analysis, was able to increase sales."
- Clarity. Use the word that is most precise and informative. Gear your choice of words to the audience you intend for your resume. For example, you would write the same achievement in general terms for a marketing audience, a general manager or a human resources department; you would use technically precise words and more detail if the resume is going to a technical manager. Use industry-specific words only if the majority of the people who might receive your resume would understand them. If you'll be sending resumes to several kinds of audiences, you should write several versions of the same achievement. The rule of thumb: the simpler, the better.
- Avoid gobbledygook. Don't leave it to your reader to guess what you mean or what you intended to say. Don't say that you "coordinated the inside sales function" when you actually "started a telemarketing operation which increased aftermarket sales by 75%" in your role as national sales manager. Also, don't write ambiguous statements. If you don't know if the statement is clear or not, ask someone to explain what you meant in your statement. If they can't, you're probably being ambiguous.
- Use language appropriate to the position for which you're looking. The words a chief executive normally uses are quite different from those employed by a factory supervisor. Target what you write to the audience for which it's intended. Use language that expresses your level of authority and scope of responsibility.
- Narration and reader appeal. Don't sacrifice the continuity of the story you're telling. Be dynamic. Connect statements to prevent your resume from being a collection of disjointed statements and paragraphs. The resume should reflect some underlying theme or unifying principle.
- Illustrate. Point out specifically what you did, how well you did it and how your employer benefitted. Use the illustrations with discretion. Don't overpower your readers with so many examples that they can't understand what you really did and what your responsibilities were. Include some measurement: time, money, number of employees managed, reduction in complaints or problems, significant effect on work of others. Virtually anything is quantifiable if you look deeply enough. Quantify, quantify, quantify.
- Sell yourself. To paraphrase Mae West's famous line, "Modesty has nothing to do with it."
Words used in ads and in job descriptions are frequently unsuitable for resumes. They may be weak, ambiguous or misleading. The same is generally true for job titles-Administrative Office and Management Executive are redundant and don't describe any known job. The title you had in your last job may have had meaning only in your company. For instance, in one company, a Controller might work in Marketing and purchase vehicles, oversee sales expense accounts, convention and meeting expenses, and commissions; in another company, Controller is a highest echelon title equivalent to Vice President of Finance.
So, be sure that in addition to job title, you explain what you're looking for and what you did with that title.
Other words may not be effective. Look at the words below. They are weak, nonspecific, vague or tricky. They don't add much to your resume, and may detract seriously from your meaning.
The key to selling yourself is to show that you've accomplished-if not miracles-at least solid worthwhile achievements. For each job you've had, you should have already listed both major and minor accomplishments. For each job, you should also determine the achievements you think are most marketable for the positions(s) you're seeking. Select about 12 to 15 of your most important achievements to polish.
