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- Two simple questions that will easily overhaul your entire resume
Two simple questions that will easily overhaul your entire resume
Most people know that having impactful content in their resume is important, but many struggle with how to ACTUALLY make their resume more impactful.
Let me simplify it for you.
In order to help yourself extract impact from your own experiences, ask yourself two questions:
HOW and WHY?
Let's break it down.
The HOW behind your work experience is where you get to showcase those all-important skills that the role is looking for.
It's anything process-related. It is HOW you did something noteworthy or important.
Some questions that help answer the "how" question:
-What tools or programs did you use?
-Who did you collaborate with?
-What strategy did you develop?
-What process did you follow?
-How did you address or approach a problem?
-What skills were necessary to complete that objective or task?
The WHY behind your work experience is where you tie in the impact.
It's the significance or importance of what you did. It's why your work was valuable. This is where you'll want to quantify your impact whenever possible.
Some questions that help answer the "why" question:
-Why was this work important?
-How did the organization/program/team/customer/product benefit from this?
-What value did it bring?
-What did it help improve?
Now, let's put these both together and see them in action.
If you're in product development, a strong resume bullet might look like this:
"Leveraged consumer experiences and market insights to innovate and introduce 150+ new products per year (HOW), meeting
evolving consumer demand and boosting private brand market share by 20+ bps." (WHY)
If you're in supply chain or logistics:
"Negotiated lower costs on FedEx, UPS and other 3rd-party shipping contracts (HOW) to save $39K+ (WHY) and increased monthly backhaul revenue by $22K (WHY) by chairing a logistics excellence group." (HOW)
By answering both questions, you can ensure that each bullet addresses both the skills and impact that you need to showcase for yourself to align with the role but to also help yourself stand out!
If you’re sick of dealing with your resume on your own, let me jump into the pilot’s seat for you and show you how I can overhaul it.
If your job search struggles are more than just a resume, check out my website to see all of your options for obtaining my help.
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