I am working on my resume and having difficulty coming up with something that doesn't sound like a list of tasks I perform every day. What I hear and read it is best to report statistics-and accomplishments-such as "Raised sales by 110%" "Reduced waste by 9%" "Increased customer base" etc etc etc In my previous job I was able to come up with statistics, but now I am drawing a blank of what I have contributed, though I know I have. I work 40-50 hours a week on salary I know I have done something for them!!!! I am working on my resume for a place that will require a year of service for room and board in a remote location. This may could begin in the spring of 2015, summer of 2015 or later even. (Or sooner too!) So I am also working on a resume for other job possibilities and I haven't figured out what yet, or where I would like to work. While I was attending school I was dead set against applying for another big corporation. I was all about the small business and would still like to open a small business of my own one day-which takes a ton of work. So while I was attending school I have been working for a small automotive repair facility. I am not sure I was meant to stay long term, the business is great and the family is wonderful. I am exploring other options and looking for ideas. I never thought I would be applying for another "Office Manager" type position, but that may be the case. Anyway, back to my original question-fluffing up my daily tasks to accomplishments on my Resume. Any suggestions?!?! Thank you!
For the fun of it, I once created a resume that went something like this: Professional wildlife observer. Making people laugh and feel good about themselves. Proficient at recognizing when I am hungry and carrying out an action plan to accomplish the goal. Umbrella operation in times of extreme rain and weather. Adapt to a constantly changing environment. I always wanted to turn this in somewhere just to see what would happen. There were other items, but these were some of the main bullet points. I created it when I was in a funk like I am in now.
I definitely believe in reporting accomplishments if you have them for that particular job (and at the same time, there are some jobs that, no matter how good you are and how dedicated you are to them, won't lend themselves to that because they're just not conceived as that type of position. I don't think statistics are necessary, and in many jobs there's just no good way to measure your accomplishments numerically that will make sense to an outsider spending five seconds reading them. My "accomplishments" sections are always more qualitative than quantitative. What is the job you're trying to describe?
Office Manager. "I successfully answer 10 phone calls a day!" Just kidding. I do customer service/order parts/prepare estimates/collect payments and then I do employee related items-prepare payroll, handle new hires, paperwork, And then your basic office stuff like filing/faxing/emailing/preparing reports I can say all that-I think it didn't sound "good" enough. But after having a second look at it today, it might work.
Every experienced NCO in The Army is a no doubt about it expert in writing evaluations that are the background for job resumes. Trust me, we can take five subordinate NCO's that do the exact same jobs and come with five evaluations that sound completely different but in effect say the same thing. We can take "making a ham sandwich" sound like a master chef cooking the best meal in human history that satisfies every member of The United Nations and cures cancer. Bottom line is it's not your achievements, it's how you milk them.
Are there any systems you implemented that improved the office in some way ... anything like that? They don't have to have numbers or statistics attached; just listing them is enough to show that you have initiative and think about that type of thing, which will put you ahead of the crowd.
Thank you for the help with the brainstorm. This is what working for a micro manager who knows everything has done for me! I was there since day one so every thing pretty much has been from scratch. Skills in patience! This boss is definitely not one for taking suggestions-or making "improvements" I am sure this has built character for me somewhere a long the way.
Just go ahead and brainstorm all the things you are expected to do and all the things that you actually do, and all the skills you've demonstrated along the way (such as working from scratch to accomplish X or Y). It shows what you have experience with, and experience is important to employers. If you do fifteen different things that involve interacting with customers, go ahead and write them all down in your "master resume". You can always excise the unimportant ones if you think your resume is getting a little long for a particular potential employer, and it'll serve to jog your memory at the interview when you're trying to expand upon your resume to explain what your responsibilities were like.
Guess what?! Great news! I got a position with the company I was applying for! It is a non-profit organization, and they want you to apply for several different positions at the same time, so I did just that and ended up getting hired for something I actually didn't think I had enough experience in. (bookkeeping/accounting) Since I have the business background and understanding of running a small business it helped, even though I don't specifically take care of our books I do a lot of the preparations for our current bookkeeper. The funny thing is-during this process of getting hired on with this new company (I begin in May) and leaving my current company-I have written all of my processes, and have come up with an awesome list of things I do throughout the day/week. I now have more items to put on my resume for next time!
One more tip - constantly update your resume! Then if the unemployment hammer falls fast and you need to find another job, all your "ducks are in order" as they say. You won't be scrambling at the last minute.
I've heard if your experience seemed pretty mundane write a skills resume. That is focus on what you "can" do rather than what you "have" done.
This. In my line of work, people used to use "resume tapes" (pretty much an audition reel) to get jobs. Then the "tapes" became CDs and, now, online reels. It's gotten to the point where I won't seriously consider a job applicant if they don't have an online reel because DVDs often don't play or don't play properly. I update my "paper" resume every time I win another award and while I don't keep a "reel" with multiple stories on one file, I do upload every good story I do to my YouTube and Vimeo accounts. Just last Friday I sent a bunch of those links to a potential freelance job. I don't understand people in my line of work who don't use Vimeo or YouTube to "save" their work. If they suddenly get laid off or fired, they'll have a hard time putting together a demo reel because they'll no longer have access to their work.
