What is a result?

I've had a couple of job hunters asking me questions about what creates a powerful resume.

"Results", says I.

They respond, "I wrote everything in PARs format, and so it is ready to go!" (PARs stands for Problem - Action - Results, which is a good thing for a resume).

I look at the resume, and no, not so much. The problem is their description of the results. It's all about what they delivered.

That's not really results what a hiring manager cares about. They want to know that what you delivered improved the financial picture of the organization. They want to see how your past work history will improve their organization.

Now, you, as the proud candidate may think that the delivered results are great. The problem is that just delivering something is not good enough. Sure, you need to deliver the product, the service, whatever. Then you need to track the results. Did the product improve things? Did revenue increase? Did the costs go down? Was the process more efficient and save the firm from hiring a bunch of people?

Look at it this way, the way a recruiter sees things. Lots and lots of resumes that tell them what candidates delivered. And then, one or two that show the impact of the delivered items.

Guess which resumes stand out?

Comments

[Chris Vincent]

With a tip of the hat to Paul Harvey. Telling the rest of the story of why what you did was beneficial to the company and how the benefits were realized is a good thing to remember.