What Is Making Your Good Resume Not Great?

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have worked on over 100 roof projects. I have used composition shingles, slate, and wooden shingles.” How would you pick? Presumably, anyone making a living putting up a roof has some knowledge like this and some experience. You don’t really care about that except in a hazy sort of way.But what if one of them said, “On previous roofing projects, I have used a custom technique to rapidly cover the roof allowing construction to take 10% less time. My method is also more resistant to future wind damage and leaks.” That’s interesting because it is a differentiator. But it still doesn’t get you to great status.The great roofer resume would say, “My special technique has saved people an average of $900 on each roofing job and extends the life of the roof an additional three years compared to a conventional repair job.” This is much better. Even if I know nothing about a roofing job, I know that saving$ 900 is a benefit. Everyone wants to save $900. If I can get an extra three years out of the roof, I probably understand the benefit of that, too.In general, there are three ways to show value.<ol><li>Money earned</li><li>Money saved/Loss reduced</li><li>Risk avoided</li

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</ol>In this case, the roofer is employing money saved and risk avoided. I save $900 and I avoid the risk of needing a new roof for three more years or sustaining wind damage.So how can you show value? You wrote some software. What was the value of that? Did it drive new sales? Stop people from switching to another company’s software? Was it easier to maintain? You can’t always get dollar figures on things like that, but it is helpful if you can.Even if you sweep the floors, there must be some value to that. Perhaps, “maintained office environment to ensure customers had a positive experience when visiting which led to increased sales.” That might sound like a stretch, but it really isn’t. Everything you do should have value to the company and all those things should have value to the customer or else you aren’t going to have a company for very long.Pull out your resume and circle all the places where you can find an explicit explanation of value. Even better, have someone who doesn’t really understand your job do it for you. If the paper doesn’t come back full of circles, revise until it does. That’s what makes a good resume great.</article></body>

Never let an interviewer draw their own conclusions!

I’ve seen your resume. Well… I probably haven’t seen your exact resume, but I bet I’ve seen one very much like it. It is good. You have the spelling mistakes fixed. You cover all the years and you list your education. Very impressive and it will get you some interviews and even a job. But if your resume falls into the overwhelming majority, it isn’t great and there is one single reason why.

Most of us building a resume look at our accomplishments from our own point of view. That’s only natural. The only problem is, that’s not what was really important. What’s important is that you show value. Why was what you did important to the company or — even more importantly — the company’s customers?

Let’s look at it from the other side. You decide to get a new roof so you contact three contractors. This is an alternate universe so they send you resumes.

If each resume says, “I have worked on over 100 roof projects. I have used composition shingles, slate, and wooden shingles.” How would you pick? Presumably, anyone making a living putting up a roof has some knowledge like this and some experience. You don’t really care about that except in a hazy sort of way.

But what if one of them said, “On previous roofing projects, I have used a custom technique to rapidly cover the roof allowing construction to take 10% less time. My method is also more resistant to future wind damage and leaks.” That’s interesting because it is a differentiator. But it still doesn’t get you to great status.

The great roofer resume would say, “My special technique has saved people an average of $900 on each roofing job and extends the life of the roof an additional three years compared to a conventional repair job.” This is much better. Even if I know nothing about a roofing job, I know that saving $900 is a benefit. Everyone wants to save $900. If I can get an extra three years out of the roof, I probably understand the benefit of that, too.

In general, there are three ways to show value.

Money earned

Money saved/Loss reduced

Risk avoided

In this case, the roofer is employing money saved and risk avoided. I save $900 and I avoid the risk of needing a new roof for three more years or sustaining wind damage.

So how can you show value? You wrote some software. What was the value of that? Did it drive new sales? Stop people from switching to another company’s software? Was it easier to maintain? You can’t always get dollar figures on things like that, but it is helpful if you can.

Even if you sweep the floors, there must be some value to that. Perhaps, “maintained office environment to ensure customers had a positive experience when visiting which led to increased sales.” That might sound like a stretch, but it really isn’t. Everything you do should have value to the company and all those things should have value to the customer or else you aren’t going to have a company for very long.

Pull out your resume and circle all the places where you can find an explicit explanation of value. Even better, have someone who doesn’t really understand your job do it for you. If the paper doesn’t come back full of circles, revise until it does. That’s what makes a good resume great.