Qualification listings
The most difficult and time consuming section of any resume is the listing of your work experience, no matter the level you’ve reached in your professional career. If you recently graduated college and lack full-time professional experience, you may be concerned about whether or not a part time job and/or summer internship will be enough to get your foot in the door; and if you are a seasoned professional with extensive work experience, you are worried about how to fit all of your hard work on a single page.
Furthermore, if you are changing careers, you might very well be unsure about which skills best showcase your qualifications. Even with all these worries and concerns, listing work responsibilities on our resumes still does not get easier as our careers move forward. That having been said however, the key is to consider your career objective and prioritize the work in accordance to your goals.
When some individuals are asked about work responsibilities they have a tendency to disclose the routine items first; but this method can create the costly mistake of listing professional experiences on your resume, because it leaves all the important and key qualifications at the bottom. To avoid falling into this practice, a job applicant should first put together a rough draft – in list form – of his/her responsibilities on a sheet of paper consisting of everything s/he does in a current job, or have done in previous jobs.
Setting the resume priorities
Once your list is completed, consider all of the responsibilities included and make a determination of what the three most important items on the list are for each job. Then consider how those items relate to the stated career objective. Are there any other responsibilities listed that better support that career objective than the three selected? If they are better, are they also most critical to the job? An applicant must consider all these questions in order to prioritize his/her job descriptions on a resume.
It may be helpful to begin each description with a power word such as managed, developed or communicated; and make sure that any statements listed first quantify your achievements; but– don’t be afraid to list descriptions like sales figures, customer acquisition rates, budget and timeline successes, or other figures which help put your responsibilities in context of the business or field in which you are working. Also, these statements should be aligned with your career objective.
If, for example, you want to get a job in project management, letting your employer know that you managed a team of 20 people will effectively highlight your qualifications. The importance of quantifying your job description statements on a resume cannot be overstated. However, as a word of caution, do not quantify all statements, just one or two that are goal driven and most critical to your job. This shows potential employer that you think in terms of exceeding your goals. Keep in mind that all subsequent descriptions of your responsibilities should support the first one or two items on your list.
Achievements & qualifications
Prioritizing doesn’t only apply to your job descriptions, although it is the most commonly disregarded element in this particular area of the resume. Achievements and qualifications are often misrepresented because they are not ordered properly; but the same rules apply.
Make a determination as to which of your achievements and qualifications are most complimentary to your career objective, and list them first. For example, if you are applying for a job in customer service, it helps to list your communication skills before your computer skills.
While both the achievements and qualifications are important, communication skills are more in line with your career objective, and therefore should take priority. As a final test, put yourself in the shoes of your employer. Cross-check the job description and make sure that you’ve addressed the qualifications required for a specific job with the information on your resume. Let your potential employer know you have what they are looking for, and you’ll be sure to make a great first impression.