Read Online The Google Resume by Gayle Laakmann McDowell - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Gayle Laakmann McDowell
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refocus division on the enterprise market, resulting in a 7 percent increase in profits”
The accomplishment-oriented résumé packs a much stronger punch. Everyone wants an employee who “gets things done.”
Watch out for words like contributed to, participated in, or helped out with. These are good signs that you have focused more on responsibilities than accomplishments. After all, someone at Microsoft could say that they “contributed to the implementation of Microsoft Office.” But what does that really say?
2. Quantifiable Results
Ever seen an advertising campaign that says, “A portion of our profits is donated to charity”? The convenient thing about that statement is that it could be 0.0001% and it’s still technically true.
This is what I think about every time I see a résumé that says “reduced server latency” or “increased customer satisfaction.” If you really did this (and it had a remotely meaningful impact), why can’t you tell me how much?
Quantifying your results makes them meaningful by showing employers the impact that you had. If you’ve implemented a change that reduced company costs or increased profits, employers want to hire you.
For business roles, quantifying results with dollars will make the strongest impact. However, if this isn’t possible, you can instead quantify the results with change in employee turnover, reduction in customer support calls, or whatever metric is the most relevant. You may want to consider offering the percentage change in addition to (or sometimes instead of) the absolute change.
For technical positions, it may be more impactful to quantify some results in more technical terms: seconds of latency, number of bugs, or even an algorithmic improvement in big-O time. However, be careful to strike a balance here: while your accomplishments may be impressive to a fellow engineer, a less technical HR individual might be the one reviewing your résumé. You want to make sure that your résumé impresses everyone.
Example:
Original: “Implemented crash reporter and used results to fix three biggest causes of crashes.”
Newly quantified: “Implemented crash reporter and used results to fix three biggest causes of crashes, leading to a 45 percent reduction in customer support calls.”
Before, I understood that you did something reasonably important but I didn’t understand how important. The quantified revision, though, leaves me with a “wow!”
3. Well Targeted
Back in the days of typewriters, a generalized résumé could be forgiven. Editing a résumé was a laborious process, and candidates frequently made 200 photocopies and sent off the same résumé to every company. A well-targeted résumé undoubtedly performed better, but it wasn’t as strictly required.
Now, with résumés being easy to tweak and rarely even printed, tailoring your résumé to the position is a must. Competition has heated up, and this extra bit of work is necessary to put your résumé on the same playing field, let alone jump out.
Your résumé must be tailored to the position, and potentially the company as well. This is especially important for job switchers. For example, if you’re applying for a technical lead position after years of being a software engineer, you’ll want to mention the time that you led the design of a new feature. Or, if you’re applying to a start-up that you know is facing customer support issues, you’ll want to emphasize your prior experience in handling upset clients.
Luckily, figuring out how to target your résumé isn’t especially hard. Discovering information about the company or position is usually quite straightforward; you merely need to check their web site and/or the job description. Ask yourself, what are the company’s biggest issues? How would my role impact those? Even if you haven’t solved the exact problems the company faces, you hopefully have skills one would need to solve them.
4. Universally Meaningful
Some
The accomplishment-oriented résumé packs a much stronger punch. Everyone wants an employee who “gets things done.”
Watch out for words like contributed to, participated in, or helped out with. These are good signs that you have focused more on responsibilities than accomplishments. After all, someone at Microsoft could say that they “contributed to the implementation of Microsoft Office.” But what does that really say?
2. Quantifiable Results
Ever seen an advertising campaign that says, “A portion of our profits is donated to charity”? The convenient thing about that statement is that it could be 0.0001% and it’s still technically true.
This is what I think about every time I see a résumé that says “reduced server latency” or “increased customer satisfaction.” If you really did this (and it had a remotely meaningful impact), why can’t you tell me how much?
Quantifying your results makes them meaningful by showing employers the impact that you had. If you’ve implemented a change that reduced company costs or increased profits, employers want to hire you.
For business roles, quantifying results with dollars will make the strongest impact. However, if this isn’t possible, you can instead quantify the results with change in employee turnover, reduction in customer support calls, or whatever metric is the most relevant. You may want to consider offering the percentage change in addition to (or sometimes instead of) the absolute change.
For technical positions, it may be more impactful to quantify some results in more technical terms: seconds of latency, number of bugs, or even an algorithmic improvement in big-O time. However, be careful to strike a balance here: while your accomplishments may be impressive to a fellow engineer, a less technical HR individual might be the one reviewing your résumé. You want to make sure that your résumé impresses everyone.
Example:
Original: “Implemented crash reporter and used results to fix three biggest causes of crashes.”
Newly quantified: “Implemented crash reporter and used results to fix three biggest causes of crashes, leading to a 45 percent reduction in customer support calls.”
Before, I understood that you did something reasonably important but I didn’t understand how important. The quantified revision, though, leaves me with a “wow!”
3. Well Targeted
Back in the days of typewriters, a generalized résumé could be forgiven. Editing a résumé was a laborious process, and candidates frequently made 200 photocopies and sent off the same résumé to every company. A well-targeted résumé undoubtedly performed better, but it wasn’t as strictly required.
Now, with résumés being easy to tweak and rarely even printed, tailoring your résumé to the position is a must. Competition has heated up, and this extra bit of work is necessary to put your résumé on the same playing field, let alone jump out.
Your résumé must be tailored to the position, and potentially the company as well. This is especially important for job switchers. For example, if you’re applying for a technical lead position after years of being a software engineer, you’ll want to mention the time that you led the design of a new feature. Or, if you’re applying to a start-up that you know is facing customer support issues, you’ll want to emphasize your prior experience in handling upset clients.
Luckily, figuring out how to target your résumé isn’t especially hard. Discovering information about the company or position is usually quite straightforward; you merely need to check their web site and/or the job description. Ask yourself, what are the company’s biggest issues? How would my role impact those? Even if you haven’t solved the exact problems the company faces, you hopefully have skills one would need to solve them.
4. Universally Meaningful
Some
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