Resume Tips

Ideas for What to Include on Your Resume

We guarantee the following will spark new ideas about your current and past job responsibilities and skills to include on your resume.

What experience, skills, aptitudes, or traits do you have, or think you might have, that could be of some use to some employer?
What skills have you developed, at least to some degree, that you have never used at work?
Do others, at work or elsewhere, come to you for any particular kind of help? What kind?
Do you have military experience (include Coast Guard and Merchant Marine)? Branch, grade, specialty? Active duty, reserves, National Guard? Discharge? Duties? Accomplishments? Medals, citations, commendations? Promotions ahead of schedule? You can treat military experience as general background, or list each position as you would at any other employer. Do not forget, military training can be particularly useful in private industry, if it is relevant to your objective.
Have you ever published an article or report, as a volunteer, or in your company professional association newsletter?
Have you ever given a talk, speech, or presentation, or provided training to anyone at work or elsewhere? Include the specifics.
Computer literacy and related skills: what platforms can you use (PC, MAC)? What operating systems are you familiar with (Windows; MAC; LINUX; other)? What Internet research tools are you familiar with? What programs are you familiar with (word processors, spread sheets, data base,; groupware, graphics, desk-top publishing, etc.); office suites (Microsoft Office); LAN or WAN system software? (If you know the latest version, mention it. If you’re not familiar with the latest version, give only program’s name.)
What sales or management training programs, seminars, workshops, or classes have you taken either through your job or on your own?
What foreign languages do you know, and what is your level of skill in each? (i.e. native speaker, fluent, moderate, phrase-book, write easily for professional purposes.)
Do you have any special travel experience, domestic or foreign? If you studied, lived, or worked in a foreign country, how long were you there? Did you live in an American embassy or off-shore US territory?

Responsibilities and Activities

How many people did you supervise? Orient? Hire? Train?
How large a budget did you manage?
To whom did you report ?
What was the highest level in the company that you reported to or communicated with directly?
Did you coordinate anything?
Serve as liaison between groups or key individuals?
Mediate between groups or individuals? Resolve any conflicts? Serve as mentor to anyone?
Did you do, or participate in, strategic planning?
Did you set or evaluate or participate in the setting or evaluation of policy?
Did you evaluate any individual or group performance, or any task or project research?
How did you relate to the product or service?
Did you communicate with customers? How?
Were you on any proposal teams, in-house or with a customer or subcontractor? Did the proposal succeed?
What was your function on the team, or your contribution to winning? Your team’s percentage of wins?
Did you communicate with suppliers or subcontractors? How?
Did you purchase services or supplies for the office, unit, or department?
Ever serve as a troubleshooter? In what area?
Did you back up someone? Who?
Did you do any surveys or other research or studies? Determine requirements? Prepare recommendations?
Design or manage any processes, systems, or projects?
Organize any events, conferences, meetings? How many?
Did you administer anything?
Consult for anyone, inside or outside the organization?
Did you gain experience in any special use software?
What kind of writing did you do, for yourself or someone else (e-mail, correspondence, memos, reports, concept papers, plans, proposals, office newsletter, etc.)? What did you write about? Did you write anything that was delivered to a customer as a product, or part of one?
If you are in sales, how many customer accounts are your responsibility?
What territory do you cover now? In the past?

Achievements and Accomplishments

What did you do?
How much reduction in costs or increase in profits did you contribute to?
Did you add any smoothness, quality, or economy of operation that noticeably improved the way things were before you assumed responsibility?
Any concrete or specific signs of the gain you achieved?
Did you propose, suggest, or initiate any programs, changes, or improvements that were implemented at least partly because of your initiative?
What positive results occurred?
What did you do as a volunteer, beyond the regular duties of your position?
Whether you were paid for it or not, what were you particularly good at that made a difference in how the office (job, project, assignment) progressed daily?
Have you performed over quota? How much over quota and when?
How do you rank against your peer group?

Awards and Recognition

Were you praised or recognized, for a particular assignment, a method of working, or a character trait? How? By whom?
Were you promoted ahead of schedule?
Were you selected for any special responsibilities or programs?

Remember… You only have one chance to make a good first impression. In many instances, your resume will be the ONLY thing that a prospective employer (or a recruiter) will use to determine if you should be granted an interview. Double check your resume for spelling and grammatical errors. Then check it again, and also have someone else check it. Even have someone else check it for you. For some examples of what NOT to do on a resume, see: http://jobmob.co.il/blog/funniest-resume-mistakes (if the link doesn’t take you to the website, copy the URL and paste it into your browser)