You can and should strike the right tone on a resume. I worked with a graduate student who was looking for a job outside of academia. Her resume had one overriding feature: he was studded with the word ‘helped’ and the phrase ‘helped with’. It took hours of conversation with him for him to even see these phrases on his own resume! I said, “Jake (not his real name), did you set up the labs or help set up the labs?” I would say that he deceived them. After five minutes I would see that he could eliminate the words ‘helped with’. He would then move on to the next one, “Jake, did you grade the tests or did you help grade them?” After 5 more minutes ‘Jake’ would agree that he graded the papers.
Several hours later, without the dozens of ‘helped’ and ‘helped with’ instances being reviewed, Jake had quite the resume.
Lesson: If you made it, claim it.
In short, honesty is the best policy. But if you do the work, you can fairly claim the credit.
I’ve recently been going through a lot of resumes from seasoned professionals who can’t seem to get a job. In these curricula professionals commit two equally deadly and very similar sins. First of all, they never drop anything from their resumes. These professionals have 3-4 page resumes with experience dating back to the first day they started working.
Resumes packed with junior achievements are hard to read and call attention to the most recent stellar accomplishments.
Lesson: Reduced resumes to show the most relevant achievements.
Ideally, the most recent entry on the resume should have the most bullet points, and measures should be attached to the bullet points, “Increased sales by 20% in 12 months” or “Reduced defects by 21%.”
Second, these professionals litter their resumes with terms like “Responsible for” and “Expert in.” When you state such things on a resume about yourself, they carry less weight. Use these sentences sparingly.
Lesson: Let your accomplishments speak for themselves.
Using metrics is a great way to illustrate the experience. They not only show your understanding of the important measures, but they show how you stack up against other candidates.
Ideally, your most recent position (or your most relevant position) should have the most cited achievements and the most impressive measurements.
Support the measures with independent sources or references who can speak to these achievements.
Just like Goldie Locks, you don’t want to oversell or undersell yourself.