The most Important Ingredient in a Resume/CV
A powerfully written achievement profile is probably the most sort after part of a resume or curriculum vitae that a recruiter will focus on before they decide whether to meet you or not. However, many folks, with possibly great achievements in their career progression, have missed out on great career opportunities or job openings because of poor representation of their career achievements.
A statement like… “Met and surpassed revenue collection targets by 50% in 2012” in the eyes of many might pass as a great achievement. Indeed, this is a good achievement; however, it does not carry much weight because it does not give the recruiter a glimpse of what exactly you are made of! E.g. what kind of personal competencies did you employ to achieve this success and so on?
Before we consider what goes into a great achievement profile. Let us first understand what an achievement is.
An achievement is a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill.
Notice here the words effort and skill. Effort depicts energy and skill depicts proficiency or talent. A great achievement therefore should clearly represent these two virtues. Employers are increasingly on the lookout for people who will not only ‘carry’ the talent but also the energy to get things done.
Having said that, let us therefore look at how you can powerfully project your achievement profile.
First, there are three dimensions to every great achievement and these are; the challenge, the action (personal Contribution) and the Result.
A: The Challenge
A challenge is a call to resolve an issue or a problem. Without a clear understanding of the issue at hand or the problem or the need, then we are incapacitated to really have a meaningful or powerful resolution to a problem. Defining the challenge helps showcase an admirable business virtue – this is the realization that there are always two sides to a problem – An expensive to implement solution and one that makes economic sense.
A good example of a challenge is: To restore financial and operational health to a key strategic business unit (SBU) – critical to the survival of the company – for an enterprise in a diminishing travel industry in Kenya.
B: The Action (personal Contribution)
Here we expect to see what you did as a person to resolve the issue. I know that most solutions involve team work. However, every member in the team brings in a unique set of talents to help resolve a problem or address a need. What did you bring to the table? This is what you need to focus on. It could range from skills like researching, data analysis, negotiating, networking and so on.
Here is an example of an action following the challenge outlined above: Contributed industry and business unit expertise (personally created, developed and exceeded performance objectives during the period 2013 through to mid-2015) to a joint venture consulting engagement with Price Waterhouse (turnaround specialists). Evaluated existing operations and mapped out a new strategy, organizational structure, business model and culture.
C: The Result
Businesses have very limited interests. These interests can all be summed up into a single phrase: MAKING A PROFIT. Making a profit is achieved in three ways:
- By saving money through coming up with an innovative idea, or
- By saving time through a process improvement, or
- By earning money through an enduring effort.
Saving time, saving money or earning money, all cascade down to the profitability of an organization both in the short and long term.
What results did your action achieve? Did you get a positive turn around for the situation?
Here is an example of representing the results from the preceding example: Delivered the plan for putting in place a robust organizational structure with best practices for risk management, inventory utilization, call center operations, program management, financial reporting and communication. Combined annual cost savings of turnaround initiatives exceeded US$ 6 million annually.
Tying in a number in your results adds more weight to your result and shows that you clearly understand that at the end of the day, getting the numbers is what defines the success of an idea, a project or a business.
In some quarters, people may argue that there are some key performance indices (KPI’s) which cannot be quantified. I tend to differ from this notion because if you can budget for it, then you can measure results against the budget. For example, if you pay for a relationship building event for a team, at the end of the day, you can be able to link in key productivity elements of the team that are tied to improved relations e.g. a drop in internal complains from X to Y in the first month after the training and so on.
However ability to quantify remains a subject for debate for another day.
Lastly, you can wrap up your achievement by making a highlight of the key strengths that helped you resolve this issue or problem as follows.
D: Strengths
In addition to industry expertise, I bring the full complement of business and finance management qualifications. I am quick to identify and create solutions to complex business issues, and I am proficient in managing large-scale, ling-term and mission critical projects.
Your achievement profile therefore helps the potential employer to see your problem resolving abilities clearly. It helps the recruiter VISUALIZE YOU SOLVING THEIR PROBLEM. Remember, every job opening is advertised because there in a need. And the need is always for the job holder to resolve issues or problems that arise on an on-going basis. Show casing your problem solving abilities in this manner will help you get ahead of other candidates.
Do you feel that you have missed out on great job opportunities because your Resume/CV lacks the depth in terms of ‘your achievement profile’? Let us help you today! write to us