Maybe you’ve been diligent in keeping your resume updated, which probably puts you ahead of a lot of people. But is your resume truly impressive? If your resume is just “good,” it might not stand out among the sea of other decent resumes that recruiters have to sift through.
One approach you can take to address a lack of recruiter call-backs is to try adding a little strategic self-promotion to call out your most important achievements. Don’t worry—it’s possible to sound confident about your talents without being obnoxious. Here are some tips:
When you describe your roles and accomplishments, use strong verbs that capture what you did in the position. Action words are more attention-grabbing and can help you better capture your responsibilities. Here are some example verbs for inspiration:
As a bonus, the above verbs can help you succinctly express a sense of accomplishment, teamwork, and creativity. And if you want to impress with a little more narrative, you can practice storytelling in your cover letter.
When you use passive voice, your sentences are focused on the action/outcome rather than the person who did the thing. Your resume is about you, so keep it in active voice.
Here are some before and after examples:
Passive Voice |
Active Voice |
|---|---|
|
A team of 10 sales representatives was managed, and monthly targets were exceeded by 20%. |
Managed a team of 10 sales representatives that exceeded monthly targets by 20%. |
|
A new customer service strategy was implemented, resulting in a 50% reduction in response times. |
Implemented a new customer service strategy that reduced response times by 50%. |
|
Customer complaints were promptly and effectively resolved, maintaining a high satisfaction rate of 95%. |
Resolved customer complaints promptly, achieving a 95% satisfaction rate. |
|
Cross-functional teams were collaborated with to develop and launch a successful marketing campaign. |
Collaborated with cross-functional teams to develop and launch a successful marketing campaign. |
|
The implementation of a new project management system was led, resulting in cost savings. |
Led the implementation of a new project management system that resulted in 35k annual cost savings. |
Don’t just list your job duties—focus on the real difference you made in previous positions. If you worked in customer service, don’t say you were “responsible for customer service.” Instead, describe how you provided exceptional customer service and increased repeat business by 25%. Similarly, “increased productivity” doesn’t paint a picture for the reader, but “increased productivity of QA team by 20%” gets a lot closer.
Of course, you don’t want to make up data, so pay attention to your accomplishments while you’re still on the job (and while you still have access to the systems that can track those kinds of details) so you can quantify the data.
As you work on your resume, your main focus should be on being specific and clear. You know you’ve made an impact, and you illustrate that for recruiters and hiring managers using action verbs that capture the importance of what you did and numbers to show data-driven proof. Once you have the content down, revise it for your audience with resume psychology in mind.