Career Reinvention &
Personal Brand Strategist

Does Your Resume Tell it or Sell it?

August 18, 2005
By: Randi Bussin-Career Coach, Personal Branding Specialist

Welcome to the premiere issue of Aspirations! a publication of Aspire! I have launched this newsletter as a way to share career advice and information with you and to also highlight career success stories.

Aspirations! will deliver relevant timely career information and advice to your email account every few months. "Resume Writing Strategies," "Techniques for Work-Life Balance" and "How to Transition to a Nonprofit Career" are a few topics I will address. I am also interested in hearing about topics you would like covered. Just drop me a note at aspirenews@verizon.net with your ideas.

Do you know someone who would benefit from Aspirations!? Please send me names and email addresses of colleagues/family members who would enjoy receiving my communications. The first five people to email me five friends/colleagues who would enjoy receiving our newsletter, will win a free copy of Best Resumes for $100,000+ Jobs by Wendy Enelow, an award-winning author on resume writing, cover letters and general job search marketing techniques. Just send your friends/colleagues names to aspirenews@verizon.net.

This issue of the newsletter focuses on resume writing -- that often-dreaded marketing tool that is so important in the job search process. Learn how to write powerful accomplishment statements by reading this month's guest article, "Does Your Resume Tell It Or Sell It?" by five-time Best Resume award winner Louise Kursmark. Get my recommended list of best websites and books on resume writing.

If you are interested in receiving my FREE tip sheet on Writing Effective Resumes and Creating Accomplishment Statements, send me an email at aspirenews@verizon.net and I will send you the tip sheet ASAP.

Good luck crafting your own resume and marketing materials,

Best regards,

Randi Bussin

Aspire! Fulfilling career ambitions

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Does Your Resume "Tell It" or "Sell It"?

by Louise Kursmark

Resume writers look at a LOT of resumes, and viewing dozens a week, hundreds or even thousands a year, makes it easy to spot common flaws that can make or break your job search.

One of these flaws is the over-reliance on "telling it" - over-detailing job duties and position descriptions - and not enough on "selling it" - communicating the value you offer by highlighting the benefits and results of your activities.

In most cases, a brief job description is enough to "set the stage" for your achievements. Employers understand the common job duties of most positions, so there's no need to list the details of your day-to-day routine. Instead of using space on the page to tell readers what they already know, use the "sell-it" strategy to convey the importance of what you did.

Compare the relative impact of these two descriptions:

TELL-IT STRATEGY

Sales Engineer
Directly responsible for Chicago territory sales. Expanded and maintained customer account base, as well as promoted new hardware and software to accommodate all upgrade and service needs. Communicated problems and application queries to technical support group, and also acted as the liaison between customer and home office. Communicated interfacing and inter-networking needs for development and integration. Wrote product introductory presentations and maintained a mutually beneficial relationship with customers. Exceeded sales quotas consistently.

 

SELL-IT STRATEGY

Sales Engineer
Transformed underperforming Chicago sales territory into a revenue powerhouse, achieving 250% sales growth in first year and remaining in top 5% of all company Sales Engineers every year thereafter. Maximized territory potential through aggressive and persistent performance of sales and prospecting functions. Developed strong customer relationships built on problem identification and solution selling. Created new product-information presentations that were so effective, they became company standards and were used to train all new sales employees.

To use the "sell-it" strategy, dig deep into your experience to find numbers and results that prove your abilities. Downplay the details of WHAT you did and instead communicate WHY you were hired, WHY you were successful, HOW MUCH you benefited the company, and a hint of HOW you achieved results.

 

USE NUMBERS TO ADD CREDIBILITY

Which of these statements sounds more credible?

• Significantly reduced handling costs.
• Slashed handling costs $450K annually and prolonged warehouse life by establishing a direct order/ship program with major supplier.

When you add details - specific numbers, percentages, increases, and reductions - your readers can assign even more value to your achievements because they have a precise picture of the benefits you attained. Never falsify or exaggerate your achievements, but do look at various areas of your background to find the true success stories and context that will be powerful in your resume and interviews. For instance, if your sales growth was only 2%, sharing this bald number may not be effective. But if the industry as a whole was down 10%, or if one of your key accounts shut its doors and you had to replace 40% of your prior year's sales with new business, your 2% will look much more impressive.

