Career Development/Resumes/Resume Development

Tips / Hints
Use Active Verbs (past tense)

Use Quantifying Statements

Add these numbers or percentages wherever possible — to qualify and quantify your accomplishments. This could be as short as associating a number with a noun.

See the difference?

Use the “by” statement — Show “how” you did something

See the difference?

Use Encapsulating Details — Pack the statement with additional detail; showing the entirety of the results achieved.

See the difference?

Give info about “vertical markets” / industry sectors 

This is important for all job functions, especially IT/R&D professionals. By showing which ‘vertical

markets / Industry Sectors’ you’ve had exposure to, you can significantly expand your job search options

and ‘value’ to an employer.

See the difference?

Bullets 1, 2, 3, 4
Bullet 1:

Summarize your job description & overall responsibility:


 * Responsible for daily operations of a $10M charitable organization for the arts, with 27 employees and activities in Vancouver, Kelowna and Victoria.

Bullet 2: Identify a project / task (related to Bullet 1) where you achieved specific results:


 * Initiated a pilot project to provide arts-related materials to disadvantaged children. Achieved a 25% increase in overall participation. The project was adopted by the Board of Directors, and now serves 25,000 children throughout the Lower Mainland (1997).

Bullet 3: Provide another highlight, regarding another project / task, related to Bullet 1 (i.e. reinforcing the story line)


 * Coached and mentored 10 technical employees to computerize the organization over a 6-month period: to develop an Access database containing 10,000 records for direct mail purposes; an expanded website; and, 24/7 remote backups in case of disaster.

Bullet 4: Provide a wrap-up statement that incorporates your ‘leadership’ skills, and ability to work with, and promote others.


 * Responsible for providing orientation training for new employees (i.e. 25 people in 2002). Topics included: customer service, corporate practices, leadership and motivation.

Info already contained in a resume…
Consider your current information as ‘clues’ or prompts for missing information. (After the other sections are complete, you will fill in the “Highlights” section.)


 * You may want to reconnect with some people you worked with to clarify the information / results you wish to put on your resume.


 * You may also wish to refer to your Job Description, as provided by your Hiring Manager, or Human Resources. If this is not available, then perform a keyword search on Google for your role / function and a job description (i.e. marketing assistant or executive director charity AND “job description”). Then, the task will be to see how the results correspond to your previous job — and cut and paste the appropriate sections.

Go through your resume, in its entirety adding Quantifying Statements & Encapsulating Details, and Vertical Markets / Industry Sectors information.

Education / Training
List Major Degrees first, then Professional Training. You can try to put all of these entries onto one line, with the exception of the major degrees. (i.e. you don’t want to make the MBA look small!) Refer to your GPA, only if it is 3.5/4 or higher.

If you have a number of certifications, put these in a separate section. See the example at: www.icentro.com/resources

MBA (Finance), University of Washington, Seattle 1999

GPA 3.7 (with honours)

Training / Certifications
SQL Server Basic, 1997

SQL Server Advanced, 1998

Microsoft Access, 1999

Myers-Briggs Type Inventory, 2002=== Interests & Activities === Use one line per activity. Exception — if there’s an activity which you are particularly proud of / want to draw attention to, then use 2 lines. Otherwise, use the following style:

Campaign Director, CNIB, Ottawa (2002)

Developed a new strategy which raised $100K in additional funds

Member, Vancouver Board of Trade, Vancouver (2001)

Mentor, Leaders of Tomorrow, VBOT, Vancouver (2000-2002)

Instructor, Ski-for-All, Seattle (1999)== Special Situations == Multiple Jobs at the Same Company

If you had multiple jobs at one company, then use the Company Name as the header, and the jobs as the subheader, with the dates, off to the side.

Company Name, LocationDates workedVarious positions — promoted in each case

Job Title 12001

Bullet 1

Bullet 2

Bullet 3

Bullet 4

Job Title 21998

Bullet 1

Bullet 2

Bullet 3

Bullet 4

If you don’t want to draw attention to the company / jobs, you can also group them.

Company Name, Location & Dates workedDirector of IT, CFO1998 – present

Bullet 1 – As CFO, I was responsible for….

Bullet 2 – Example, results achieved

Bullet 3 – As Director of IT, I was responsible for….

Bullet 4 – Example, results achieved

For Managers, Directors & Executives:
Did you have Profit & Loss (P&L) / budgetary responsibility? Indicate how much?

Did you oversee / manage / lead others (i.e. direct reports)? How many people?

Did you lead any teams? What were they? Cross-functional?

Were you responsible for anyone being promoted?