Make Your Resume ROAR (Results Oriented and Relevant)

Two of the most important characteristics of a resume are that the resume must be Results (not task) Oriented And Relevant to potential employers. Unfortunately, many resumes present the reader with life histories and/or restated job descriptions (task oriented) rather than statements of accomplishments (results oriented). Furthermore, many resumes do not clearly state how the potential employer will benefit from hiring the potential employee. They leave that to the potential employer to determine. These two problems may lead to the resume being ignored.

Steps

Sample Results Oriented Resumes

Doc:Results Oriented Resume,Results Oriented Management Resume,Results Oriented Public Policy Resume

Writing Your Own ROAR Resume

1. Review your resume. If you have an existing resume, review (or ask a friend, colleague or family member to review it). For each statement under the experience section ask Does this statement come closer to describing what I was told to do, that is could it appear in my job description or does it come closer to reflecting what I really accomplished?  
   • For example, if you worked in a store, stating Opened the store would be more of what you were told to do. Achieved 100% sales award would be more of an accomplishment. 
2. Remove task oriented statements. For each statement that appears to be more of a job description or "told to do", ask Would a potential employer with reasonable knowledge be able to infer this statement knowing my job title? If so, the task oriented statement is adding little or no value to your resume and is using up your potential employer's goodwill reading it. Remove it.
3. Add results oriented statements. Your resume may look a bit empty at this point. If so, ask yourself What did I really accomplish on the job? See if there are statements which reflect each accomplishment for each position. For example, the following accomplishments might have been omitted from the resume and should be added:
   • Sold more products than other employees on my shift
   • Praised for outstanding customer service by management
   • Have more repeat customers than any other sales representative
   • Suggest additional useful products to customers, increasing sales by 25%
   • Customer satisfaction rating of 90%
4. Reformat the experience section of your resume. It should be more Results Oriented at this time. Iterate this process many times.—Even after weeks of iterating, you will normally continue to find room for improvement. 
5. Add a strong relevancy statement. Now, you need to make the resume Relevant to the employer. Determine what position you are applying for and write a few phrases explaining how your results (from the experience part of your resume) make you the world's best (or as close as you can come to it) candidate for the job you are applying for. For example: Eager to apply my experience as an award winning cashier, outstanding customer service representative, and engaging team leader to manage the front end cashiers and achieve highest possible customer satisfaction at Joe's Superstore. Place these phrases right under your name and contact information at the top of your resume. (While you may not label this as such, it is your objectives section).
6. Verify that your resume is coherent. Verify that each phrase in your objectives section is supported by documentation in your experience section.
7. Customize the objectives statement for each position you are applying for. You may want to update the experience section as well. It is not uncommon to spend a half day or an evening customizing a resume (along with your cover letter) so that it meets what your potential employer is looking for; it is time well spent when you land the job.
8. Check your resume for formatting, spelling, and similar errors.
9. Solicit review of your resume by a friend, family member, mentor, or colleague. It is highly likely that they will see errors or better ways of phrasing some of your statements that you have missed. They will help you to see if anything is wrong with it and say whether or not it is good enough.
10. Send the resume in. Look forward to receiving positive feedback from the potential employer if the resume truly ROARs (namely, is Results Oriented And Relevant). 

Tips

• Keep in mind what shouldn't be in your resume. Achievements of 20 years ago may bear little relevance to your current self as far as a busy employer is concerned.
• Save the file with your name. Do not save the file as resume.doc or mycv.doc (or PDF) etc. This enables better visibility and traceability of the profile.
• Give your reviewers adequate time to look over your resume. Alert your checking buddy in advance and supply a timeline for getting the resume to them and getting it back and reworking it. Make sure to thank them for their help and to share the final product and the outcome with them.
• Before emailing resumes, turn them into PDFs. This avoids potential misrendering of fonts, formats, and styles at the receiving end.—Such errors can tarnish, and even ruin, an otherwise incredible resume.
• Avoid using excessive management jargon when framing sentences.
• Make sure to include your email and contact numbers, at a minimum. While some people argue that a physical address is not necessary, others would argue that the physical address demonstrates stability.
• For most people a resume should be a maximum of two pages. Normally recruiters would not have the time and patience to go through more. Your resume will not truly ROAR unless it is boiled down to essential distillate. Rather than focusing on absolute length read every phrase of your resume and ask yourself if the phrase increases, decreases or has no impact upon convincing the recruiter you are the perfect match for the position. If the phrase is neutral or negative, remove it.
• You really need to do the hard work of designing and developing your own resume to achieve the highest possible quality. It is possible to get professional help if you need a fresh, new look for the resume, but even then you should put the content back into your own words and customize the document for each employment opportunity. If you do seek professional help be sure that your resume does not look "average." Remember, an average resume is a C. A's get hired for the best job.
• Font sizes of nine plus are preferred as are attractively formatted and justified profiles.
• A quality resume is never complete. It can always be improved, so keep iterating.
• Avoid using flashy colors and highlighting on your resume unless you are applying for a job in a highly creative design environment. If you want to highlight certain points or strengths, use a simple embolden of the font.
• Maintain a uniform font and create a standardized profile. Multiple font sizes tend to clutter the profile and make it more complicated for recruiters to sort.
• Stick to common fonts. Unusual document formats and fonts tend to get deleted by the recruiter.
• Make sure that at least three people check the resume if you are worried about human error. It can happen but it is unlikely that you and someone will miss out most of the mistakes.

Warnings

• Most resumes are not really results oriented and relevant, even though the authors may think that they are. Keep on reviewing the resume and improving it to ROAR even more. 
• Never include the phrase References Furnished Upon Request on your resume.

Things You'll Need

• Word processing facilities

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References

See also

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• Prepare a Resume for a Transcriptionist
• Make a Culinary Resume
• Write Good Resumes to Impress the Employers
• Write a Resume for a Medical Imaging Job

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