WELCOME TO MODULE 4
Hey there, [memb_contact fields="FirstName"] ―
Welcome to module 4 of the RBIZ resume writing program. You're nearly a third through the program at this point. Congrats!
As always, if you have questions, you can contact me at [email protected].
IN THE LAST MODULE, we introduced you to many different tools to research terms, improve your writing quality, and match resumes to open job descriptions.
Leveraging these and other content development tools will help you write faster and more effectively.
IN THIS MODULE, we're talking about writing achievements. We commonly refer to this as SAR writing, which stands for
SAR = situation, action, and result.
Other acronyms that describe the same approach include STAR (situation, task, action, result) and CAR (challenge, action, result).
Regardless of the acronym, using SAR writing considers the situations your client faced, the action taken, and the (hopefully) impressive result.
Resumes Should Be More Than Words on a Page
Resumes can get word-heavy, so mixing dollar amounts, percentages, sizes of things, and years into resume content helps break the heaviness into more chewable (or skimmable) "content bites."
As always, if you have questions or need help with this module's assignment, contact me at [email protected].
Regards,
BREAKDOWN OF THIS MODULE
- Video to Watch & Learn
- Adding SAR Statements to Summaries
- Quantifying Client Accomplishments (Examples Included)
- Additional Strategies for Spotting Ideal Resume Accomplishments
- How to Structure Resume Accomplishments
- Accomplishments Written for International CVs
- Your Module Assignment & No Quiz
1. VIDEO TO WATCH & LEARN
Here is a before and after example to recognize what we mean:
BEFORE
Developed and implemented a national sales program that resulted in sizable revenue increases from organic growth and company acquisitions. Secured first global client account last year. Shifted focus to new global accounts after a recent merger with another business unit.
AFTER
Developed and implemented a national sales program in 2016 that resulted in sizable revenue increases from organic growth and company acquisitions — revenue was $41M in 2016 versus $95M in 2019. Secured first $2.5M global client account. Shifted restructured team to obtain new global accounts after a merger with another business unit.
Did you notice how the BEFORE EXAMPLE is content-heavy and flat, while the AFTER EXAMPLE contains many numbers that attract the eyes, making it more skimmable?
Mixing numbers into your content is easy once you learn about the variations.
Here’s a breakdown for you to consider:
Dollar Amounts = Profit & Loss (P&L), Purchasing/Project/Capital Improvement Budgets, Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
Percentages = Staff Turnover Rates, Cost Savings, Production Output Improvements, Market Share Growth, Margin Increases, Churn Rates
Sizes of Things = Square Footage of Building, # of Employees/Teams, Size of Customers (e.g., Fortune 100/500/1000)
Years = Year of Award/Recognition or Major Event Occurred; e.g., “Revised emergency and risk management plan in response to flooding at the East Texas office in 2019. Established company-provided aide packages for 53 displaced workers.”
Will you be able to add numbers like these to every resume you write? Probably not.
Certain job roles are more task-based and don’t lend themselves well to achievements with numbers attached to them.
However, when you can introduce numbers into the resumes you write, you'll see your content come alive.
2. ADDING SAR STATEMENTS TO SUMMARIES
In many ways, a resume summary is the most valuable part of a resume because of its top placement in the document. People reading or skimming resumes start at the top and work their way down.
With this said, one way to approach a resume summary is to...
... pretend the rest of the resume gets lost, and the HR Manager has the summary only to read and decide whether to interview your client.
That’s what a resume summary means to us.
When writing resume summaries, the goal is to take the best bits about your client and roll those into something eye-catching, unique, and relevant. Essentially, you’re showing readers that your client is a performer who drives success regardless of their job title.
In the past, resume summaries were very skills-focused, yet that’s changed as resume writers introduce sales and revenue accomplishments, unique language skills, spotlight important career successes, and so on.
