Writing Your Best Resume: How to Choose a Standout Professional History

The process of writing a successful resume involves incorporating a variety of elements.  Of course, your name and contact information are important, along with your education—but one piece that often doesn’t receive the attention it deserves is the professional history.

What you accomplished with each employer you’ve worked for in the past is critical information to a prospective employer.  So how do you go about choosing the standout history that should be incorporated into your resume?

Remember When You Took Action

We’ve all been handed responsibilities to complete at some point in our careers, but these moments aren’t ones that need to be mentioned when writing your resume.  Instead, think of the times that you took action on your own and initiated a project—and go even further to mention how it had an impact on your department or the company as a whole.

Select Career-Defining Moments

Although it’s okay to provide a general, overall snapshot of your responsibilities in the description of your role with a specific employer, you also want to focus more on highlighting top moments that show you were a leader who made a difference in your role.

For instance, if you were a sales representative, don’t just mention what types of products you sold.  List your career-defining moments such as being named salesperson of the month, also sharing the reasons why your employer felt you should be recognized.

Choose Accomplishments You Can Quantify

It’s always good to help a hiring manager visualize your best accomplishments by quantifying them.  For instance, suppose you pulled together a team of employee volunteers to raise money for a charity in your community.  This is your chance to mention how many team members you managed, the events you initiated and managed in order to raise money and, of course, how much money was raised.

Your professional history is the core of your resume and should be chosen carefully.  The more impressive each piece of your background appears to hiring managers, the better your chances are of being called in for an interview.