It seems to be job hunting season for my friends and family. And I’ve been helping them write and polish their resumes and curriculum vitae (CV). I often find myself repeating the same information – how to approach a job search, how to write a cover letter and a resume so that it helps you find the job, how to keep a log of your accomplishments at your job – so I wrote up a few pointers that I send along and refer to as I walk people through the job search process.
It is a process. And each step of the process should hopefully take you to the next one, with the goal of eventually getting you a job that you are excited to work at. Your cover letter should convince the reader to look at your resume or CV. In turn, that should make them want to bring you in for an interview, where they decide if they want to offer you the job, and you decide if you want to take it.
First things first: CVs and resumes are different beasts, even though the terms are used somewhat interchangeably. A resume should be 1-2 pages. It should highlight your most significant achievements in each job. A CV is much more suitable for academia – it should encompass all your professional achievements – papers, presentations, jobs, et cetera.
The flow of a resume is fairly straightforward. You want the reader to very quickly grasp that you are capable of doing the job, and how you’ve done your jobs in the past.1
One of the smartest ways that I learned to highlight my achievements was the STAR method of bullet point-writing. The STAR method is a simple formula for your bullet points that I learned while doing my MBA at Bayes Business School2. Each bullet point should be a sentence built using the following guidelines:
- (S) Describe the Situation,
- (T) Define your Task,
- (A) Say what Action you took, and
- (R) What the Result of that action was.
Situation, Task, Action, Result will give you a succinct sentence that fits a bullet point. Whenever possible, use concrete terms and numbers for the results, and use active language to describe it.
As you start doing this, you’ll see things that you’ve done that are outside what your job description stated or what the job you’re applying for needs. That’s fine. Keep them in the vault for another application. Or to bring up when you’re asked in an interview to "describe a time when you…" showed conflict management skills, or collaboration skills, or client management skills. This becomes your story bank. You might remember some difficult patches or conflict – note them down too, and what you learned from them.
Understand what a CV or resume is meant to do. It’s job is to get you an interview. Be clear in what you’re putting in the document. This is a sales pitch for you.
And don’t just do this when you’re looking for a job. Once a week, or at worst, once a month, look back on your work and add relevant points to your STAR bank. It helps to have this information on hand when you’re discussing your performance or negotiating for a raise. If you keep at this, you’ll wind up with your own career management document. You’ll see how you’ve grown and never dread an annual review because you won’t have to wonder what you’ve accomplished in the last few months.