Here's an example to consider:
BUSINESS EXECUTIVE/CEO - TRANSFORMATIONAL & BUSINESS STRATEGIST FOR COMPANIES LOOKING TO GROW SALES & MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS THROUGHOUT EURASIA
Author and implement aggressive market-entry growth plans that align people, processes, and systems specific to consumer-product manufacturing, new business development, and customer growth. Put the infrastructure in place to handle increased sales volumes resulting from newly expanded, country-specific sales teams. Produce consistent needle-moving results, increasing revenue up to 75.6% with cost reductions accounting for 32.4% annually. Exceptional multilingual skills, including French, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, and Portuguese. Launched a new product line throughout southern Japan, which is expected to generate $5.26M in the next 18 months.
Here’s another summary example for an experienced sales rep:
OUTSIDE SALES EXECUTIVE - MAJOR GROWTH STRATEGIST ACROSS SMALLER TERRITORIES
Deliver 200%-600% Sales Growth — Top 2% B2B Sales Performer — Motivate & Train Newly Hired Sales Reps
Award-winning sales executive who uses aggressive new business and account development skills to boost performance. Generated $3.1M in revenue with JBS International and put an additional $1.58M in the sales pipeline by pursuing other sales verticals. Nurtured a 320% jump in sales major client, JanetJet, Inc.
Writing an optimal summary for a successful sales professional is easy.
What do you do when your client doesn't have the same level of financial success?
Here’s an example for someone in academia:
INSTRUCTOR & PROGRAM DEVELOPER — LED GRANT WRITING FUND NEW PROGRAMS — APPLIED TO $560,000 IN GRANTS
Develop student success programs for at-risk students by eliminating barriers to success. Provide students with success tools, e.g., access to individual support services, time management training, and involvement in peer networking and mentoring programs. Boosted student retention by 10.3% in just 6 months.
You can have just much success writing for someone who helps to build success within the company.
Take this example for an administrative assistant:
EXECUTIVE / PERSONAL ASSISTANT — Supported Executives During a Major M&A — Introduced New Systems & Procedures That Reduced Admin Staff by 10%
Deliver comprehensive support (e.g., travel assistance, client services, research, and meeting management) to a fast-paced executive team bridged across 3 countries. Produce quarterly presentations, BI reports, and other performance metrics to the Board of Directors. Identified expense report discrepancies that led to the dismissal of the Purchasing Manager for skimming nearly $123,000 from the company. Handle ad-hoc projects associated with special events, including holiday parties and scheduled public speaking events that require fact-checking and special document preparation.
Your client can be on the lowest rung of the corporate ladder yet still produce incredible results.
3. QUANTIFYING CLIENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS [Examples Included]
Accomplishments are the “bread and butter” of client resumes.
That’s why including as many hard-hitting, relevant, and fresh accomplishments into the resumes you write is ideal.
The reason accomplishments are so well received is that today’s companies need professionals who have a record of improving the company’s bottom lines.
For example, improve:
- Revenue (Top [gross] & Bottom [net] Line)
- Sales (Individual Book of Business or Team Performance)
- Systems & Apps (CRMs, Automations, Knowledge Base, Sales Support)
- Performance (Individual, Team, Department, Territory or Company-wide)
- Conversions (Clicks, Shares, Engagement, Retention, Sales Close Rates)
- Costs (Overhead, Capital Improvement, Project, Program)
- Market Share (Local, Regional, National & International)
Take these two accomplishment examples into consideration:
Example #1: Transformed the sales department, growing sales and per-client conversions.
Example #2: Introduced Salesforce CRM functions and Herman Miller Sales Training that transformed the sales department. Grew overall sales by 23.8% and upsold two major client accounts, adding $1.2M in new revenue in the first 6 months.
Both these accomplishments touch on the same overall points.
However, the 2nd example is far more believable and visually appealing because it includes specifics.
As resume writers, the challenge for us is to SQUEEZE as many accomplishments out of our clients as humanly possible.
So, how do you do that?
Start by asking the right questions.
Example questions to draw accomplishments from your clients:
- Give me a before/picture of your position. What was the condition of your employer or department when you started versus now? What’s changed?
- If I asked your boss what your most notable successes have been, what would he say?
- Have you received any acknowledgment or awards from a client or the company? If yes, for what?
- How have you made your job easier or improved your performance?
Once you collect a few great accomplishments for the resume, the focus shifts to including/excluding.
