Hi! I’m Roberto Martinez, a Grow with Google digital coach.
Today we’re going to do a deep dive on how to make your experience and accomplishments stand out to get the job you want!
It’s not enough to just list your job experience and work history,
you need to showcase your accomplishments and impact in a clear and compelling way that lands you the interview…and ultimately that dream job!
For each role in the work experience section of your resume, list your employer, position, and dates employed, telling the story of each job with bullet points.
As I mentioned briefly in the previous video, use your bullet points to draw parallels between your work experience and the requirements of the job you’re applying to.
Does the job description require experience with project management?
If so, make sure to list that experience prominently, but even if you don’t have the exact experience or qualifications listed in the job description,
it’s important to still make parallels with other relevant experience you may have.
Think about similar roles, qualifications, or training that may still be helpful for the role you’re applying for. For example:
Have you managed timelines and deliverables? Are you good at planning activities or events?
Those are still helpful skills for a project management role that you could highlight on your resume.
It’s also important to include keywords on your resume that you see in the job description because some companies use “resume keyword scanners” to identify qualified candidates for hiring managers to consider.
Make sure you focus not just on the tasks you did, but on the results you accomplished.
Describe challenges you faced, actions you took to address these challenges, and the results of your actions.
Where possible, quantify your work with numbers and examples.
For instance, instead of just saying you managed a budget, say how much of a budget you managed.
Instead of just saying you led a team, say how many people you actually led.
Try using this formula for your bullet points: what you accomplished, a measurement of that accomplishment, and what you did to accomplish it.
For instance, if you’re a store manager at a retail outlet you might say,
“Led a diverse 18-person team to increase our sales goals of $15,000 per day by over 20% over a 6-month period, by incorporating new sales strategies and retraining sales associates on conversion best practices.”
If your skills are harder to quantify using numbers, offer concrete accomplishments.
Even if your accomplishments don’t seem that impressive to you because you’re used to doing the job, recruiters will really appreciate the detail.
Say you’re a retail cashier at a clothing store.
You might not think your experience ringing up customers is easily quantified, but “Served 85 customers per day with 100% accuracy,” sounds pretty impressive, right?
It’s even more impressive if you can add “...compared to an average of 70 customers at 90% accuracy for my peerset or industry standard.”
Providing data helps. Making it meaningful with a comparison helps even more.
As you detail your work experience, consider what the purpose was of each of your projects and what business value it added.
Were these projects started from scratch, or were they improvements on existing operations?
Did you increase productivity, and if so, by how much?
How many people did your projects impact or support?
And specifically, how did you fit into these projects – for instance, did you design, plan, or analyze them?
What tools or software did you use? Did you use any special skills, especially ones transferable to the job you’re applying to?
Keep in mind you might be tempted to list out every work experience and every accomplishment, but remember to prioritize.
Again, you want to make it easy to find what your reader is looking for, and show them in seconds that you’re a strong match.
So be sure to tailor your experience & bullet points to show what’s most relevant and be careful not to use industry jargon that the recruiter or hiring manager may not understand.
Now that we better understand the importance of properly listing your work experience and history,
let's take a moment to review the takeaways so you can feel confident in your next steps.
For the work experience section, be sure to list your employer, position, and dates employed, starting with your current or most recent position.
Focus on what you accomplished and show the measurable impact that you had in your job.
Use your bullet points to draw parallels between your work experience and the requirements of the job you’re applying to, and remember to use specific keywords included in the job description when possible.
As you detail your work experience, consider what the purpose was of each of your projects and what business value each of them added.
Thank you so much for tuning in!
To continue growing your skills and career, be sure to tune in to our other videos and subscribe to our channel!
You can also access free resources, virtual workshops, Google Career Certificates, and more at our Grow with Google website.
See you next time!