To be certain you can confidently back up every number in your resume, prepare for interviews by practicing brief stories that tell what you did, why you did it, and how results were measured.

In your resume, cover letters, interviews, follow-up letters - in fact, at every stage and in every manner of communicating during your job search - concentrate on "selling" what you did, based on its relevance to business performance.

Did you enjoy this article? Then I will send you one of my favorite titles for FREE! Aspire! will send a free copy of Wendy Enelow's book Best Resumes for $100,000+ Jobs to the first five people to recommend five friends/colleagues to join our e-newsletter list! Send email addresses and contact information to aspirenews@verizon.net.

Online Advice and Tools – Resumes

Career Journal

http://www.careerjournal/jobhunting/resumes

This is one of my favorite sites for advice on the job search in general and more specifically on resume writing and cover letters.

 

The Riley Guide

http://www.rileyguide.com/letters.html

Provides up-to-date employment opportunities and job resources on the Internet. This is a well-known site recommended by CEOTRAK and other executive career information sites, as well as by college career centers.

 

About.com Job Searching Pages

http://www.jobsearch.about.com/od/sampleresumes

A good source for free sample resumes and job search advice. The site is comprehensive and easy to navigate. See the "Most Popular" links for more useful tools.

 

Jobstar

http://www.jobstar.org/tools/resume/index.cfm

In addition to general resume information, it includes links to other sites and to major online resume databanks.

 

JobWeb

http://www.jobweb.com/Resumes_ Interviews

Contains useful articles on resume writing written by top career coaches. Also includes a detailed list of action verbs useful in writing bullets.

 

Dictionary Sites

The importance of proofreading and editing cannot be stressed enough. When writing resumes and cover letters, refer to these sites to check spelling, word meanings or to find just the right word!

http://www.m-w.com

Merriam- WebsterOnLine

http://www.dictionary.com

Type the word you want to check in the box at the top of the page. You can also use the Thesaurus feature to come up with different action verbs for accomplishment statements.

Quotes of Note

"What IS a resume anyway? A Resume is a MARKETING PIECE -- not a "career obituary!"
-- Yana Parker, author THE DAMN GOOD RESUME GUIDE

"A human being must have occupation if he or she is not to become a nuisance to the world."
-- Dorothy L. Sayers
from www.quotationspage.com

"Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you."
-- Henri-Frederic Amiel
from www.quotationspage.com

Randi's Recommended Reads

Expert Resumes for Career Changers by Wendy S. Enelow and Louise M. Kursmark (JIST Works, 2004)

Part of the popular "Expert Resumes" series. A useful tool for career changers. Includes 180 pages of sample resumes, step-by-step advice on writing your own resume and information on electronic resources.

 

Get the Interview Every Time: Fortune 500 Hiring Professionals' Tips for Writing Winning Resumes and Cover Letters, by Brenda Greene (Dearborn Trade, 2004)

Easy to read, clear and concise. Recommended for those individuals who do not know where to begin. Includes advice from people who screen resumes every day, and has over sixty pages of sample resumes.

 

Best Resumes for $100,000+ Jobs, by Wendy Enelow (Impact Publications, 2002)

100 samples of resumes for high-level positions. Information on the best ways to highlight your achievements.

 

Winning Resumes, by Robin Ryan (Wiley, 2002)

Good for individuals beginning their career. Learn how to stand out from the crowd and market accomplishments. Provides detailed information on using the Internet.

About Aspire!

Aspirations! is written and compiled by Randi Bussin, a career counselor and entrepreneurial consultant with 25 years of experience of corporate, nonprofit and entrepreneurial expertise. She leverages her extensive background to help mid-career professionals and entrepreneurs clarify their aspirations, develop the "big-picture" and set realistic goals in designing a career that reflects their personal values and passions. Through focused coaching, she helps clients make steady progress and achieve their career goals.

If you would information on our services, please feel free to email us at rbussin@verizon.net.

Send us an email to get a free tip sheet! Write to aspirenews@verizon.net for FREE tips on Writing Effective Resumes and Creating Accomplishment Statements.

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