Yes, there will be times when you’ll want to EXCLUDE accomplishments.
For example, let's say your client wants to shift from one job focus to something drastically different — maybe sales to a mechanical engineer role.
In this scenario, your best move would be to downsize much of the client’s sales achievements (and skills, too!) and shift to those related to project management/development, technical solutions/support, client relationship building, and so on.
You’re realigning the looking glass.
4. ADDITIONAL STRATEGIES FOR SPOTTING IDEAL RESUME ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Putting on your investigative hat is another great way to spot potential resume accomplishments.
For example, take the following sentence from a client’s old resume:
Improved customer service metrics and developed productive relationships with vendors.
This sentence is ideal for adding accomplishments.
For example, what were the previous customer service metrics, and what are they now?
What does the client mean by “productive” vendor relationships?
After probing the client, the above sentence could get transformed into this:
Improved customer service after assigning a designed project leader/liaison to each client account. Raised customer satisfaction scores by a staggering 59%. Generated a 6% bump in referral sales from clients (e.g., secured a new $720,000 account with Habisis Corporation).
Pretty cool, right?
5. HOW TO STRUCTURE RESUME ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The most important part of accomplishment is the introduction of specific details, e.g., dollar amounts and percentages.
As mentioned above, including certain descriptors helps add validity and visual appeal to resumes.
Traditional Structure
Resume accomplishments are often structured using the SAR (AKA CAR) acronym.
Simply put, SAR stands for Situation, Action, and Results.
Example Scenarios to Help You Write Using The SAR Formula
Example #1:
Faced an underperforming sales territory caused by extensive staff turnover after an acquisition. (Situation) Tasked with reacquiring new client accounts that had left the company within the last 6 months. (Task) Developed contact lists for lapsed accounts and initiated contact with decision-makers at each company. (Action) Reacquired 22% of former customers, resulting in $872,000 in revenue. (Result)
Example #2:
Manufacturing plant recently had its third accident, leading to a line shutdown. (Situation) Updated the internal safety plan and instituted a new training program for production employees to reduce accidents and injuries. (Task/Action) Plant has been accident-free for the past 9 months — the longest in plant history. (Result)
Example #3:
Nursing home employee morale was at an all-time low, and long-time employees were leaving in droves. (Situation) Identified that the new scheduling system was not well received by new hires or long-time employees. Instituted a new “employee choice” schedule system that increased employee cooperation and improved satisfaction. (Task/Action) Reduced turnover by 15%. Saved more than $12,500 in hiring and training costs in the first 3 months after implementation. (Result)
New Structure
Some resume writers follow the above formula when writing resumes.
However, in recent years, more emphasis has been placed on adding eye appeal to the resumes we write.
And this means adding results first makes more sense.
For example, a better way to write resume accomplishments might be this:
Raised customer satisfaction scores by 59% after assigning a designed project leader/liaison to each client account. Secured a new $720,000 account with Habisis Corporation, resulting from the 6% bump in client referral sales.
By leading this content block with the result first, we better position the numbers and percentages closer to the sentence beginning. And we’re able to chop out some excess wording in the process.
Win-win, right?
6. ACCOMPLISHMENTS WRITTEN FOR INTERNATIONAL CVs
Now is a good time to tell you how accomplishments are handled differently in CVs* versus US-based resumes.
For example, some cultures shun individuals taking 100% credit for any accomplishment.
Take the Southeast Asian culture as an example.
For example, when writing a CV for a Japanese business professional, you’ll write accomplishments so that each focuses on the team effort and NOT the individual. For example:
Managed 7 project managers who supported a $3.8M manufacturing facility. Worked collectively on a major production realignment program that involved the update of new-hire training, acquisition of new equipment, and an improved floor plan and ergonomic workspace. Team reduced lead times by 5.8% within the first 6 months and an additional 10.1% throughout the remainder of the year.
7. ASSIGNMENT & NO QUIZ
We have a four-part assignment for you for this module, which you can access here.
When finished, submit your assignment to us at [email protected]. As always, feel free to reach out if you need help.
Please allow 1-3 business days for our review and approval of your submitted assignment.
You're in luck. There's no quiz for this module.
