Why Your Resume Should Be Results Focused

It’s not entirely about you!

What’s in it for me?

That’s what an employer wants to know when reviewing your resume. And the best way to answer that question is by clearly and concisely showing what you have accomplished at your previous places of employment.

If your resume is nothing more than a list of responsibilities — instead of actual results — then it’s not likely to help you stand out from the numerous other applicants you’re competing with for that one position.

And, ultimately, isn’t that the goal?

Far too often, I see resumes that list more of what the candidate did (duties) instead of why it actually matters (results). And while we (as recruiters and hiring managers) need to know what you did, we’re more concerned with the impact you made with your previous employers.

What problem did you solve? How did your work make things better, safer, faster, or more efficient? How did you help your previous employers save or make money, improve customer satisfaction, increase market share, develop new business relationships, etc.?

That’s really all recruiters and hiring managers care about: results.

Sprinkling your resume with how you’re experienced, dynamic, detail (or results) oriented, hard-working, and creative really isn’t saying much without the results to prove it. Plus, including those and many other overused, meaningless buzzwords is actually a turnoff because we see them in resumes too frequently.

So. Get to the point!

Tell a prospective employer specifically what you accomplished. And, whenever possible, quantify your accomplishments with numbers: sales figures, percentages, number of employees or customers, and time frames.

A great way to express this is using the PAR (Problem Action Result) format: (1) briefly describe a problem; (2) then, the action you took to solve it; (3) and, finally, the end result.

Below are three examples from resumes I’ve written for clients:

• Improved processes to reduce operational costs by 2% and increase customer satisfaction by 3%.
• Analyzed large, complex datasets using Excel, Pivot Tables, R, and data visualization to leverage insights and recommend strategies to help professor improve the accuracy of future studies.
• Collaborated with business partners in developing a daily plan to deliver over 24,000 units to businesses and individuals, resulting in 98% delivery to targeted customers and 99% delivery within requested time frame.

Bullet points are preferred over paragraphs in many cases. It’s much easier to scan bullet points to find the information we need than it is to dig that information out of a paragraph. Also, try to limit bullet statements to one or two lines.

In the end, you want your resume to scream I’m a candidate worth inviting for an interview. So it’s your job to write a resume that gets right to the point and clearly shows a recruiter or hiring manager why.