Today’s question comes from “Peter” who writes: “I am having trouble with giving people a clear understanding of my past experience and key strengths in my updated resume”.

Gayle writes:

Peter you aren’t alone! I’ve been writing resumes now for almost 20 years. Most people do not have the chance, time (or the inclination) to hone their expertise in the art of resume writing, and of course, that’s obviously why professionals in the field exist. I guess you could say the same for any profession — doctors, accountants and lawyers too! While there are exceptions, as general rule, the people who try to self-diagnose illnesses, fix a complex tax issue, or represent themselves in Court, do tend to come to grief one way or another simply because they don’t understand the nuances of what they’re doing. The same goes with resume writing.

The key things you may be missing in writing your resume—which seems to be the problems most people face, is writing objectively about yourself. Resumes are sophisticated marketing documents today so consequently unless you’re a personal branding expert, you may not know how to represent the person you are representing (yes even if that person is you!). People also make the mistake of writing for the past. Which means they are pitching to get the same job they just left. If they can’t convey where they are heading and keep looking to the past, then the next employer is going to question “What’s in it for me and my company today?”

The next thing many people get wrong is they list duties rather than achievements. Or they try to hide behind “teams” with phrases such as “we did this, we did that”. Resumes need to be very specific about achievements and what part the person personally had in delivering a result. For example, take Linda, a Pre-Sales Consultant who provided the technical information that went into a winning proposal or tender. Linda cannot realistically take credit for personally delivering a $200M sale! But she can take credit for providing the core data included in the winning tender of a $200M sale. Now her statement “Part of a team that won a contract with IBM”, can now say: “Analysed, scrutinised and produced the core financial data to in a proposal that went on to win a groundbreaking $200M sale for XYZ Inc,” Then Linda’s cooking!

If you are having difficulty in articulating your achievements, the best way to start is to use the C.A.R. strategy. CAR is an acronym for Challenge, Action, Result. What was the challenge of moving into a new role, or starting up a new project, or penetrating a new market? What action specifically did you take to overcome those challenges? And finally, what was the result of your actions? If you can form and shape each of your achievements around the CAR strategy, you will be much more able to articulate your talents and expertise to the reader.