Does Your Resume Tell a Story?
This post about the importance of story-telling in blogging reminded me that I haven't written about this subject for a while.
If I could get all my readers to make just one change to their resume, it would be to add stories. As the post points out, stories allow you to make a connection. Your reader can understand what you're saying, and feel connected to you much more closely when you tell a story than when you just recite facts.
Not sure what I mean? Here's an example.
I received a resume today from a potential client. She's a mid-level marketing manager and she's looking to advance her career to the next level. Her resume included a series of concise bullet points outlining the impact she had made on her company.
Here's one of them:
- Helped increase sales by 10% through new marketing campaign.
But what if our candidate told a story instead:
- Repositioned outdated service provider by adding and promoting 3 market-leading services - drove a 10% increase in sales after 3 years of decreases. (Increase was achieved despite an overall market decline of 5%.)
Context is key when you are convincing someone else that you can help their company. So go through your resume to check whether you have told a story about each of your accomplishments, as opposed to just listing them.
You'll find an amazing difference in your response rate if you make this change.
By Louise Fletcher and courtesy of CareerHub.com. The Career Hub blog connects job seekers with experts in career counseling, resume writing, personal branding and recruiting
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