The Résumé Formula for Getting Results
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
In this video, Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses a formula for you use to help you tell your story in a resume and get much better results.
I’m Jeff Altman, the Big Game Hunter. I’m referred to as the Big Game Hunter because I’ve been hunting down leaders and staff for organizations for 40-plus years. Today, I want to talk with you about how to fix one of those mistakes that most job hunters make when writing their resume. And in doing so, give you a formula for how to construct all the content in your resume to make it much more appealing to employers.
Now, most resumes I look at read like job descriptions. They’re very flat, they’re very boring, they talk about role and responsibilities. That’s pretty much it. Here’s the missing part of it: they don’t tell a story. They don’t contextualize what you do into a bigger picture. And this is how to do it.
So, you need to define what it was that you stepped into. So, maybe it’s the challenge that you were presented with. Maybe it was the situation you stepped into or the firm was going through—and I’ll illustrate this in a moment. So, you talk about the situation or challenge, the actions that you took in order to deal with this situation or deal with these challenges, and what results occurred from your actions, quantified via metrics. Got that? Quantified via metrics.
So, let me give you an example. You were hired to redesign a technology system because the existing system was using too much CPU space, or too much RAM, I should say, and had become highly inefficient. There was a desire to attack a particular market that was underutilized or underserved, I should say, by business users or by external users. So, what you were brought on to do was to create this new system or redesign the existing system in ways that would increase utilization, provide enhanced revenues for the firm, yada yada yada. You talk about what you did.
Here’s where you talk about the traditional responsibilities, but then you get to the accomplishments, which is the outcome of what you did. So, the accomplishments could be a 15% productivity saving over existing systems. It could be quantified in terms of dollars saved or dollars earned as a result of the work that you did. And if you think this is just purely for white-collar professionals, you can do this if you’re in blue or no-collar jobs. Think in terms of, I’ll use an example, a mechanic whose work was sufficiently efficient that he generated a 10% saving or 10% additional revenue over other mechanics in the shop. Or, you’re a receptionist and the nature of your work was sufficiently strong that you provided 7% productivity gains over other receptionists in your firms. And you’ll need to explain that, just to talk about how it was that you came to these numbers. But, by defining what it is that you did and defining how it improved things for your firm, you’re going to be standing out much more readily by telling this story than the average person who has a flat resume that’s remarkably boring.
Now, you know, again, if you’re finding it difficult to quantify it for yourself, think in terms of the situation you stepped into at your firm. Maybe revenues were down 30-some odd percent, and as a salesperson, you generated a 22% increase over other sales-people in your district, and thus improved top-line growth, bottom-line growth for your firm by X percent. Whatever it is, tell the story by defining the situation or challenge, the action that you took, and the results that you accomplished while working at your firm.
So, this is Jeff Altman, the Big Game Hunter. Hope you found this video helpful. If you did, and you’re watching on YouTube, share it, click the like button, leave a comment, let people know that this was worthwhile for them. If you’re watching on YouTube, I want to encourage you to subscribe to my channel here, which is TheBigGameHunterTV—all one word, TheBigGameHunterTV—and you’ll get notices whenever I do a new video for YouTube.
You can also come over to my website, jeffaltman.com, and watch the videos there. And while there, sign up for a complimentary subscription to No BS Job Search Advice Ezine, which I publish weekly with advice for job hunters anywhere in the world. It’s a $499 value I give away for free. There’s lots of great content at jeffaltman.com—video, podcasts, previous articles from the ezine. There’s also places that you can post your resume to, information about the searches I’m involved with as well as my personal coaching program, information about my books and guides to job hunting, and other people’s books and guides. So, come over to jeffaltman.com and go explore.
A few final things if I may. First of all, if your firm is trying to hire someone, send me an email at the address below, let me know who to contact and whether or not I can mention your name. I’d love to help your firm staff positions. Secondly, if we’re not already connected on LinkedIn, send me a connection request at linkedin.com/in/thebiggamehunter. I accept connection requests from people all over the world, except if you’re a third-party recruiter or in a country known for scams or spam. Finally, if you have a question or would like some quick coaching—like you have a question or two and you don’t want to go into formal coaching with me—I’m a LivePerson job search expert. So, you can reach me through liveperson.com, then look me up as Jeff Altman there. You’ll recognize that smiling face. I’m being goofy there, it’s a nice photo of me. And I’d be happy to take a call from you or if you want to send me a message or need to have me draft a letter to an employer, I’m happy to get that taken care of for you.
So, this is Jeff Altman. Hope you have a great day. Take care.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS job search coaching and career advice globally because he makes job search
and succeeding in your career easier.
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Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter
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What Are the Biggest Mistakes Job Hunters Make?
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2900 episodes over 13+ years.
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