The ABC's of Resume Writing | "T" is for TIME

T: Use the Element of TIME to Make Your Accomplishments Stand Out.

If you have not figured it out by now, a lot of my writing in this blog deals with accomplishments.  I believe that accomplishments can make or break a resume. Accomplishments showcase your value and help the employer understand what you have done well for other employers. When I give resume writing seminars, I always encourage the audience to pay special attention to their accomplishment statements. I mention that their accomplishments should be relevant to the position they are applying for and that they should consider placing the results of the accomplishment up front, or at the beginning of the sentence, to make the accomplishment really stand out. There is one additional tip that I offer as well and this has to do with the element of time.

Do you have the time?

Look at the following accomplishment statement for a territory sales professional:

“Increased territory sales 45% by facilitating product knowledge seminars and improving communications with key customers.”

This statement is relevant to the position (territory sales) and the results are placed up front (increased territory sales 45%). So what could make this accomplishment stand out even more? Let’s add the element of time. If you can time bound your accomplishment, you can show how proactive you are in solving problems. For instance, let’s take look at the above accomplishment again, this time applying the element of time:

“Increased territory sales 45% in less than 6 months by facilitating product knowledge seminars and improving communications with key customers.”

You can see that adding the element of time really makes this accomplishment stand out. Increasing sales 45% in less than 6 months is more impressive than the same sales increase that took more than a year to achieve.

When thinking about which accomplishments to include in your resume, keep these three points in mind:

1. Accomplishments should be relevant to the position you are applying for
2. Start your accomplishment statements with the results of the achievement
3. Use the element of time to really make the accomplishment stand out

Following these three tips will help you accomplishments stand out and increase your chances of interviews.

And that is the art of the job search!