Writing High-Impact Accomplishment Statements

When it comes to remarkable resumes, employers are not interested in knowing what you can do; they want to know what you've made happen! Employers are most interested in RESULTS. That's why your resume must be more than a historical document describing your knowledge, skills, abilities, education, and work history. It has to be more than a comprehensive job description outlining every task or responsibility you've had throughout your career. Honestly, there are few things more boring and drab.

In addition to an employer-centered job goal and critical keywords, a compelling resume also must include high-impact accomplishment statements that truly showcase the valuable you can bring to an organization. This is a good predictor of what the employer can expect of you in the future. Therefore, rather than say I was "responsible for increasing existing customer sales," you can literally transform the employer's perception of your value proposition by saying something like "Generated $1.3M in sales by developing meaningful customer relationships and providing exceptional technical support." Now that's a high-impact statement.

How do you go about writing these high-impact accomplishment statements?

Step 1 -- Rough Notes
Set a timer for 10 minutes. Starting with your most current position, write down any accomplishment, contribution, or achievement that comes to mind, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Do not stop brainstorming until the 10 minutes are up. Highlight any accomplishment, contribution, or achievement which directly relates to your job target.

Step 2 -- Get Organized
You can organize your rough notes by identifying the tangible result and a brief explanation of how it was done. For example:

Tangible Result - Generated $1.3M in sales from existing customers

By Explanation - by increasing meaningful customer contact and providing exceptional email and telephone support during initial installation of products

Step 3 -- Write your Accomplishment Statement
Now you need to make your accomplishment statements resume-ready by rewriting each statement using clear, concise language.

Generated $1.3M in sales by developing meaningful customer relationships and providing exceptional technical support.

If you do not have any statements which directly relate to your job target, begin the statement emphasizing the talent or transferable skill. Example, "Developed meaningful customer relationships and provided exceptional technical support which resulted in $1.3M in sales from existing customer accounts."

Once the resume does its job -- that is to get you the interview -- then you must be prepared to back up those claims with compelling work-experience stories. These stories will provide "proof" of these statements and go a long way in positioning you as being the most valuable and remarkable candidate for the job!