Three Ways to Make Your Resume Get My Attention

Are you stressing over your resume?

If you are, I have one tip for you. 

Your resume should be a list of achievements - not a job description.

Too often, I see bullet points that read: 

• Repaired High-Tech Equipment
• Led Project to Repair Broken Stuff
• Maintained Optimal Alignment of Customer Perspective
• Responsible for Major East Coast Sales Account

Excuse me, but "yaaaaaawwwwwwn"...

When I see your job title, I know what you're supposed to do.

Your resume is a scorecard. Tell me the results!

It's simple. You:

1. Reduced something (costs, defects, cycle time, etc),
2. Increased something (revenue, profits, customer satisfaction, etc)
3. Eliminated/fixed something (cancer? the line at the frappacino machine?)
4. Or created something (for example, I invented the virtual frisbee - Catch!!)
5. Or a combination of the above (invented a doohickey that eliminated a whatchamacallit, which reduced costs while increasing revenue - Yay!)

If you didn't do any of the above, I'll assume you just showed up every day.
Good luck selling that.

All right, let's pretend you did at least one of the above five, since the alternative is too depressing.

All you have to do is document your achievements on your resume.

Here's a few ways to do that.

1. Quantify it: This is the easiest. You just need the numbers. Increased sales by 30%. Decreased downtime by 11%. Eliminated customer wait-time by initiating self-service fountain.
   Oh, but you say you cannot quantify how much your customer loves you...
2. Get a Reference: LinkedIn is great for this. Get someone to say how great your are, and then quote them in your resume! Delivered "quickest response of all our contractors" (see reference on LinkedIn). It's that easy.
   Wait, you're really good, but no one knows it yet?
3. Share a Work Sample: You can use Visual CV, YouTube, or your own website. Are you a great presenter? Post a presentation on YouTube. A great writer? Attach a white paper to your resume. I'm shocked at how few people do this...

Is that clear? 

Don't tell me. Show me.

Show me data. Show me a reference. Or show me a sample.

Thanks...

Will your job be offshored?

It depends on how much value you add.

I'll propose this simple litmus test:

Can your job be drawn on a flow chart?

If the answer is 'yes', then I can tell you now that your job is going to be:

1. outsourced, or
2. automated, or
3. outsourced and then automated

Don't believe me? Look at every job you've seen outsourced or offshored.
I'll bet you can draw the tasks of that job in a flowchart.
Now look at the jobs that are 'safe' - most of them can't be flow charted.... yet.

Can you flowchart phone support? Yep, most of it anyway.
Can you flowchart in-store support? Pretty hard to do.

My solution? Flowchart your job and - as the Red Hot Chili Peppers say - "give it away, give it away, give it away now".
Seriously. Then start doing stuff that isn't on the chart and can't be charted.
Then, as soon as you get it structured, give that away, too.

It's time to sail off the chart. We've got to be explorers now.