Fixing This One Resume Mistake Helped A Top Executive Land His Dream Job with a 30% Salary Increase and Paid Relocation -

Fixing This One Resume Mistake Helped A Top Executive Land His Dream Job with a 30% Salary Increase and Paid Relocation - One of our clients, Jeff, was frequently contacted by recruiters but was having   challenges getting positions at the senior executive level (he was in the $300K+ salary range). He also wanted to move his family from the East Coast to the West Coast. One resume mistake was holding him back. His old resume was very wordy, with 10+ bullets under each position. It listed what he DIDâ€"not what he had ACHIEVED. Over the past 12 years, I’ve reviewed tens of thousands of resumes, and there’s one thing I’ve discovered most people put on their resume that almost guarantees it will get kicked out of the screening process. You may already know that to meet today’s standards, your resume needs to include the following: The right keywords Clear focus A targeted audience Authentic branding However, even if you get all of these items in your resume correct, this one common mistake will hinder your chances of getting interviews. What is the most common mistake people make on their resume? Using duties versus accomplishments. They write about what they DIDâ€"and not what they had achieved. How do you know if you’ve made this mistake? Here are a few common bullet points we see on our clients resumes when they first come to us: Responsible for … Duties included … Demonstrated ability to … When you use duties vs. accomplishments, you’re not telling the full story of your impact, and you need the whole story if you’re going to spark the interest of hiring managers. For a task to become an accomplishment, think about dollars or percentages, as well as the impact, increases, or decreases. We worked with Jeff to understand what his top achievements were for each organization. We asked: “How is the company better because of you?” We optimized his LinkedIn profile to reflect his level and attract the right interest. His new resume presented him at a higher level and highlighted accomplishments that would be relevant and of interest to his future employers. Getting them to say: “Look what he did for Company X. He can do the same for us!” After using the new resume and LinkedIn, he landed his dream job at a higher-level position with a progressive company, a 30% salary increase, and a fully-paid relocation out West. If you’re struggling to get attention for higher-level roles, try the following: Ask: How is this company better because of me? Highlight relevant accomplishments so employers will say “Look what they did, they can do the same for us.”