If you’re struggling to convey the magnitude of what you’ve achieved throughout your career, you’re in the same boat with many others. This seems to be the ultimate sticking point for resume writing on many levels… where candidates just can’t make that leap through the WORDS to get to the MESSAGE.

The best way to get employers to take note of what you can do for them, though, is to quantify it and put it in terms that anyone can understand. Again, if this seems tough to do, don’t despair.

I recommend taking a step back and looking at the overall picture when it comes to your work. What projects were you taking on at each company? And what did these projects actually DO for that employer? Cut inefficiency? Increase income? Allow it to compete on a larger scale?

If you can recall the size and scope of different initiatives that you’ve handled, you’re at a good starting point. By scope, I mean budget, number of people affected, and so on.

Your next step is to look at the impact your efforts had on the project, then the effect that this project had on the company. It shouldn’t be hard to do, especially if you had to get involved with stakeholders who had to be convinced that this project was essential to their department, or user that were eager to get to the results stage because they KNEW what effect the project would have.

So… beef up Designed detailed program specifications for businesses in the Western region like this:

First Iteration:
Created detailed technical requirements to support $750K project affecting 12 locations in the Western region.

Second and final iteration:
Supported companywide transition to imaged processing that saved 10 FTEs ($550K annually) by creating detailed technical specifications for $750K project affecting 12 locations in the Western region.

Yes, it’s longer, but the final version of this sentence talks about the context (an impact to the whole company), plus quantifiable achievements that occurred as a result ($550K annual savings), plus the size of the overall effort ($750K).

These figures are the absolute essentials to a strong resume! Plus, they speak directly to employers about your effect on the bottom line, which is a hard message to ignore.

I wish I had a dime for every executive or manager who discussed their career situation with me, then said in a hushed voice, “…but there’s something else. You see, I don’t have a degree.”

Invariably, I end up spending at least 10 minutes convincing them that they are NOT alone. It seems I work with more professionals, managers, and even executives all the time who never finished (or started) college, yet were able to ascend the career ladder just the same.

What’s their secret? Not much, actually–unless you count significant strategic contributions, belief in themselves, and just plain old hard work. Maybe no one ever told them they “couldn’t” or “shouldn’t” be doing what they do best!

Put THAT in the back of your mind the next time that nagging doubt about your qualifications sets in.

About 99% of the self-written resumes I read are focused in one of two areas: job duties and accomplishments. To those people who actually put accomplishment information on the resume, you can skip the next paragraph.

Job responsibilities are the mundane part of any resume, and should be briefly noted. For example, anyone will know that accountants deal with the general ledger and network administrators handle user support. What becomes more interesting are the results of what you do, such as supporting company growth to 1,000+ users or the fact that you launched an initiative that cut corporate expenses by 30%.

Here’s the best part: the story behind the achievements. Think of the context in which you have operated. What situation did you walk into your first day on the job? What challenges did the company face–that meant YOU had to rise to the occasion? What did you do when faced with new goals, and how did you go about completing it?

This is the story that employers want to hear… and I like to find out as well.

What is relevant information for a resume, anyway? Who decides what is included?

The answers are: Anything related to what you want to do, and the employer. That’s right – the content of a resume is really dictated by what an employer needs. When you include data that is not pertinent to the job at hand, you confuse and distract a hiring manager.

Does the world need to know that you held three jobs as a waiter prior to your career in management? Will an employer be impressed that you published scientific papers on the importance of hydrocarbon gases to the ozone layer in Central America–if you want to attain the rank of CEO? Probably not.

Write down your career goal, and put it in front of you as you draft your resume. Weigh each piece of information against this target… and see what sticks.

Doesn’t putting a task on your resume imply that you were responsible for it? I am always amazed at how many times *resume real estate* is wasted with this phrase.

Resume real estate, for those of you who don’t know, is the valuable, prized portion of the page between your name and the end of your document. Those of us in the careers industry thrive on and honor this as sacred ground. Before you laugh, check out my samples.

Instead of boring your reader, think power, as in power verb. Spice up your resume text with a selection from this list.

Most people in career transition that visit my website fully understand why they could use help with “career marketing” services. However, I still receive calls from people who somehow think of a resume as a piece of paper.

A $1,000 bill is a “piece of paper,” too! The power of words, when unleased, is what can make the difference between the value expressed on your resume.

Don’t confuse printing capabilities with career currency; the latter can add more of those $1,000 bills to your salary.